Who Is "Neighbor"?
“So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:36 NKJV)
The fun-raiser!
WOW! We had a fun-filled successful event! Over 60 attendees came out for an occasion marked with generosity, love, vision casting, and wonderful food. Our partners’ generosity raised $27,000.00.
Wendy Hawley brought her collection of artisan flavor-infused vinaigrettes and olive oils and personally created a tapas-style dining experience. Each dish was accented with her unique products. The profit from her sales of vinaigrettes and olive oils at the event went to Furnishing Families! Thank you Wendy for your benevolence and for creating such an amazing culinary adventure.
Wendy shares about Hawley’s Harvest:
Our flavored extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars significantly cut prep time and the need to buy large amounts of ingredients. As a mom of 4, I was stuck in a rut trying to find healthy recipes that didn't cost a fortune and take an hour to prepare. Discovering flavor infused extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars took my cooking from arduous and basic to healthy, quick, and delectable.
To learn more about her catalog and discover tasty recipes, check out her website: www.HawleysHarvest.com
A special THANK YOU to all who helped volunteer in setting up, serving food, and cleaning up after the event.
furnishing a transition home for women
This story came together in such a God way!
We received contact from Paula and James Myers (pictured left), directors of “A Renewed Hope,” a Christian organization serving the Fort Worth area. Their ministry provides food, clothes, and house furnishings to families in need. Their transitional living program has also helped women escaping sex trafficking, abuse, addictions, etc.
The Myers felt led by the Lord that “A Renewed Hope” should donate high quality bedroom, living room, and dining room furniture to Furnishing Families of Texas.
Learn More: www.ARenewedHope.com
Not long afterward, we were contacted by Judy McNicol, who’s on the team for a Christian transitional home in the Dallas area called “Rahab Refuge Center.” They were going to be opening soon and needed each room to be furnished.
We rarely, if ever, receive contact from transitional homes, so the fact this all happened within weeks of each contact AND that each program had similar spiritual and practical DNA showed me this was a God thing! Of course, we said: “Let’s do it!”
(Judy McNicol Above); Learn More: www.RahabRefugeCenter.com
The furniture donated by “A Renewed Hope” completely furnished this new transitional home—decor and all! We were fortunate to help document the grand opening earlier this year, as you can see below!
A special thank you to Founder/Executive Director Jeanette Fellows and Board of Directors President Ferrell Fellows (pictured in order below) for allowing us to be part of this amazing work! To learn more about each ministry, follow the links listed under each ministry’s logos!
Join the fight, sign the petition, & save lives!
This petition moves my heart. Let’s love our unborn neighbors…
Furnishing Families of Texas serves as a safety net in society to support single moms who often made the decision to not abort a child. This has been our way of helping disincentivize the act altogether.
Now, however, we have the opportunity to directly combat abortion, especially these forms of it. The following is text from the American Center for Law & Justice’s petition:
The state of New York passed one of the most barbaric abortion laws in U.S. history, essentially making it legal to abort a baby at any stage of pregnancy, up to the moment of birth. It even removes legal protections for babies born alive from botched abortions.
Now other states are trying to do the same thing.
Maryland is considering bills that could allow infanticide – preventing even an investigation where a born-alive infant dies up to 28 days AFTER the baby is born.
Please consider joining this resistance movement, and click below!
This Month’s Featured Partner
Meet Rev. Dr. Carlos Valencia! He serves as both Chaplain Coordinator for Baylor Scott & White Health and Senior Pastor at Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo, a Spanish speaking church in Fort Worth. One of the first qualities you can see and feel when you meet him is the JOY he carries. And it’s something he says he loves to invoke in others. “I like to see the joy that people feel when they feel understood and that someone is there for them and listens to them,” He shares. “That is the true gospel; to remind people that God cares about their lives […] that is why we are here to serve them in love.”
We first connected with Dr. Valencia through our friend Rachelle Fletcher of The Goodness Project back in the spring of 2021. Our relationship began to develop as his church helped us in clearing out estate sales and receiving non-furniture items to distribute to his network of families. He is a MASTER networker and has linked us with other ministries in the metroplex (and beyond) focused on helping Spanish speaking families that are experiencing economic hardship. Valencia says, “I love to serve those who God places in my path; I cannot say that I love a God I do not see and reject people who are made in the image of God.”
