Mikayla Kowalewski was a member of the W.T. White girls’ flag football team last spring, which went undefeated during the season. Read more on page 14. Photography by Brandon Gonzalez.
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Mural on the side of Dunbar Road Design off of Lovers Lane. Art by Michael Mcpheeters. Photography by Lauren Allen.
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IF YOU DON’T KNOW CARRINGTON WHIGHAM, YOU WILL NOW.
‘LIMITLESSLY DELUSIONAL’
Carrington Whigham talks politics, pageants and Dallas
Story by EMILY CAPETILLO
Whigham received her bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University in 2022, where she studied broadcast journalism and theater. She went on to study at the University of Southern California and the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she earned two master’s degrees in global communication and digital media last May.
A Preston Hollow native, she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and attended Everette L. DeGolyer Elementary School and William B. Travis. Her mom is an educator, and her dad works in healthcare for Department of Veteran’s Affairs.
Whigham has served as a battleground state deputy digital director of engagement for the Harris-Walz campaign, as an intern for Texas State Sen. Royce West through the Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program and as an intern for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s office in Washington, D.C., through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. She is currently working as a digital director for the New York City’s mayoral race.
HOW DID YOU JOURNEY INTO YOUR CAREER?
I was a theater person my whole life. It’s helped me in (my speaking abilites). Before I went to college, my parents were like, ‘If you don’t go to a conservatory, you cannot major in theater.’ I was like, ‘No, I want to take my talent and my resources to an HBCU, a historically Black college and university,’ which was not easy. So I went to Florida from my undergraduate degree at Florida A&M University, and I just hit the ground running. I got involved. I recently did the Harris-Walz campaign. Before that, I realized that my very first campaign was 17 years old, helping someone run for a judge campaign for the Dallas County Democrats. I realized that, every little step, has kind of been setting me up for this journey.
WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED?
I would say, just the tangibles, the outcomes. With the grassroots organizing, with elections, even if the candidate doesn’t win, it’s like: Did the amount of voters increase? What are the margins that we’re measuring right now, and what are other areas of success that we can use to keep going? I would say just the impact on the communities and the people, and the hope that it actually gives people when they come together to make something possible. Even when it’s not always a win in our books, there are just other wins that we can be grateful for and just appreciative of.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING FOR THE HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN?
Yeah, it was great. You know, as a Black woman to work with a woman of color in a very historic moment, it was just insane. Just to be a part of that movement and to see the people. We traveled to different places and had different rallies, to see the different types of people who were historically put against each other. When we all came under one roof, it was insane to see how the only vision everywhere we went was ‘hope, change, fight.’ It was awesome to experience. It was a lot of work, especially when the tables turned and she was the Democratic candidate. It was like, ‘OK, all hands on deck.’ It was so worth it when we saw the people, the children and the diversity of the crowds.
DO YOU THINK GROWING UP IN DALLAS SHAPED YOU INTO WHO YOU ARE?
100%. It’s just the best of both worlds. My parents were so strategic about where they placed us. St. Mark’s is one of the top 10 private schools. My brother went to St. Mark’s in his later years, and then Booker T., like top 10 performing arts schools.I’m happy about that. The discipline that I got from my parents and from being raised in Dallas has benefited me in my young adult life.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU?
The many lives that I’ve lived. I’m a national pageant title holder, I’m Miss Black Preteen. To win, you have to have a platform point, so I was fighting childhood obesity and was channeling healthcare for disadvantaged communities at such a young age. When I got to London, I played basketball. I hadn’t played basketball since middle school, but I ended up getting a free trip to Paris to play in some tournament. I’m limitlessly delusional in a good way.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
I want to have my own media organization, that lies at the intersection of entertainment and civic engagement. I’m considering public service in the City of Dallas as well.
WHAT’S BEEN THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOURNEY?
The most challenging is myself. I didn’t let the unfamiliar, the unknowns, stop me or stop my plans.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Photo courtesy of Carrington Whigham.
SUSIECAKES FROM SCRATCH
Sarich cuts a slice of Luscious Lemon cake, made with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.
Susan Sarich’s story as founder of the beloved cake company
Story by KATHARINE BALES
Photography by KATHY TRAN
Susan Sarich, the founder and CEO of SusieCakes, emerges from the back of the Preston Center store in Dallas. She wears a white apron with “SusieCakes” embroidered in cherry-red thread on the front. She dusts off her hands from a morning filled with baking and a genuine smile spreads across her face.
A cyan wall brightens the space from the end of the store. Freshly baked cakes, cupcakes, cookies and other treats neatly line the shelves.
