This holiday season, one faith-based nonprofit in Dallas is giving back to those in need through food, Christmas movies and the power of technology.
Our Calling is a daytime outreach center south of downtown Dallas that serves more than 250 homeless men and women every day.
On Wednesday, the nonprofit put on a holiday experience for almost 500 unhoused people -- serving food and hot chocolate and playing cheerful Christmas movies with the help of about 200 volunteers.
Even some clients got involved by serving coffee, cleaning up and welcoming guests in.
“Today is an opportunity to bridge those worlds, have people fellowshipping, breaking bread together, having great meals, watching a silly Christmas movie, eating some pie, and really just celebrating all the things we should be thankful for,” said founder and CEO Rev. Wayne Walker.
The facility is not a shelter but offers many resources to help people stay off the streets. Our Calling has about 15 partners in-house where clients can access medical and mental health care, meet with representatives from the Veterans Administration, get their ID, and start talking about recovery programs.
Not only does Our Calling help people without housing, but the organization also serves domestic violence victims, sex trafficking victims, and people that are undocumented.
“Too often we don't spend enough time with people that don't live like us, and we don't spend enough time with people that don't look like us,” Walker said.
Walker and his wife began Our Calling 20 years ago after coming to Dallas for seminary and realizing there was a huge need for help with those not in shelters. They decided to dedicate their lives to helping get people off the streets through religion.
Walker takes pride in how the nonprofit has been able to not only help its clients but also help volunteers see another side of life.
This was Sheri Short’s second year volunteering at the Thanksgiving meal.
“People have ideas of stereotypes of homeless and that can be broken with a conversation, and we can understand that we are just the same,” she said.
Short has even made friends through the program and is grateful to be able to see them change their lives around.
“They are people who've had careers and who've had a deep faith and have just lost their way,” Short said. “I think a lot of people don't realize it's a thin line between homelessness and not.”
Our Calling has gotten creative with the way it reaches the homeless community by using an app that allows volunteers to report areas in desperate need. Unhouses people are able to use the app themselves to request help.
“A homeless guy is in his tent and he's listening to [an Our Calling ad] on a little A.M. radio. So, he pulls out his Android phone, downloads the app, reports himself,” Walker said. “Within 15 minutes, our van was pulling up at his tent to pull him up out of the ice and get him into a safe place.”
Our Calling is accepting all volunteers.
“There’s not an easy solution and there's probably nothing you can pass out your car window that's going to make their life actually any better,” Walker said. “What makes it better is communication and community.”
