Brother Bill’s Helping Hand: 80 Years and Still Growing

This year, thanks to your faithful support, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand is celebrating 80 years of service. That’s a huge milestone! We love to look back at how far we’ve come since our founding when Brother Bill Harrod saw the need the West Dallas community had for basic necessities and started Brother Bill’s Helping Hand at his church. It was tiny in size but big in impact – we have the outline of that church painted on the floor of our grocery store as a reminder of just how much we have grown. 

In those days, a family could come and get help with groceries, maybe shoes for their children to wear to school, and attend church, too. Today, we have a walk-in refrigerator and freezer that’s bigger than that church and allows us to provide food for many families in need. We are also able to meet additional needs through our wraparound programming that our donors and volunteers make possible every day, all year long.

We’re proud of how far we’ve come, but our eyes are always trained toward the future. We recognize that the need for the essentials of life is not going away. In fact, it has increased exponentially over the past several years with the combination of the pandemic followed by record-high inflation. In 2023, we served 1.5 million meals at our West Dallas campus alone – a record for BBHH. 

In response to this increased demand for assistance, we have listened to our neighbors and partners and expanded our services. One example is our South Dallas Community Market. BridgeBuilders, a nonprofit organization serving South Dallas, came to us to help meet the need for their community to have access to healthy and nutritious food. Thanks to your support, we were able to say YES – and the growth there to date has been remarkable.

When the South Dallas Community Market opened in February 2023, 58 households visited. This February alone – exactly one year later – we served 942 households.

With your support, we have also been able to start a pantry inside the Inspired Vision Academy Secondary in the Pleasant Grove area of southeast Dallas. This is another area of Dallas with an extreme need for access to nutritious food. We’re beginning to serve families through the Dallas ISD Resource Centers at Pinkston (West) and Lincoln High School (South), and we can’t wait to provide an update on how many families we’ve served there soon.

Wild Game: Providing Much-Needed Protein and More for Our Neighbors

This year will also mark our fourth Wild Game for Dallas Clay Shoot Classic, our annual event to raise money and awareness surrounding the lack of protein in West Dallas and the broader areas we serve.

Protein is critical to good health – it aids in brain growth, and, because a high-protein diet is key to controlling blood sugar, it’s especially important for our neighbors with diabetes. Unfortunately, protein is expensive, which means there is a shortage in the areas we serve. We talk extensively about the need for protein during our Wild Game clay shoot, and through this awareness, we have been fortunate to receive donations of protein, like deer, beef, and chicken.

Of course, protein is only part of a well-rounded diet, and with your support, we work to ensure that our neighbors have access to various fresh, healthy foods. One way we aim to do this is through our Produce Prescription Program, where we “prescribe” produce as a way to take care of people’s hypertension. 75 percent of people in this program now have healthy blood pressure, thanks in large part to the fresh fruits and vegetables they receive through BBHH.  

You’re making a difference in people’s lives every day – by helping us provide food and many other services, like our Clinic, adult and children’s classes and programs, social services, and so much more. Because our donors say yes, we are able to say yes to help meet more needs across our city.

What’s Next for BBHH

We have goals for this year–our 80th year serving our neighbors–and we need you to say yes once more to help us make them happen. In 2024, as one of DFW’s oldest established nonprofits, we desire to be an example for other organizations serving neighbors in need. We believe we have a lot of knowledge to share, and we want to do so to help strengthen our nonprofit community – and to learn from them, too. This year, we are also continuing to focus on our expansions in South Dallas and Pleasant Grove to make sure we are serving people as well as possible. 

Won’t you say YES this spring, and help BBHH continue to minister to the North Texas community by ensuring the essentials of life, empowering through learning, and enriching relationships through faith, family, fitness, and finance? 

We are so grateful for your support – make your gift today!