WHO WE ARE
After her husband left her with three young boys days after Christmas, Teresa Jackson found herself at the door of nonprofits and government offices asking for food, utility, and mortgage assistance. After receiving some assistance, she saw a system that desperately needed to change. It wasn’t the endless list of phone numbers or the tremendous amount of paperwork. Those were expected. What wasn’t expected was sending a single mom of three away with a small amount of food expected to last a month. Worse than this, what wasn’t expected was the immense amount of guilt and shame that Teresa felt about herself being magnified because of how she was treated by these organizations. The lack of compassion she was shown was not only upsetting, but it was the very reason she created an organization that’s mission was not only to help neighbors in need, but it was also to do so by demonstrating compassion.
OUR PURPOSE
The mission of Sharing Life is to end hunger and poverty by demonstrating compassion to those in need through food, clothing, financial resources, and educational programs. The purpose of Sharing Life has and always will be to provide as many services here as possible, reducing the number of places our clients must visit to receive all of the services they need. We walk alongside our clients to ensure they never feel humiliated or shamed for needing assistance. Compassion gives us the ability to understand someone’s situation, put ourselves in their shoes, and work with them to find a solution. Assistance without compassion places a client who is already in a vulnerable situation, who may feel guilt or shame, in an even lower place. We want to make the tough choices easier for our clients. Choices like paying for food or utilities, medications or utilities, etc. We want to help our clients with as much as we can so they don’t have to make the choice. If you’d like to join us in our mission, click here to find out how you can get involved.
OUR IMPACT
Sharing Life began as a client-choice food pantry and in 2016, we became a HUB for the North Texas Food Bank. Being a HUB allows local churches and organizations to acquire food from Sharing Life that is then distributed into 35 zip codes across DFW by our 85 current partner organizations. As we’ve grown, we have also been able to add more services for our clients, making us one of the few organizations in North Texas that provides free clothing, food, emergency financial assistance, and financial empowerment services.
Last year alone, Sharing Life provided over $950,000 in rent, mortgage, and utility payments as well as 11.7 million pounds of food to our clients. Our WARM program expanded and we were able to provide 382 Hotel Stays during inclement weather. To read more about our impact, please click here to view our Annual Report.
OUR SERVICES
What started as a food pantry has turned into a multi-service nonprofit that targets both the immediate and long-term needs of our clients. Our mission, the core of who we are, is to end both hunger and poverty. To do both, we know that we must not only provide food for our families, but it is important that we also set our clients up with programs and resources to create a better future for themselves and their families. Having nutritious foods is only the start of a better future.
In addition to food, we currently offer emergency financial assistance, clothing, educational programs, GED Testing, job placements, financial coaching, medical equipment, and other non-food essentials. If you need assistance, please visit our client services page. If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved, please click here.
OUR SERVICE AREA
We are currently give financial assistance to the following zip codes in Mesquite, Garland, Sunnyvale, Rowlett, Rockwall, and Forney areas: 75030, 75032, 75043, 75087, 75088, 75089, 75126, 75149, 75150, 75181, 75182, 75218, 75227, 75228. Our food pantry is not zip code restricted. If you are a Balch Springs resident, please visit our Opal J. Smith Food Pantry page. If you do not see your zip code listed, please visit our list of partners by clicking here to find a pantry near you.