Sweet Seasonal Reflections

Serve Week with Gateway Church, Clothes Closets for Keller ISD, Annabelle's Broadcasts...And More!

Hello Friends!

As summer and the middle of fall have wrapped into a new season, enjoy the great news of the influence, blessing, growing partnerships, and impact in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and beyond. Annabelle keeps spreading the word about Furnishing Families in front of the camera in various cities.

Thank you for your continued connection with this work. May these updates bless you and encourage you as God’s love is being sent forth to these families…

Serve Week!

Gateway Church has been a wonderful partner as Furnishing Families has grown. They have contributed financially to this work since 2020. Gateway Church stepped in to provide more than half of the payment to purchase our 26 ft truck. We want to celebrate Gateway’s generous support through their volunteers, trust, and financial resources.

This May, Gateway North Fort Worth, chose Furnishing Families as one of their outreach partners for Serve Week. Over 29 volunteers came to our main warehouse. We launched three trucks, complete with furnishings and decorations for four apartments. Gordon and Karen Kelly served as the Gateway volunteer coordinators, and Annabelle sorted massive amounts of artwork and demonstrated to the volunteers how to lead the charge.

The video documenting that team was sponsored, captured, and co-edited by TUVU’s team. TUVU is a growing social media company based in Southlake, Texas. A BIG thank you, TUVU!

We were blown away by the response from this day. Check out the videos to the right and above to see and hear the impact of these teams’ exploits in serving.

This was our second collaboration for Gateway’s Serve Week. We are planning now for next year. Thank you Gateway!

Special thanks to Josh and his team from Junk And Waste Solutions (JAWS) for assisting one of the teams. They helped us receive and disperse the Marriott furniture earlier this year! Click HERE if you missed that story!

 

The School Closet Giveaway!

Furnishing Families created two clothing closets in Keller ISD to help students in crisis! Out of 42 schools, KISD has ten “Title 1 Campuses,” where low-income students are at risk for school achievement. In Title 1 schools, a minimum of 40% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. Recipient students of high-need populations are often homeless, vulnerable, from families that do not have transportation and are often experiencing a housing crisis.

Misty Gann is a social worker that supports at-risk students for the entire district. Her office at the Keller Collegiate Academy houses a clothes closet for girls. The boy's closet is downstairs in The District Crisis Center. Misty's students have access to the closets; however, she will deliver clothes discreetly to students as needed.

Gateway contributed the funds to resource the entire project. WOW!

Thank you, Gateway Church, for your partnership. Also, a special thanks to our partner Robyn Garcia and her ministry Worth Fighting For. They connected us with thousands of dollars worth of high quality, name-brand clothing for free. We simply had to pay for shipping!

The movers at Furnishing Families, Karen and Gordon Kelly, Annabelle, Paula Manga, and Misty Gann, worked together to ensure the closets were both set up and filled with clothes by the start of school!

Annabelle Is LIVE!

Annabelle Wallnau was on the move this year. She had invitations from past and new strategic relationships to spread the word about Furnishing Families.

Thank you to the following hosts for having Annabelle share on your platform! 

Here are highlights of the action, beginning most recently!

October 7th Broadcast (Adnan Maqsood Page)

October 6th Broadcast (CTN)

September 29th Broadcast (Vision TV)

August 31st Broadcast (CTN Houston)

May 22nd Broadcast (King of Kings Worship Center)

May 12th Broadcast (CHP)

The word is out about Furnishing Families of Texas! Annabelle is grateful for opportunities to share the message about the need and the reality of taking the gospel into the city. If you or your organization desires to have Annabelle speak to your audience, please email us at hope@ffotex.com, and we will forward her team your inquiry!

Testimony From Our Tribe!

“Annabelle, I want you to know you inspired me to ACT!” 

Meet Judy A Bauman from Flowery Branch, Georgia, founder of The Father's Love Int'l. She recently shared with Annabelle this amazing story in a Facebook comment.

Judy’s husband Jeff works as a private contractor for Lanier Islands, a nearby resort, that was renovating their lake cabins. They were upgrading most of their furniture and appliances, and she learned that whatever they didn’t sell was going to be thrown away!

Judy exclaimed: ‘We can't let this solid wood furniture be tossed!!!” She asked a manager, “Can you give me a couple of days?" He agreed. She connected local ministries with these quality donations: WayPointe Ministry of Murrayville, GA, which serves as a multi-faceted men’s rehab center, and Fully Furnished of Norcross, GA, which shares a similar mission to Furnishing Families!

