White Rock Center of Hope

WRCH meets basic human needs by providing food, clothing, and financial assistance to prevent rental eviction or utility disconnection. Neighbors are no longer hungry. Neighbors have the clothes they need for work and school. Neighbors save funds that can be allocated toward rent and utility needs. Neighbors maintain their utilities and do not become homeless.

WRCH will continue to meet basic human needs while building out robust and relevant empowerment focused offerings designed to enable neighbors to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Over a three-year period (July 2022 – October 2025), WRCH will transition from current state to the desired future state. Incentives for empowerment program participants will be offered in alignment with current core competencies.

Reduce hunger and food insecurity with monthly food access.
Provide access to clothing quarterly.
Most recent surveys indicate that neighbors were treated with dignity and respect as their immediate needs for food, shelter, and clothing were met.

85% of neighbors are still in their home 3 months after assistance as measured by follow up surveys.
85% of neighbors still have utilities 3 months after assistance.

There were a lot of changes at WRCH this past year including the addition of a Director of Operations and a Director of Neighbor Services. We have the right people in the right seats now. The Board is currently preparing for a strategic planning retreat. The new plan will direct 2023-25.

One thing that distinguishes WRCH from other organizations running similar programs is that the organization is volunteer driven. There are eight full-time staff and two part-time staff that support an army of 200+ neighborhood volunteers, who serve the less fortunate in their own community.

Half of the agency's budget is from in-kind resources. Volunteers provide their time, talent and treasure to the Center on a regular basis. Gently used goods donated to the Center are sorted and stock the Clothes Closet and household items for clients. Some clothing along with furniture, crafts, glass, toys, lamps and decorative items go into the attached Thrift Store where annual sales provide almost half of the agency's cash revenue needs.

The current leadership team brings decades of experience and practical knowledge for implementing basic needs and empowerment programs. The BOD is revitalized. The passionate volunteers are willing.

The White Rock Center of Hope was founded in 1988 by the late Donagene Christian, a member of Central Lutheran Church in East Dallas. Mrs. Christian was inspired by the Bible verse (John 21:17) in which Jesus orders Peter to “Feed my sheep.” She established the Center with the help of her pastor and 13 area churches, in the basement of the Colonial Presbyterian Church on Garland Road. With her husband’s support, Donagene became the Center’s first Executive Director, a post she filled voluntarily until 1991, when the Center hired its first paid employee. Today, White Rock Center of Hope is still a volunteer driven non-profit ecumenical organization
dedicated to making a difference in people’s lives by providing a place where the community works together to satisfy their neighbor’s basic human needs. After a garage sale fundraiser in 1997, volunteers surveyed the plethora of leftover clothing, furniture, books, dishes, glassware and collectibles and said, “With all this stuff, we ought to open a store!” Not long after that, Ed Boyer and his wife Rita founded the White Rock Center of Hope
Thrift Store which has raised millions in support of the Center’s basic needs service to low-income community residents. The store now provides $400,000 a year to help fund community services. By 1998, it became apparent that the White Rock Center of Hope had outgrown its quarters in the church basement. That realization began the campaign to purchase a permanent home. With the growing support of over 50 churches and organizations and generous gifts great and small, they moved to the current location in 1999. Early 2020, the building’s mortgage was fully paid. What started as a food pantry serving two zip codes has expanded to include five East Dallas zip codes where residents have access to food, a clothes closet, and rent or utility assistance. Until 2017, the Boyers and Donagene’s husband, Gordon Christian, still came to the Center regularly to make certain the teams of volunteers were working hard toward continued success. The good work they started continues benefitting community residents, providing hope with love. Most recently, June 2021, the Board hired a new Executive Director who created a team of leaders to bolster the empowerment of neighbors impacted by poverty and circumstance. The opportunity to move from measuring how many pounds of food were distributed, to knowing the lives impacted by changes in access to nutrition, financial education, and assistance to targeted resources is now!