Key Programs
Brother Bill’s Helping Hand is a ministry that provides a foundation for growth and advancement.
We are grateful we can offer a holistic set of program options for our neighbors that support all critical facets of their life from food to healthcare, mental health, children’s programming, spirituality, and job training.
Grocery store
West Dallas is considered a ‘food desert’, which means it is a low-income area where a substantial number of residents don’t have access to a supermarket or grocery store.
The grocery store at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand is intended to help alleviate hunger for our low-income neighbors with healthy nourishing food. On Mondays, we receive deliveries to re-stock our shelves and then Wednesday and Thursday mornings, as well as one Thursday evening and one Saturday morning each month, neighbors have access to the store to shop for their families. Approximately 300 families come for groceries each week.
Last year, our grocery store served over 1.2 million lbs of food. That means we served over 1 million meals in 2021.
We are grateful to the North Texas Food Bank and the Brother Bill’s Brotherhood for filling our grocery store with healthy food for our neighbors.
COMMUNITY HEALTH Clinic
West Dallas has one of the highest uninsured rates in the City of Dallas, making it challenging for our neighbors to live healthy lives. In 2007, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand and Methodist Hospital established a full-service Community Health Clinic that provides high quality care at little to no cost for our neighbors.
Services include annual exams, eye exams, dental care, women’s wellness, mammograms and prostate screenings, vaccinations and support for managing chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.
We supported over 6,400 visits in 2021 and we expect that number to increase as more and more neighbors learn about the clinic. The clinic is currently fully booked for months in advance.
MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC
We believe mental health is critically important to a person’s overall well-being. That’s why we partnered with The Center for Integrative Counseling and Psychology to establish a mental health clinic. The Center believes that with the right tools and insights, people can grow through life’s changes and challenges to live the life they were meant to live. In 2019, we had a little over 500 counseling sessions. In 2021, we were just shy of 1600 sessions and we are on track to have over 2,000 counseling sessions this year.
PathWays Job Training Program
PathWays is an eight-week / 120-hour program that teaches women the skills necessary to find and keep a job including computer skills, resume building, interview skills and time management.
Brother Bill’s Helping Hand serves many women who are the head of their household and saw a need to help them secure work that would enable them to support their families.
The PathWays program was started in 2003 and has worked with 212 neighbors since its inception. Approximately 72% of neighbors who go through the program find new jobs and/or continue their education after graduating from the program.
BROTHER BILL’S BROTHERHOOD
THIS GROUP OF HUNTERS HAS RAISED FUNDS FOR BROTHER BILL’S HELPING HAND AND ALSO PROVIDES NOURISHMENT FOR OUR NEIGHBORS.
In the past year, the Brother Bill’s Brotherhood has donated over 2,500 pounds of wild game to our grocery store.
The Brotherhood was created by executive director, Wes Keyes, in 2018. Wes noticed a lack of protein available in the West Dallas community. He thought about the amount of game meat that went to waste, or was left to sit in a freezer, when he and his hunter friends processed an entire animal. It’s usually much more protein than is needed for one family. And thus the Brotherhood was formed!
The group also hosts the annual Wild Game for West Dallas, a fundraiser that helps support the ministry. The goal for the annual Wild Game for West Dallas Cookout is to raise awareness of the lack of protein, engage more men and hunters in our ministry, and provide more healthy food for our neighbors!