“I just loved what desserts meant to people because people were always happy when they were eating them, they were always celebrating something when they were eating them, and it was just something that I was really drawn to,” she says.
Sarich grew up in Chicago and spent much of her time with her two grandmothers, Mildred and Madeline, who lived across the alley from each other. They filled her childhood with baked goods and inspired her to continue baking later in life. After graduating college with a degree in hotel administration, Sarich gathered experience in the hospitality industry and went on to begin her entrepreneurial venture.
She opened her first SusieCakes bakery in 2006 in Los Angeles, and the company has now expanded to 31 locations, and counting, across the country. Using her grandmothers’ recipes written on small index cards, Sarich prioritized real ingredients, excellent customer service and a nostalgic yet contemporary feel in each store. At the same time, Sarich sought to create a new kind of business model for women in the food service industry.
“One thing I noticed was that most women around the age of 30 left the industry because you have to work every Christmas, every New Year’s, every Fourth of July, every Friday night, every Sunday morning,” she says. “So I
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started thinking about a business model where women could have careers in food service without having to work 24/7.”
The company is now staffed primarily by women, she says.
“I like to share that we are 85% female, so my vision or goal of starting a company that could allow women to have progressive careers has come through to fruition,” she says.
Besides creating these career opportu nities for women, SusieCakes distinguishes itself by making all desserts from scratch and without additives.
“Everything is made on site from scratch, and that’s the reason we have the kitchen open with real ingredients from those recipe cards from my grandmothers,” Sarich says. “We don’t use any preservatives or anything to make it last forever.”
The unique SusieCakes branding also draws customers in. From the old-fashioned logo to the vintage-looking cursive “SusieCakes” script, the company adds a modern twist while honoring Sarich’s childhood experience with her beloved grandmothers.
“I was very intentional with the logo and colors,” she says. “The first thing I wanted to make sure we did was include what we call ‘Susie blue.’ This turquoisey, minty blue color was the color of my grandmothers’ mixing bowls. Those are the bowls that are colored on the outside and white on the inside — very popular in the ‘50s and ‘60s. That color, to me, goes in the kitchen with a wooden spoon. It has a retro feel, but it’s also kind of modern and clean at the same time.”
Susie Red, the other color in the SusieCakes palette, has a different origin.
“It’s the color of a ‘69 Mustang, which is called ‘cherry red,’” Sarich says. “That was also a specific color that was a nod to the past.”
Then it was time to design Susie herself, the name and face of SusieCakes. Sarich jokes that her graphic designer almost fired her because she took so long to make a decision, but the final product was worth the wait.
“It was a labor of love, but I was very specific about wanting her to look a little old-fashioned but also super contemporary,” she says. “I’m always trying to make this an old-fashioned bakery that is for today’s modern family.”
Besides influencing the choices behind Su sieCakes’ colors and logo, Sarich’s grandmothers inspired her to stay driven and kind.
“They would always say to me, ‘If you work hard and you’re nice to people no matter what you do, you will be successful,’” she says. “They were first-generation immigrants from Italy
GAME CHANGERS
W.T. White girls go undefeated in Cowboys Flag Football debut
Story by JILLIAN NACHTIGAL | Photography by BRANDON GONZALEZ
AT W.T. WHITE HIGH SCHOOL, A GROUP OF DETERMINED, MULTI-SPORT ATHLETES LACED UP THEIR CLEATS, PULLED ON THEIR FLAGS AND MADE HISTORY — not just by going undefeated in the Dallas Cowboys Girls Flag Football League, but by rewriting what was possible for girls on the gridiron.
With no previous team, little experience and a coach who’d only dreamed of trading volleyball whistles for football playbooks, the squad turned raw talent and determination into a successful first season.
For many of the girls, it was their first time playing organized football. Head Coach Lakita Dockery said she jumped at the opportunity to lead the team.
“I love football, but I coach volleyball, so I can never participate in football,” Dockery says. “I thought it was a really great opportunity because I played flag, my son plays flag, so I thought it was really cool that I could finally get to coach it.”
(Left to right) Iliana Garibaldi, Mikayla Kowalewski, Coach Lakita Dockery, Viviana Garibaldi and Kelsey Alvarez were a part of the girls flag football team that made history by going undefeated in their first season in the spring.
The team was originally supposed to consist of 15 girls, and they had over 75 tryout. They decided to go with 22 girls, as they had some from basketball, volleyball, softball and track and field, so they knew it would overlap with some of their other UIL sports.
