The Wilkinson Center

Lakewood Service League Toy Drive Benefits Wilkinson Center

Vodi Cook — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:02:39 +0000

The Lakewood Service League successfully organized their first annual toy drive, benefiting The Wilkinson Center.

The service association collected new toys and games during Lakewood’s annual tree lighting ceremony, Light Up Lakewood, on Dec. 2.

“We learned that The Wilkinson Center was in need of gifts for children and teens,” said Megan DeLeon, a member of the Lakewood Service League, “and we were more than happy to reach out to the East Dallas community asking for help, to make sure every family received gifts for their children this holiday season.”

The service league considered a number of area organizations, and found that the Wilkinson Center was the group that fit best and needed the most help. Instead of spreading donations among a number of charitable organizations, the league chose to focus solely on one.

Lakewood Service League members distributed flyers throughout the community and had a tent set up as the toy drop-off location at Light up Lakewood. They provided baked goodies, candy and hot apple cider to children and parents that evening. The Lakewood community donated almost 70 gifts at Light up Lakewood as well as cash donations. An additional 30 gifts were received from Lakewood Service League board members and other individuals who dropped off items at an alternate drop location.

“This year’s fantastic donation contributed to the great success of our annual Toy Drive. We were able to serve a number of East Dallas families. The drive is set up like a department store, arranged by age and gender, for parents to go through and select what they like for their kids. We even had a gift wrapping room,” Mark Ernst, the director of operations at the Wilkinson Center, said.

More than 100 donated gifts, plus $256 in cash, were delivered to The Wilkinson Center Toy Drive on Dec. 17 by Lakewood Service League members.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the contributions made by league members and members of the East Dallas community,” DeLeon said, “as our goal was to collect 100-150 gifts. We were overwhelmingly pleased by the huge cash donation at Light Up Lakewood.”

The Wilkinson Center is a poverty rescue and prevention agency, serving those in need in the East and Southeast Dallas community for nearly 30 years.

The center serves more than 40,000 people annually, and began as the Munger Place Emergency Services Center. It became the Wilkinson Center in 1985 after a generous gift by volunteer Ruby Wilkinson.

The center provides basic necessities and tools for its clients to break the cycle of poverty and become self-sufficient.
Read more: White Rock Lake Weekly – Lakewood Service League Toy Drive Benefits Wilkinson Center

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The Wilkinson Center takes the long view in good times and bad…

Vodi Cook — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:43:13 +0000

While other nonprofit leaders agonize over the myriad tradeoffs facing leaders in a struggling sector, Brian Burton, executive director of the Wilkinson Center in Dallas, celebrates their newest partnership with Eastfield College’s Pleasant Grove campus. In fall 2009 the Wilkinson Center began offering classes at the college to prepare under-resourced students for entry into Eastfield’s core programs. An on-site case manager helps them overcome barriers to fully accessing or engaging in a potentially transformative educational experience. Read the full article here.

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After-school programs’ ripple effects

Vodi Cook — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:42:42 +0000

After-school programs save our children and protect our streets, says Police Chief David Kunkle. Read David’s full article in the Dallas Morning News here.

Excerpt:

Let me offer you three facts: (1) Roughly one-third of public school students fail to graduate from high school, (2) juvenile crime triples at 3 p.m., and (3) school-age children who are unsupervised after school are more likely to use drugs, join gangs and engage in risky behavior than children who are supervised. What’s the answer to all three of these problems? After-school programming.

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Wilkinson Center’s Education Program Receives National Recognition

Vodi Cook — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:42:09 +0000

Last fall, the Wilkinson Center received national recognition for our Adult Education
program. The Center was chosen as one of only 29 recipients nationwide for a U.S.
Department of Education award for our innovative strategies with community colleges
for working adults and displaced workers. The grants are administered by the Fund for
the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), which supports reforms,
innovations and significant improvements of postsecondary education that serve as
national models.

This award will support our Adult Education Services at Eastfield College’s Pleasant
Grove campus for three years. Through this partnership with Dallas County Community
College District (DCCCD), we are opening the doors of higher education to hundreds of
under-resourced residents in Southeast Dallas. By providing case management and
teaching pre-literacy courses to over 200 high-risk and borderline students each semester,
we are preparing our clients to move into the school’s college readiness courses, and on
to successful college careers at any community college. The three-year grant resulted in
$184,000 to support this program in 2010.

“We are humbled and gratified that our education program has been scrutinized by the
U.S. Department of Education and merits this top tier recognition. To be the only
recipient in Texas says a great deal about the power of this partnership and the
collaborative vision of DCCCD,” says Brian Burton, Executive Director of the Wilkinson
Center.

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Dallas Morning News article: Learning English is important to many

Vodi Cook — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:41:30 +0000

If you’re among those who don’t think immigrants want to learn English and assimilate, a growing number of nonprofit organizations can challenge that mistaken belief.

Among them is the pre-GED program at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral on Ross Avenue, which teaches adults who have learned some English but want to progress further in their assimilation into U.S. society.

It’s growing and filling up fast these days.

Read the complete article from the Dallas Morning News here.

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WFAA FEATURES THE WILKINSON CENTER

Vodi Cook — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:39:50 +0000

Dallas Foundation offers help, hope to single moms.

by TINA FOSTER

WFAA

Posted on November 29, 2010 at 1:17 AM

Updated Monday, Nov 29 at 1:17 AM

DALLAS — Experts say the recession is over. Still, thousands of North Texans face economic struggles every day.

