Dallas Resource Center helps community members recovering from severe storms

By Olivia Leach, Bo Evans

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    DALLAS (KTVT) — More than half a dozen organizations are helping out Dallas and surrounding communities with a variety of resources for those recently affected by the severe storms and a lot of families have taken advantage of the help.

George Truett’s Elementary School turned into an MARC, Multi-Agency Reoucrse Center, to help residents who have recently been impacted by powerful storms. The City of Dallas partnered with the Dallas Independent School District to sponsor the center, which is open for community members 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Sunday.

Cassandra Wallace, who manages community outreach, preparedness and recovery at the City of Dallas’ Office of Emergency Management, has been helping families get the help they need to get back to normal.

“We kind of describe it as a one-stop shop so instead of the residents having to go to various different agencies and calling them, we try to bring them together under one roof,” she said.

Residents were connected with organizations that can help with everything from legal assistance for renters, to help connecting with Oncor regarding power outages. Free food was also provided.

Out of the more than 1,500 people who where helped at the MARC, many needed help getting food after multiple days without power left their groceries spoiled. The resource center did run out of some of the food items they were offering Saturday, but said they’ll have new supplies for Sunday.

“We didn’t anticipate as well as we should have the need for food,” Wallace said. “So, actually, when we got here this morning, there was already a line.”

Other residents, like Lupe Lopez, needed help with debris removal. A tree fell through her roof Tuesday morning.

“My home, it’s kind of a disaster,” she said. “Right now, there’s a tree inside my living room. The ceiling caved in. It’s just scary.”

Lopez said she’s called several tree-cutting companies, but most are already booked up. She’s hoping Texans on Mission, formerly known as Texas Baptist Men, will be able to remove it for her so she can get back into her home soon.

Residents, like Lopez, who have spent the last week trying to get help say this resource center feels like a good start.

“It’s actually a really good idea because there’s a lot of people that really don’t know where to begin,” she shared.

The timing of the storms couldn’t have been worse for the dozens of people who lined up at Truett Sunday morning.

“My rent is due, and I don’t have money to buy,” said Sharon Brown. “I’ve been eating tuna fish dry, I’ve been eating peanut butter … I had no lights Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. All my groceries, I had to throw in the trash.”

John Votava, the Director of Corporate Affairs at Kroger, joined other groups in bringing needed supplies to the resource center.

“You can live without power for a little bit, but you can’t live without food,” he said. “We loaded up some of our delivery trucks here today and delivered right here to the school, and now we have some very selfless volunteers that are packing up the meal pack.”

Kroger and the Dallas Mavericks partnered to pack up 1,000 meals Sunday morning.

“As our playoff slogan goes, this whole run, it’s ‘One for Dallas,’ so we’re proud to be representing the community here,” said Clay Christopher, Director of Corporate Sponsorships with the Mavericks.

One for Dallas when some people need them the most.

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