“So we had two different tryouts for girls, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. And my biggest thing was, can the girls catch? Can they throw? Can they run the ball? Yeah, if they could do those little things, we can kind of build on that,” Dockery says. “Once we have the athletes, we can then build the plays around what we actually have.”
For a lot of the girls, this was their first time ever playing flag football, and going undefeated and being a semifinalist for Dallas ISD was a huge accomplishment for the team.
“We were able to pull together with all of the obstacles, all the things that we didn’t know, and still go out there and give our best,” Dockery says. “Our girls are super athletic and super smart. And I was just like, ‘Hey, girls, if we can be disciplined, we can take it all the way. We’re better than everybody else. So if we can pull our heads together and pull our resources, the sky’s the limit for us.’”
Dockery says some girls were willing to quit other sports to do flag football because it was the first time they had the opportunity to play outside of little league or just playing in the park.
“Our girls loved every minute of it,” Dockery says. “This was something that they saw a future in. There were opportunities for them to go to college, which was really great. There was opportunities for them to play for the Dallas Cowboys — some of our girls got in -
vited to some of their camps and to play in a different league, which was super exciting for all of our girls. Just created more opportunities for them.”
Iliana Garidaldi was a member of the team and says she was super excited when she heard about the program because she grew up playing flag football with her family.
“When I was about 10, I joined an all-boys football league, and it just reminded me of that, and it was just super fun,” Garidaldi says. “And I just was excited to play with all the girls because I knew that our school is super athletic, so I just knew our team was going to be good.”
Mikayla Kowalewski says she joined the team because a lot of her friends were interested in getting involved.
“A lot of the girls at our school, we play volleyball, we run track, we do basketball, we play golf, we do swimming. So we’re all pretty involved in all the sports,” Kowalewski says. “And this was kind of just one more thing where we knew we liked the coach, we knew that we were all very athletic, so we were just like, why not? Let’s try this.”
Kowalewski also played in an all-boys league in fifth grade and felt like she didn’t fit in there. She was excited to have the opportunity to play with girls.
“Being able to have the experience to be on an all-girls team was crazy, like I felt so welcomed at the games, at the tryout and at the camps that we went to with the Cowboys, and it was just such a different experience,” Kowalewski says. “Being surrounded by girls and getting the opportunity, knowing that people cared about our future and the opportunities that we had was so amazing.”
the fore front
Neighborhood women making a difference
Stories
by EMILY CAPETILLO | Photography by ETHAN GOOD
Linda McMahon
Linda McMahon, CEO of the Dallas Economic Development Corporation (EDC), is a powerhouse in her field and an advocate for our booming city.
McMahon studied at the University of Texas at Austin and received her bachelor’s degree in government. She worked in commercial banking for 30 years, the last stop being with JPMorgan Chase. There, she led a team of bankers that handled complex transactions around affordable housing and economic development.
After she left banking, she became CEO of The Real Estate Council in 2010 and held that role until last June. Just a month later, on July 1, she became the CEO of the Dallas EDC, a new but growing business committed to the growth of the city. Her goal is to inform everyone of the unique and powerful story of the City of Dallas.
WHAT GRABS YOUR ATTENTION WHEN IT COMES TO REAL ESTATE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?
I have lived in Dallas my entire adult life. Having been very, very engaged in a lot of different things, from policy to economic development to affordable housing initiatives. It was just very exciting to have this new independent organization from the City of Dallas, but working with the City of Dallas to help spur growth in the city. My passion, frankly, is to see Dallas grow and thrive. That means not just the city itself, but all the people that live here and having worked in the communities in the city that have been overlooked for decades. It’s important to me to actually do something that would help grow those economies and communities. To give the people who have lived here for their entire lives an opportunity to thrive.
WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOB?
There’s an enormous amount of opportunity, and there’s a lot of
misunderstanding about what Dallas is. So, when you can have a conversation with a company, with any individual, and they’ll say, “My business is in Dallas,” and I’ll say, “OK, where in Dallas is your business?” “Oh, it’s in Frisco.” Well, that’s not Dallas.
Or “I live in Dallas.” “Where do you live?” “I live in Garland.” No, that’s not Dallas.
So, my biggest challenge and also the biggest opportunity is to change the narrative about the City of Dallas. The city is the center of everything that happens here. You know, our northern suburbs, our southern suburbs are growing, but they’re growing because of the benefits and the things that are available in the city, like the largest arts district in the country. A very vibrant cultural area. Like neighborhoods that are very, very unique and different, and each of the neighborhoods has a different character and culture. When you live here, you see that you actually have a chance to go to places like Jimmy’s Market in East Dallas, or you go to Bishop Arts, or you go to South Dallas and see amazing things. We have so many amenities, and we just haven’t really been good, in my opinion, at telling our story.
