Jimmy Wayne with Majors Barbara and Jonathan Rich |
The Salvation Army’s 2016 Annual Doing The Most Good Luncheon was held on Thursday, November 17 in the Chantilly Ballroom at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. Jimmy Wayne is an accomplished recording artist, keynote speaker and three-time New York Times bestselling author (Walk To Beautiful, Paper Angels) whose life’s mission is raising awareness for at-risk youth in foster care. In his keynote, Jimmy shared difficulties he faced growing up, which made for a complicated childhood. His father abandoned the family. His mother was sent to prison. His stepfather tried to murder him. As a teen, he was homeless, living on the street before being taken in by foster parents who helped change his life. He also spoke about the help he received from The Salvation Army. “The Salvation Army provided food and clothes to my mom, sister and me when I was nine years old. They provided me my first guitar through the angel tree program when I was 14 years old,” said Jimmy. “I vowed when I ‘made it’ I would give back to the Salvation Army. The first song I wrote when I received my first record deal was ‘Paper Angels’ – a song about the Angel Tree program. I wrote about the Salvation Army in my book Walk To Beautiful.”
📷 Click here see a gallery of photos from this event.
This year’s luncheon chair, Mary Clare Finney said, “The Salvation Army has helped thousands of needy members of our community through their most challenging times. It has provided shelter and food for the homeless, supported families in distress in their efforts to get back on their feet, and helped shape the futures of many disadvantaged children and youth.” The Salvation Army provides more than 70 different programs and services in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton and Ellis Counties. They include food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, apartments for senior citizens and veterans, drug and alcohol addiction recovery, youth programs and financial assistance. This year alone, The Salvation Army served nearly a million meals costing more than $2 million at its centers in the DFW Metroplex. The organization also provided 42,071 bags of groceries to help struggling individuals and families, shelter for 6,836 men, women and children, and substance abuse rehabilitation for 4,443 individuals. In addition, it gave Christmas assistance to 16,373 families and 51,918 individuals. For more information, visit salvationarmydfw.org.
Photos courtesy of The Salvation Army • DFW Metroplex Command