Thursday, May 4, The Stewpot was awarded an Excellence in Collaboration Award at Trusted World's annual Breakfast Fundraiser by Suzanne Massey and Santander Consumer USA. From the event write-up:
The Stewpot has grown from a soup kitchen into a widely-known and trusted community partner, providing casework and ID recovery services; enrichment, education and academic support opportunities for at-risk children and youth; three hot meals a day 365 days each year; housing and housing support for unhoused individuals; and a variety of enrichment opportunities for homeless and at-risk clients.
Partnerships are critical to the work of The Stewpot. Over the course of its history, The Stewpot has birthed a number of nonprofits, including Austin Street Center, Genesis Women's Center, and Interfaith Housing. The Stewpot provides onsite offices for Parkland's medical and dental clinics and Metrocare Services' mental health and medication management services.
In recognition of The Stewpot's expertise in meal service, the Dallas city manager and city council selected The Stewpot to be the meal service provider at The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center in 2008 when it opened. The Stewpot has been the sole provider of meal services there for the past fifteen years, running the Second Chance Cafe and serving 3 meals a day/ 7 days a week/ 365 days a year, approximately 1,000 meals per day. In 2022, The Stewpot served 218,936 meals at The Bridge. Thanks to the collaboration between The Stewpot's Meal Services staff, its wonderful volunteers, and The Bridge, unhoused and at-risk individuals in Dallas have access to hot, nutritional food on a consistent basis.
In partnership with six other organizations, The Stewpot started and continues to fund The Dallas Connector in 2019. This collaboration was born out of a need for free, reliable transportation system for individuals experiencing homelessness. The Dallas Connector shuttles unhoused folks between community resources within a circuit of transportation on a fixed schedule to access services. In December 2021, The Stewpot began its partnership with Trusted World to provide opportunities for mutual support of individuals and families in poverty or homelessness. Trusted World provides quality, personally selected clothing for children, youth, and adults, and in turn, The Stewpot helps send large volunteer groups to Trusted World to support their operations.
We couldn't be more thankful for this award and look forward to all we can accomplish together going forward.