Telling our story and amplifying why it’s important, why the City of Dallas is really why the growth is happening. The city needs to get a lot more attention and love.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE PARTS ABOUT DALLAS?
I raised my family in Lake Highlands, and so I love Lake Highlands. It’s just a really unique community. It’s like a little town within a town. Very partial to that. I love Lakewood.
I think it’s beautiful.
I also love South Dallas. There are so many really cool neighborhoods in southern Dallas that nobody knows about.
Everyone hears about Kessler Park, but they don’t hear about some of the really unique neighborhoods that are throughout the city.
The Dallas Zoo is one of my favorite places to go, particularly now that I have grandchildren.
I love to go there with them. The Arboretum is just an amazing jewel.
There’s not one part of the city that I have a favorite versus another. You can’t overlook the jewel of Fair Park. It’s just an amazing architectural treasure for our city, and we really need to do a better job of treasuring the things that have made us unique and different. Of course, Downtown Dallas is great. I’ve worked in almost every building in Downtown Dallas. I have a passion for all parts of the city.
WHAT’S A PROJECT OR GOAL WITH THE EDC YOU’RE MOST PROUD OF?
Well, we’re brand new. So, when I started on July, it was a complete startup business. I opened the bank account.
We’ve got a very short history, but we’re the largest city in the country that never had an independent economic development corporation. The City of Dallas has done a great job in advancing economic development, but the opportunity we have without the constraints of a municipal government is pretty amazing.
The thing that surprised me the most is how much international interest there is in the city and how many international delegations, companies, elected officials and government officials are coming to the City of Dallas and want to know more. They’re fascinated. You know, a lot of them have never been to Texas. So, they have a different image of what Texas and Dallas are, and when they get here, they’re very surprised.
We hosted a group of government officials from Finland a couple of weeks ago, and one of the delegates, who’s actually a legislator — they were on the finance committee for the Parliament of Finland. — he said, ‘It’s so clean here.’ The people’s perception about what they see in the news outside of the U.S. is really what they’re cemented in. I think they’re pleasantly surprised when they come here.
WHAT DOES A DAY IN YOUR LIFE LOOK LIKE?
It’s different every single day. That’s the interesting thing. I’m learning about life sciences. I’m learning about all these different industries that are thriving in the city, the technology industry here with semiconductors. Things that I never would have thought I would have a chance to learn. We have such a diverse economy, and every single day I’m engaged in a conversation with someone or a company or a government official. My day is filled with connecting people to different people who are experts in their fields. It’s a lot of meetings, which are pretty overwhelming some days, and then it’s a lot of spending time with strategy and thinking about what we should be doing.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU?
I’m pretty passionate about my family. I think that a lot of people know that, but they may not understand what their personal growth means to me and my husband. I have three daughters, so I’m all about girl power.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Mary Wilonsky
Born and raised in Miami, Mary Wilonsky, outgoing executive director of the Friends of the Dallas Public Library, has always worked with print. In 1988, she received her bachelor’s degree in art history from Tulane University. She was an advertising represenative with the The New York Times and a publisher for the New Times Los Angeles. In 1988, she received her bachelor’s degree in art history from Tulane University.
Wilonsky was always destined to work with libraries.
“My first job was in my elementary school’s media center, which was what we called the library back then,” she says. “I ran the film projector, shelved books by Dewey Decimals and could splice broken film like a pro. I think I’ve been preparing for library life since age 10.”
In 1998, she moved to Dallas, where her husband is from, and worked for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company in their elementary textbook division, until 2003. After leaving HM, spending time home with her son, working with the Jewish Community Center of Dallas and joining the DeGolyer Elementary PTA Board of Directors, a new chapter of her life began in 2012.
“At that point, I was Mayor Mike Rawlings appointee to the Municipal Library Board, and I was also involved in my neighborhood branch, which is the Park Forest branch in Northwest Dallas,” Wilonsky says. “This organization had an executive director and a part-time assistant, so I started as a part-time assistant.”
After the executive director left in 2017, she was appointed as executive director of the Friends of the Dallas Public Library, a role she has held for almost eight years.
FDPL is a nonprofit that works with the City of Dallas to serve the Dallas Public Library system through volunteer work and generous donations, which funds facilities, early childhood
programs like SMART Summer and advocacy for all 30 branch libraries across the city. The non-profit has grown from a 300-member group to 600 members, and 40 board members.
