Partnership brings groceries to South Dallas food desert

By working collaboratively, two Dallas-area nonprofit organizations with Texas Baptist connections will bring free groceries and other services to a South Dallas food desert.

Local dignitaries and community representatives gathered Sept. 29 to dedicate a 12,000-square-foot mixed-use facility that will house ministries sponsored by BridgeBuilders and a grocery-store-style food pantry operated by Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.

BridgeBuilders worked with the Dallas Department of Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization to secure the facility, about two-and-a-half miles south of Fair Park.

When the South Dallas Community Market opens in November, it will provide fresh vegetables and other healthy groceries to more than 350 families—about 1,100 individuals—twice a month, said Wes Keyes, executive director of Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.

Bill Harrod, a Baptist preacher who wanted to meet the needs of his West Dallas neighbors, founded the Brother Bill’s Helping Hand ministry more than 75 years ago. In recent years, it has expanded from one neighborhood to serving people in more than 90 ZIP Codes.

The ministry focuses on three key components—educational programming, health care and the essentials of life, particularly food. At the worst point in the COVID pandemic, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand provided 1.3 million meals to needy families and individuals in 2020.

‘Want to expand into areas of greatest need’

So, expanding the ministry’s footprint to launch a client-directed pantry in a South Dallas food desert was a natural step.

“We want to expand into areas of greatest need,” said Keyes, a member of Cliff Temple Baptist Church and graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“Best of all, the North Texas Food Bank will deliver right to this location,” he added.

Churches and individuals around the state help provide support to Brother Bill’s Helping Hand through their gifts to the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.

BridgeBuilders—a Christian nonprofit organization that has worked 26 years in South Dallas—worked with city officials to secure a facility on Bexar Street as a base for ministry in the neighborhood.

“When we did a community survey in the area to ask what was needed, 90 percent of the neighbors said they wanted a grocery store,” said Jonathan Fechner, executive director of BridgeBuilders.

Fechner knew about the grocery-store-style food pantry at Brother Bill’s, where neighbors can choose their own groceries and shop at no cost to them.

‘It’s a kingdom partnership’

“I love their model, because it respects the dignity of their neighbors, and residents select what they want,” said Fechner, who earned both his undergraduate degree and master’s degree from Dallas Baptist University and is now in the Ph.D. program there. DBU President Adam Wright serves on the BridgeBuilders board of directors.

Fechner went to talk with Keyes to learn more about the Brother Bill’s food pantry, hoping BridgeBuilders could emulate its approach.

“That’s when Wes told me they were looking to expand,” he recalled.

Fechner learned the board of directors at Brother’s Bill’s already had been discussing the possibility of starting a satellite food pantry in South Dallas.

“When they offered to operate the food pantry, it was a no-brainer. It’s a kingdom partnership,” he said.

When neighbors shop at the South Dallas Community Market, they will be introduced to other services available through BridgeBuilders, such as job training, mentorship and after-school programs.

The Bexar Street facility also includes a half-dozen upstairs apartment units BridgeBuilders will offer as part of an affordable transitional housing program to help young high school graduates enter adulthood.

At the Sept. 29 dedication, Keyes and Fechner—along with Dallas City Council Representative Adam Bazaldua and Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez—praised the collaborative nature of the new South Dallas initiative.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,” Keyes said, quoting an African proverb. “We are able to do greater things and more long-lasting things because of partnerships. … It’s about transforming lives.”