(Left To Right): Lance and Annabelle Wallnau, Dr. Carlos Valencia, Rachelle Fletcher, Jorge Zapata
His faith journey started young: “At 11 years old I gave my life to Christ [and] ever since I can remember, I have been serving alongside my parents.” His mother, at the time, was a leader in the church, and has since been a pastor for 25 years; his father, an attorney, has helped support her ministry. Dr. Valencia comes from Barranquilla, Colombia. His story as an immigrant first began In 2002: “I won a scholarship to go to study at Baptist University of the Americas; I was in my seventh semester of law school in Colombia and I decided to follow God’s plan and come to the US.”
Now, as a resident of Fort Worth, he serves immigrants who are also new to the United States. He’s helped us find other ministries like his that are assisting Latino immigrants in need, many who have escaped dangerous situations in their previous countries of residence. A notable connection we’ve discussed before is Pastor Jorge Zapata of Heart4kids, a ministry committed to building and furnishing tiny-homes along the Mexican border. Click the link below to learn more about their story in “The Mattress Firm Miracle” in February’s Newsletter. You can actually see and hear Dr. Valencia early on in the video.
We asked Dr. Valencia to identify the needs that he sees in our community that he would want our readers to know about. He responded: “Every one of us can be an agent of change in our environment; changes don’t imply a big effort.” He believes that “we can stay with small actions such as saying, ‘Hi,’ to our neighbors, donating items we don’t use, volunteering with our time, and, lastly, giving thanks for the blessings we have.” Thank you, Dr. Valencia, for your partnership with Furnishing Families of Texas and your heart for serving your “neighbor.” We look forward to working together to serve more families with God’s love and provision.
Rev. Dr. Valencia holds a BA in Biblical and Theological Studies, a Master of Science in Management, and a Doctor of Ministry in 2017, for which he developed a Bible Study on suicide prevention. He, his wife Rev. Anyra Cano, and their 22-month old daughter Valentina (pictured below) are proud residents of Fort Worth. To connect with him, you can email him at Carlosvr777@gmail.com or Carlos.valencia@bswhealth.org or contact him by phone at (210) 887-4118.
Learn About The Neighbors We Serve
We want to introduce a new segment to each newsletter, where we share more about the demographic we serve. Today, we are going to cover literacy rates! This has a huge impact on future income level and one's ability to rise out of poverty.
"Read Fort Worth," a local organization committed to childhood literacy, shares this data on Their Site:
"Data shows that students who do not read at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers. By some estimates, every student who walks out of the classroom without a high school diploma will earn approximately 40 percent less than those workers with a bachelor’s degree (U.S. Department of Education, 2012), consequently costing our society $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010)."
We share all this to help create understanding about our neighbors and even explore some of the root causes as to these cycles of poverty. A person will likely rise in autonomy to the the level they can read.
How one performs at school is directly tied to home life. It's so important to address stability at home as these future generations learn these important life skills. Our friend Tylynn Richards told us that her son De'Marcus started performing better in school after receiving his first bed to sleep in at age 7. He rose to be first in math in his entire grade!
loving new zip codes
We have witnessed the growing impact of Furnishing Families of Texas as it has expanded to different demographics and parts of our community. From transitional homes in Dallas to Latinos in Fort Worth, daily it continues to enlarge across the metroplex. Every business day brings another project, pick up, or donation in North Texas! We’ve also received new partners and donors, like those seen at our Fun-Raiser.
It’s safe to say our spiritual zip codes are growing!
The essence of loving my neighbor is giving without any expectation of reciprocation from them. I am especially reminded of this by the fight for the lives of unborn children in the petition that I included.
When serving families in our extended neighborhood, the gratitude we often encounter is a reward. Ultimately, the one who blesses us back is the Lord! It is amazing!
As I think more about the parable of "The Good Samaritan" in Luke 10. I am struck by the fact that after treating and bandaging the injured man’s wounds, the Samaritan entrusted the injured man to someone else's care on his dime.
On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.” (Luke 10:35 NKJV)
This reminds me of our financial partners. Thank you for entrusting us to take care of those you, too, feel called to help!
There are many nuances to the parable. I encourage you to re-read it. Another aspect that stands out to me is how the thieves left their victim “half dead.” Many of the families we encounter have suffered loss and are seeking to get their lives back or back on track.
When Jesus asked the question we posed at the beginning of who was the injured man’s “neighbor,” he received the response, “He who showed mercy on him.” Jesus affirmed: “Go and do likewise.”
We believe our way of showing mercy to these families is playing our part in their restoration process.
Thank you for joining us as "neighbor" to those in need in the Dallas/Fort Worth Region!
Your loving neighbors,
Annabelle and Lance