Among the many initiatives and programs, Wilonsky says there’s one of the many accomplishments she’s proud of.
“The Open Libraries Unlock Potential Campaign of several years ago, which restored the library’s budget back to six and seven days a week, this was pre-COVID,” she says.
The campaign helped the branch libraries secure the necessary funding to expand their services and resources, which would have been unavailable or expensive to Dallas residents.
She’s also been involved in two bond elections, which secured money for library facilities. She says it’s unfortunate how poorly Dallas has taken care of and funded its libraries as a city department.
“Our work over here at the Friends has been to advocate for the library, and during my time, we have raised and provided nearly $12 million to DPL,” she says. “Over the lifetime of the organization, which is, since 1950, they’ve [Friends] provided $60 million plus to Dallas Public Library, very few people know we’re here doing this work.”
When she first started with Friends in 2012, she says the city council would question why Dallas has libraries if the internet is taking over and books are going away, but she stood her ground because not everyone had access to books online.
“Dallas Public Library has 30 locations, and every single one of them is active and vibrant,” Wilonsky says. “I mean, despite many of them crumbling, like infrastructure or air conditioning problems, there are millions of people using the library.”
After 12 years of working with Friends, Wilonsky is stepping down from her role on July 15.
“The organization is in such a strong place with strong leadership, that the time is perfect,” she says.
Carol Agronin
When Carol Agronin first started working with the Jewish Community Center of Dallas, the nonprofit organization was in bad shape.
She says the JCC was essentially going bankrupt. The nonprofit eventually survived, thanks to the hard work of Agronin and her team as well as help from the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation.
“When we came out of the line of credit, we had it totally paid off, and we were no longer in debt, that was an amazing thing to go from basically having nothing,” she says.
Since then, the JCC has never returned to those dark times, but instead of completely turning away from the past, Agronin still has a reminder of the JCC’s past struggles posted on her bulletinboard.
“If you forget the past, you’re due to repeat it,” she says. “It’s a reminder to me and to all of us that it took a lot of hard work to get out of that situation and that we never want to go back there again.”
Agronin began her career in the nonprofit and healthcare world by working for a multi-hospital system in Philadelphia, where she grew up. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA in healthcare administration from Temple University. Then, she moved to New York, where her husband is from, and that’s when her work with the Jewish Community Center started. The JCC of Mid-Westchester in Scarsdale, New York, needed a part-time finance director.
“I applied for it, and of course, nothing’s really part-time in a nonprofit,” she says.
Agronin worked there for about 10 years. Then, her family relocated to Dallas when her husband was recruited as the executive director of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation. Because the foundation was working with the JCC of Dallas, Agronin joined the JCC as a consultant. A year later, she became the full-time associate director and chief financial officer.
“With all the great staff, we turned the J around, and now we’re a healthy, thriving part of the Jewish community,” she says.
The JCC offers state-of-the-art facilities for fitness and programs for families, children and
seniors. It’s a place for people to learn, grow, play and enrich their lives by being part of an inclusive, tight-knit community. Agronin jokes that the JCC’s members range “from womb to tomb,” meaning it’s a place where you’ll see infants and people over 100 years old.
“We start from the very beginning, and we’re here for people all the way through in every perspective. If you want to work out, we’re here. If you want your child to go to preschool camp, we’re here. If you want your mother and father, who are older, to find friends and everything, we’re here,” she says. “The JCC, it’s really a continuum.”
Agronin says the most rewarding part of working at the JCC is being around the people in the center.
“We have an amazing senior program with seniors that are here every day for lunch, so you get to know them, they get to know you. For many of them, it’s like their lifeline,” she says. “It starts and makes their day.”
Agronin’s hard work doesn’t stop at the JCC; she continues learning on her own time through different Judaic groups.
“I’m trying to be a lifelong learner and learn not just about Judaism but all of the traits or the things we should be doing, like not gossiping and taking care of each other,” she says.
Gardening is also something Agronin takes joy in, with fig trees and plants growing all around her kitchen at home. In her personal life, she says her kids are getting married, and she hopes to have some grandchildren.
Agronin says she’s not necessarily nearing the end of her career, but she says when the time comes to retire, she wants to ensure The JCC is in a positive place. She believes every day is a new opportunity to make a difference, and she enjoys what she does. It’s important for her to work with the J because it is an integral part of the community.
“We all have to remember that these kinds of organizations, whether Jewish or non-Jewish … they’re really important parts of the community.” she says. “If they’re not here, it would make a big difference in our children’s lives, in our lives.”
