Sometimes, you miss an important deadline because you're sick. Or you're traveling. Or you have an unforeseen emergency.

And sometimes, you miss a deadline because you forgot to put it on the calendar and just totally spaced out. 

 

Here is a recap of LAST week's Lewisville Noon Rotary meeting. The newsletter for this week's happenings will be sent in a few days. My thanks to my fellow club members for their grace! 

 

Leslie J. Thompson

Communications Chair

Lewisville Noon Rotary

 

Visiting guest Adlaine Buck last week received a Paul Harris Society certificate, made possible through a gift from her father, longtime LNR club member Alex Buck. The Paul Harris Society recognizes Rotarians who contribute $1,000 or more each year to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus Fund, or approved global grants. Rotary club members also can gift a Paul Harris Society award to a family member, friend, or colleague by making the contribution in their honor. In addition to Adlaine's parents, Alex and Marybeth Buck, her sister, Emmy, and brother, Eiler, turned out to celebrate the occasion.

 

 

The Lewisville Noon Rotary last week also recognized club member Matt Michel with a Major Donor Award for his generous contributions to the club's Donor Advised Fund (DAF) account. Similar to a charitable savings account, a DAF can be used to recommend a grant to the Rotary Foundation to make an immediate impact or as a tool for future charitable donations. Thanks to Matt's matching gifts, the Lewisville Noon Rotary DAF now has more than $30,000 set aside for future project grants.

 

Guest speaker Rob Veal, executive pastor at Northview Baptist Church and CEO of Heart of the City, last week introduced club members to the vibrant new nonprofit that is changing lives for local residents who need a helping hand.

 

Now in its third year, Heart of the City runs a farmer's market food pantry, offers counseling services, and provides free clothing for individuals experiencing hardship. The organization is an offshoot of outreach initiatives at Northview Baptist Church, which in 2018 opened a 26,000 square foot Life Center at its Mill Street campus in Lewisville. Upon completion of that project, Veal felt called to start a nonprofit as a vehicle for volunteers to “love their neighbor” and serve the community. He talked to the other church leaders about utilizing empty space at Northview Baptist and established Heart of the City as a 501(c)(3).

 

The nascent nonprofit started giving away clothing in Summer 2019, and in October 2019 started serving meals as a partner agency to the North Texas Food Bank. “By the middle of the Covid season, March or April 2020, we were serving 250 families a week,” Veal said. Since then, the numbers have continued to grow, with volunteers now serving more than 550 families weekly at four locations. “It takes about 200 volunteers each week to do what we’re doing,” he noted, along with two full-time and seven part-time employees.

 

In June 2021, Heart of the City opened Graham's Totally Free Clothing, where people can pick out free clothes and shoes in a space that resembles a retail store. The Farmer’s Market Food Pantry is the latest addition to the nonprofit’s services, housed in the old dollar movie theater behind the LISD administrative building on Main and Garden Ridge in Lewisville. “We want to partner with communities and partner with churches to use their space,” explained Veal of the vision for continued growth.

 

To learn more about Heart of the City, make a donation, or get involved as a volunteer, visit HeartoftheCityLewisville.com.

If you want credit for a make-up, contact LNR Membership chair Terry Russell to let him know when and where you attended another Rotary club meeting, or the date and service activity that you participated in to count as a make up. You have two weeks before and two weeks after a missed meeting to make up for your absence. Make-ups are a great way to meet Rotarians from other clubs and become more engaged with the outreach activities we do in the local community!