“Annabelle, I want you to know you inspired me to ACT…Thank you…Thank You, Jesus - glory to God!” Hearing from you on social media and email delivers encouragement! Thank you, Judy, for being instrumental in this God story and for sharing it with us!

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR STORY! 

If you have a testimony of how you have been inspired to act by Furnishing Families please post or comment on our social media accounts or email us at hope@ffotex.com.

Learn about our neighbors: infant mortality

In our new series, we want to give you, our friends, a deeper perspective on the types of families we serve. In previous newsletters, we’ve talked about literacy rates and food deserts. Today, we’re going to discuss a key metric in measuring a society’s health—infant mortality.

Infant mortality refers to the death of a child within his or her first year of life after a “live birth,” when the child emerges from the womb in an apparent viable state. The issue becomes more nuanced when making comparisons between different demographics. We’re going to analyze disparities among zip codes and race.

The mortality rate between two zip codes that border each other in the Fort Worth/Tarrant County region reveals a drastic difference. According to the 2020 data from the US Census Bureau, the 76104 zip code had a median household income of $35,193 and a 51.4% employment rate. According to data drawn between 2011-2014, in 76104, a rate of 19.34 deaths occurred per 1000 live births (20 infants) (The University of Texas). In 76107, the median household income was $67,844 with a 65.4% employment rate. Their mortality rate was 1.83 deaths (2 infants). Poverty makes a difference!

It’s likely that pockets of each region’s residents even shared the same hospitals. In addition to considering the caliber of the hospital, other factors in a child’s environment play a part in their quality of life. Those in poverty often struggle to thrive in areas of life that are instrumental for a child, such as “healthy food, access to healthcare, transportation, education, and housing” (D Magazine).

In Tarrant County, there exists differences between death rates along race lines, too. According to March of Dimes, between 2017-2019, white children experienced a 5.2 morality rate (6 infants) per 1000 live births, while black children had a 9.7 rate (10 infants). When documented in 2020, the 76104 code was comprised of 34.7% African Americans, while in 76107, the population was 13% black (US Census).

Those we serve are uniquely vulnerable to this serious statistic. Many moms whose residences we furnish have given birth to new babies. Others we helped have conceived and given birth after we furnished their families! We believe that providing a crib or a quality mattress for the mom and infant to sleep on becomes a game changer in creating a healthy environment for infants to thrive.

The good news is that over time these mortality rates have been decreasing in both Dallas and Tarrant County (D Magazine)! While other efforts by the private and public sector certainly need to focus on addressing this issue, we believe Furnishing Families continues to be part of the solution.

Here we measured 1000 live births. In our graph, we chose to round up to whole numbers because no one can be “half dead.” Death rates are in human terms. If a decimal is left over, like .5, for example, that would round up to a single infant. To be technical, if someone were to measure the death count of a large population of a zip code, they should first calculate the rate divided by 1000. Then they should multiply that number by the population sample.

over $8,000 Raised!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SIZZLING HOT GIFTS!

Your generosity in response to our Summer Fundraiser blows us away. More families are being touched because of your Love-In-Action!

Thank you, Terri!

Terri Byrd, our friend and Case Manager, is beginning a new adventure as she pursues mission work overseas. Thank you, Terri, for your selfless service since January 2020 with Furnishing Families and for your impact for the kingdom of God. 

Terri’s 30+ year experience as a social worker in the Fort Worth area provided a brilliant asset when helping many of our families, connecting them with housing, food, and even legal help. She was integral to our day to day operation and regularly led families to the Lord, connecting them with Bibles and a local church.

If you’d like to donate toward Terri’s next chapter, there are two ways to give. Follow the button below and type in “Terri Byrd” when asked “Who is this donation in honor of?” You can also mail a check to Terri Byrd PO Box 100882, Fort Worth, TX 76185.

You, our friends, are vital to all the good work that is  happening through Furnishing Families of Texas!

We anticipate experiencing God's goodness unfold as He continues to empower us to deliver dignity to the families that find us. 

Your generosity, love, and support makes a difference everyday. Thank you for helping make lives better.

We are grateful for you!

May the rest of your 2022 continue to be blessed,

Annabelle and Lance

 

 
Annabelle Wallnau