HEART OF V I C K E
R Y
Heart House provides literacy education and supports emotional well-being for children in Vickery Meadow
MStory by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by VICTORIA GOMEZ
idtown Improvement District. Five Points. Little UN. Through landlord neglect, systemic failures, high crime, beautification efforts and recent gentrification: Vickery Meadow.
It’s one of the most densely populated areas of the city, spanning a few square miles of apartment complexes built on apartment complexes. Originally built for early-career single professionals, the apartments now house one of the most diverse and robust populations of immigrants, refugees and working-class people in Dallas.
According to 2022 census survey data, close to 48% of the population in ZIP code 75231 spoke languages other than English at home, and almost a third were born outside of the U.S.
Currently in its 25th year of service in the area, Heart House is a nonprofit organization that provides free literacy programs for refugee, immigrant and under-resourced children in Vickery Meadow. The organization recently expanded its operations outside of after-school education to include an in-school tutoring program at Lee A. McShan Jr. Elementary School called McShan Reading Homeroom.
“Many of the children who come to Dallas or families who come to Dallas as refugees are settled into the Vickery Meadow community by the resettlement agencies,” says Executive Director Shannon Hendricks. “And so in those three square miles, we have just numerous, numerous refugee children and immigrant families who have found their way to that community as well.”
“We’ve historically served them after school, with what started off as a safe place for them to go so they’re not just home alone or in the neighborhood on the streets. They helped with homework and things like that. Now it’s transitioned to be a place where we help them develop their literacy skills, their English language learning.”
At first, Heart House operated in neighborhood apartment complexes but was forced to abandon the model in 2021 due to permitting issues. Since then, they’ve provided programs at libraries, Literacy Archive’s Vickery Meadow Center and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation facility, before landing at McShan earlier last year.
Working with refugee and immigrant children in schools requires a certain level of sensitivity and finesse in the current climate. In January, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a 2011 directive prohibiting federal enforcement actions in “safe zones” such as elementary and secondary schools, colleges, hospitals and churches.
“(Parents were worried) especially in late January, February, March, when parents didn’t know if their kids were safe at school because of the directive that ICE could come into the schools, which had been a safe place before,” Hendricks says. “We worked with the schools to understand the processes and the protocols and what would garner ICE coming into a school campus, and served as a conduit to sharing that information with the families, reassuring the families that their information was safe with us because we are not a government-funded entity.”
Hendricks says things have settled down since the winter, but the organization is still monitoring changes to federal programs, especially AmeriCorps.
TEACHING THE HEART
The core of Heart House’s mission may be English language education, but it also pursues a more holistic model in reaching its students.
“Heart House provides opportunities to increase a child’s awareness of literacy and English language learning, coupled with development of their social emotional skills, their mental well-being,” Hendricks says.
The organization incorporates breathing exercises, story times and other exercises designed to help children understand, label and process their emotions into most sessions. Past processing their own emotions, Heart House incorporates social-emotional learning (SEL) to help the children learn empathy and healthy interaction.
Serving immigrant and, especially, refugee children can come with its own host of challenges, Hendricks says.
“We know that these kids have been through a lot of traumas, a lot of changes, more so than your typical child, which mental health is important for everybody,” she says. “So we do specific things that help them to really understand their emotions and be able to speak about their emotions.”
The emphasis on SEL isn’t just about making children happier, Hendricks says. It’s about creating well-rounded members of society who are better equipped to deal with the pressures and adversities of life. She says that the in-school tutoring program will provide one-on-one opportunities to further this mission.
THE CLASSROOM
It’s around 4 p.m. on a gray November afternoon at McShan Elementary. Through bright construction paper-wrapped hallways, the lower elementary after-school group is being led in breathing exercises inside a quaint, equally construction paper-adorned classroom. The children are calm, probably because they just enjoyed their second recess of the day.
Downstairs, the upper elementary group is a slightly different crowd. They have yet to enjoy the privilege of second recess. While things are a little rowdy, the children are still filling out worksheets, practicing consonants and long Os.
They say after-school is better than regular school, with a few citing better activities as the deciding factor. (A substance called slime, apparently blue, was referenced as one’s favorite activity.)
Teaching them is Camryn Woodson. She earned a degree in human development and family science from the University of North Texas. Before Heart House, she assistant taught at an area elementary school.
“I was always looking for something that was SEL based, because in the school, I noticed there wasn’t that at all, and the kids really needed a social emotional [supporter] to help them,” Woodson says.