It’s particularly true for women who are the head of their household; one-third live below the poverty level.

But one local agency is helping those women find the resources they need.

Amber Hedgepath, like a half-million other single mothers in North Texas, struggles every day to make ends meet, living paycheck to paycheck.

“Things have skyrocketed — from public transportation, the gas, the insurance, medicines,” she said.

Things got even worse when Hedgepath’s employer cut back on her hours, and the Pleasant Grove mom soon found herself facing eviction.

That’s when she turned to the Wilkinson Center for help.

“They helped not only with helping me financially for my rent, they also gave me voice to where it is okay to ask for the help — it’s okay to ask for a lending hand,” Hedgepath said.

The Wilkinson Center is one of hundreds of non-profit agencies that receive funds from the Dallas Women’s Foundation, a grant-making organization that has been helping North Texas women in need for 25 years.

“It is never a good time to be a single mother, especially in Texas,” said Becky Sykes, president and CEO of the foundation. “But right now it is especially hard because so many of these women are already living at the poverty level. They are just on the edge, and one job loss, or one sick child, or one health care emergency can throw them into unemployment.”

One in five single female head-of-households live below the poverty line in North Texas, with incomes at or below $28,000 a year.

With a financial burden lifted, Hedgepath has less stress, and more time to enjoy the things that count most in life.

“When you see the kids smile, it allows you to smile, knowing that it’s going to end, there are resources out there, there are people out there that care,” she said.

The Dallas Women’s Foundation has granted more than $13 million to more than 900 area non-profit agencies that help women in need.

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Dallas dentist offers Wilkinson Center youths a lesson on hygiene

Vodi Cook — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:39:13 +0000

By KIM HORNER / The Dallas Morning News

By now, most of the children in the Wilkinson Center’s after-school program have seen “The Haunted Mouth.”

Dallas dentist Joanne G. Hoppe shows them the American Dental Association video about the dangers of plaque as part of her effort to teach good care of teeth.

The longtime volunteer for the Wilkinson Center – which receives donations through The Dallas Morning News Charities program – began informally checking the children’s teeth and educating them about dental hygiene a few months ago, said Brian Burton, the agency’s executive director. He said her talks and the video put the kids on the edge of their seats.

“It’s so great to see a non-paid person, a professional person like her who wants to give her time,” Burton said. “She knows how to communicate with kids. She’s very bubbly and engaging.”

The Wilkinson Center provides the after-school program free to about 500 at-risk children. The participants receive tutoring and participate in art projects and physical education through CLIMB (Changing Lives, Improving Minds and Bodies).

The Charities will solicit donations through Jan. 31 to assist 24 North Texas agencies that provide food, shelter, clothing, counseling, job training and medical care to residents in need.

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The rarely noticed neighbors who deserve our respect and help

Vodi Cook — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:39:51 +0000

Dallas Morning News opinion column by Brian Burton, former Executive Director of Wilkinson Center

Published November 25, 2010

A small debate has taken place on these pages in recent weeks over the concept of “blessings” in our day-today lives.

Working with affluent donors and the poorest of the poor, I’ve come to believe that one’s perspective on blessings is shaped in large part by the economic class to which one belongs. So on this Thanksgiving, let me share my thoughts on blessings from voices rarely heard.Brave people walk through the doors of our social services and education center every day. If you listen for even a few minutes, you’ll hear a wideranging narrative of stories shared by the newly poor, working poor and homeless people.

One of my first awakenings here was walking through the hallways and asking people who were waiting for food, “How are you today?” Their consistent response surprised me. Despite a life that was lacking in possessions, safety, security, employment, health or even shelter, I heard them reply to my question over and over, “I’m blessed.”

Often the statement rolls off the tongues of bodies crippled by years of neglect and abuse. Some manage to smile or raise a hand above their heads, as though they have discovered a place of solace and hope.

No matter how bad things get for the “I’m blessed” crowd, their attitude transcends circumstances and plucks hope out of thin air. “Tomorrow will be better; things will work out,” they explain to my disbelieving face. Making up more than 20 percent of the Dallas population, the working poor prepare our food, clean offices, tend lawns, repair roads, build cities, staff health facilities and much more. Without these citizens and neighbors, the cost of living and taxes for everyone would soar and businesses would close.

The majority of the working poor do not apply for benefits they qualify for, such as food stamps. Proud and wanting to pull themselves up, they work long hours and toil in the least desirable jobs.

The state of Texas is about to balance much of its galactic deficit on their backs, and yet these “I’m blessed” neighbors will, as they always do, forgive and love the rest of us.

Strengthened by faith and our best attempts to serve them, they make their way with God, step by step, day by day, facing hardship and struggles inconceivable to me.

Indeed, they have discovered a place of solace and hope. It is a place accessible only when all else has been stripped away: a deep overflowing reservoir of faith in God and an implacable belief in a better tomorrow.

In this year of great need, given the anxiety that hangs thick in the air we breathe, it behooves us all to tap into that place of faith these neighbors have found so abundantly. In return for guiding us there, the least we could do is to thank them by sharing the resources we have that will make their hopes for a better tomorrow come true.

Brian Burton is former executive director of the Wilkinson Center, a social service and education center and a beneficiary of The Dallas Morning News Charities.

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