Left to right Mike Faenza, Curtis Meadows,
Kim Horner, Mike Rawlings
The State of Chronic Homelessness Address was held on Tuesday November 17 at The Sheraton Dallas. At this event MDHA was proud to present the 2009 Bridgebuilder Award to The Meadows Foundation.
The Meadows Foundation was established in 1948 by Algur H. and Virginia Meadows to assist the people and institutions of Texas improve the quality and circumstances of life for themselves and future generations. Since its inception, the Foundation has disbursed over $550 million in grants and direct charitable expenditures over 2,000 to Texas institutions and agencies.
Back in 2003 when MDHA was known as DASH, Dallas Association of Services to the Homeless, it was The Meadows Foundation that provided the money to hire the first Executive Director of this coalition of groups serving the homeless, dba MDHA. It has continued to provide critical support to MDHA projects.
In the last decade, The Meadows Foundation has given well over $8 million to Dallas nonprofits that serve the homeless. In addition to MDHA many beneficiaries of The Meadows Foundation are members of The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, including Genesis Women’s Shelter, Union Gospel Mission, Family Place, Promise House, LifeNet , Dallas Life Foundation, Crossroads, Housing Crisis Center, Family Gateway, Interfaith Housing Coalition, and The Stewpot.
A Special Recognition Award was given to Kim Horner, a journalist for The Dallas Morning News, for her coverage of homeless issues in Dallas. Kim Horner has worked for The Dallas Morning News since 1998. For the past six years, she has covered social services, including issues such as homelessness, mental health issues, domestic violence and the lack of affordable housing.
Her work recently received honors from the Texas Homeless Network and National Alliance on Mental Illness.
During the past year, Kim has focused on a series of articles on the chronic homeless, with suppport from a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. The series has examined the difficulties in helping the chronically homeless, the costs of not providing adequate care, and solutions.
Frank Kaisler is a formerly homeless individual who was among the first guests at The Bridge. Frank shared with the audience his experiences of homelessness, how he heard about The Bridge, the services he received there and how his “plan for health and housing” at The Bridge helped him attain his current job and home.
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