“And that’s why I gravitated toward Heart House ” She started in the spring and says things have been going a little better in her new classroom.
“I really feel like I’m making a difference with kids, and I’ve seen kids grow,” she says. “So the kids that I had at another location we were at when I came in April, I got to see how they developed ”
“There is this little girl who never really talked about her emotions or how she was feeling at all, and then by the end, she would open up to me more, and she was able to label her emotions and her feelings ”
Woodson is one of eight full-time staff members at the organization. Staffers are largely supported by volunteers, who come to fulfill work or school service obligations, or simply for the sake of a good deed.
Hendricks says volunteers of all skills and availabilities are able to serve at Heart House’s programs.
“They can come to our after-school program, they can share a skill or a talent that they have,” Hendricks says. “They can just come and hang out with the kids and just be a positive influence. We have one volunteer who has a therapy dog, and he brings Bunny in once a month to be with the kids, and the dog is trained to be that calming presence. We have individuals who know how to do yoga, and they’ll come in and teach yoga to the kids as a good method ”
CHRISTELLE
Originally from Rwanda, Christelle Agasaro grew up in Malawi be-fore coming to the U.S. with her two sons three years ago. After she arrived, like many in Vickery Meadow, she says she was challenged by finding a job, helping her kids with homework and adapting to an entirely different country
She saw a flier for Heart House and enrolled her boys as fast as she could. She says one of the most immediate effects she noticed was in her eldest son, who had been experiencing social isolation.
“He would be in the apartment, and he would just be staying indoors,” Agasaro says. “He wasn’t making any friends, he was getting bored. He was a sad kid, but after he joined Heart House, he would come home happy, smiling, and I just had that positive energy. It was more like they were bringing positivity in my life. Because even for
me, things were just a bit hectic. But for him, he started making friends. He was happy. He was always excited to go. And then came in the reading.”
She had enjoyed the benefit of English classes at her Catholic school in Malawi — her sons had not. When they first arrived, she says both of her children had difficulty reading, but quickly caught on after lessons at Heart House.
Agasaro says she is very involved in the community, rarely missing events, which is why Heart House eventually offered her a job as the organization’s community development director last February.
In her role, Agasaro coordinates with volunteers and communicates with families. She helps get resources, program information and updates to the children’s parents, who may feel more comfortable with her.
“I would say it is very much helpful, just because where we come from. We have a certain perspective of things where, if it’s someone who is in your situation, you feel like you open up more to them and you trust more of them,” she says.
Her oldest son is in middle school now and has aged out of the program, but her younger son, Brave, is now in the upper elementary class. Sitting in a McShan Elementary hallway, Agasaro is approachable, friendly and enthusiastic about Heart House’s mission — the archetype of a nonprofit community outreach coordinator in one of the five biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S.
“I believe in this mission, mostly because it has that perspective of taking care of the kids, other than just families, and I believe it’s a necessity for the kids to be supported in that emotional support and that reading part.”
NOT GOING ANYWHERE
Heart House teachers are supported by AmeriCorps volunteers. It’s an area of concern for the organization, as the Trump Administration recently laid off over 1,000 AmeriCorps employees and slashed funding for thousands of programs. However, a federal district judge ordered the administration to restore AmeriCorps funding in early June, and Hendricks says the agencies that administer Heart House’s volunteer funding have been unaffected.
Despite the temporary reprieve, AmeriCorps still faces an uncertain future, and Hendricks says the organization would be forced to hire part-time staff to compensate for any potential loss of volunteers. Cuts to USDA food programs are also a concern as the organization relies on the funds to provide after-school snacks, she says.
Regardless of potential challenges and cuts facing the organization ahead of the upcoming school year, Hendricks says the need remains the same.
“These children are here, regardless of how they got here. They’re here and they are human lives, and we can help them now by repairing some of those pathways in their brain that have been damaged by the traumas that they’ve encountered in their lives. We can help them build their literacy skills, help their learning, help them learn coping mechanisms so they can become productive members of society, wherever they are. Or we can ignore that and put blame on their situation, not help them, not repair the damages that they’ve encountered so far, and they can become taxing members of society — the choice is ours.”
Heart House is considering serving middle schoolers again, in addition to its current K-5 student pool.
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OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
By PATTI VINSON
‘Being disabled isn’t a bad thing — it’s just a thing’
Francis
Zalace keeps smiling in spite of her disability
Stoicism: an ancient philosophy that teaches how to live well in the face of adversity and uncertainty. Neighbor Francis Zalace, who lost her limbs due to a catastrophic illness, can teach you something about this approach to life. Her story is a master class in resilience, happiness and wisdom.
It was toward the end of February 2024 when 41-year-old Francis began to feel a bit “off,” as she recalls, “a little tired.” She chalked it up to her busy lifestyle juggling a full-time elementary school music teaching position, being a single mom to her three kids, and doing gigs as an in-demand balloon artist.
The day before her life changed, she had pushed through the fatigue and done a couple of balloon gigs, then attended a stand-up comedy show with her boyfriend. But she was feeling worse the following day and went to an urgent care facility for flu symptoms and breathing difficulties. Diagnosed with viral and bacterial pneumonia and a dangerously low oxygen level, she was sent by ambulance to a hospital emergency room where she took a turn.
“I fell into a 10-day coma,” Francis recounts, “and when I woke up, my extremities had suffered necrosis as a side effect of the vasopressors that were keeping me alive.” A quadruple amputation was necessary to clear away the necrotic tissue: her legs below the thigh, her arms just above the wrist. It was the only choice to save her life.
Over the next four months, she had two to three surgeries per week, plus ongoing physical therapy. Eight months total passed before she was finally discharged from the hospital and went home to be cared for primarily by family. “I’m still in the process of regaining my full autonomy so in the meantime my current new normal is being attended to by my daughter as my mother continues to handle logistics and bureaucracy related to my care.”
Over time, through physical therapy and an amazingly positive attitude, Francis has made progress adjusting to her new life.
She lists milestones such as coming off her feeding tube and tracheotomy, feeding herself, rolling over and sitting up, getting out of bed and sitting in a wheelchair, driving her motorized wheelchair, and transferring into a car to ride in a regular car seat.
No, it hasn’t been easy. But Francis was strong mentally to begin with. “I’ve always been a relatively optimistic person, but I think an interest I took up in stoicism not long before I ended up in the hospital helped with my mindset during the more challenging moments,” she says, and explains the basic tenet. “We may not have control over what happens to us but we can control our response.”
Francis has resumed many of her pre-illness activities: dates with her boyfriend, movies, visiting the mall. During the holidays, she visited the Arboretum to take a festive photo with Santa.
Music, too, is back in her life. Though not yet back in her music classroom, she has been doggedly determined to make music again and experiments with various percussive instruments. “It’s definitely my priority to play again.” So far, she has found success with the steel tongue drum, which is played with mallets. Francis discovered that she could strap the mallets onto her arms and play the drum, and she also discovered that she could play the black keys of the piano with mallets.
And, of course, she has her voice. Shortly after being released from the hospital, Francis returned to her church, First Unitarian Church of Dallas, to attend Sunday services and sing in the choir. Her routine now includes weekly choir practice.
Ever the optimist, Francis has an eye to the future. She is in the process of preparing for arm and leg prosthetics. She hopes to return to her classroom at Clinton P. Russell Elementary School. She dreams of being a motivational speaker, especially for children, with abilities as a focus.
And she wants to educate anyone and everyone about her situation, inspiring her to start a YouTube channel on the first anniversary of her hospitalization
(youtube.com/@zombieeteddybear). “I’m grateful for the opportunity to educate others and help normalize people with disabilities living life to the fullest,” she says. “I like to encourage dialogue. I welcome questions from strangers.” She has received questions and comments from as far away as Canada and South Africa, and embraces her growing “global community.”
In her various videos and shorts, Francis describes how she ended up in the hospital, the day she woke up from the coma, and what she remembers from her coma: vivid, bizarre dreams that reflected her reality. She also addresses her day to day life and demonstrates how she gets into and out of bed, how she transfers into her wheelchair, and how she feeds herself with specialized utensils.
In these videos, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find plenty of levity. “I have a tendency to find the humor in things, so there’s plenty of joking around.” She titled one of her videos “Look Ma, No Hands!” In the video, a split screen has Francis eating chocolate, breaking up an orange into sections, uncapping and drinking from a bottle, picking up her phone and sending a text. Meanwhile, her mom gamely tries, with much difficulty, to approximate the same action without using her hands.
Francis has a message for the world: “Being disabled isn’t a bad thing — it ’s just a thing,” she smiles. “Stay focused on what you can do and you’ll find a way to do what you want to do. Use everything you’re given as fuel, no matter what it is.”
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To read updates and to help with ongoing expenses: GoFundMe Francis Zalace
PATTI VINSON is a guest writer who has lived in East Dallas for more than 20 years. She’s written for the Advocate and Real Simple magazine.
