Saturday, April 20, 2024
Crystal Moore
UNITED WAY OF HOOD COUNTY
Crystal Moore is the executive director of United Way of Hood County, wife, and empty-nest mom of two redheads. She enjoys being outdoors and has lived in Granbury on and off for the last 10 years with her husband David.
April brought us some much-needed rain and the bluebonnets and wisteria are in full bloom all around us.
It also brought many opportunities for community engagement, of which we took full advantage to get out and support our partner agencies. But it also brought amazing opportunities such as meeting the founder of United Way of Hood County. We got so much insight and knowledge with the wonderful Mrs. Hank Stone and enjoyed looking at where we started and where we are headed.
DISPLAYS OF HOPE AND STRENGTH
April began with The Paluxy River Advocacy Center at Hewlett Park planting 773 pinwheels in recognition of Child Abuse Awareness Month, and with just a short walk to the square, you will see the flags and ribbons in observance as well.
Mission Granbury has also installed The Clothesline Project in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The project displays T-shirts created by victims and is extremely powerful. We highly encourage you to go to the square and take a look.
PROM BREATHALYZERS
The Hood County Substance Abuse Council provided breathalyzer tests for both Granbury and Tolar proms. While this has been a success in the past at Granbury, this was Tolar’s first year, and approximately 90% of their students participated. You know positive change is occurring when the youth in our community embrace something that many feared would be a negative experience. However, they proved it to be the opposite of fear – they made it powerful and lifesaving.
RANCHO BRAZOS COMMUNITY CENTER
We were also invited to join Rancho Brazos at their luncheon to honor their faithful volunteers and met so many of the community members who are changing lives right there at that community center. We want to share our excitement over the land that was given to them from Hood County. This land will give all the kids out there the chance to participate in activities such as raising animals for 4-H and planting gardens.
GET INVOLVED
In April, we had so many events and opportunities to engage with our partners and the community. It truly seemed that each day brought a “best day” moment.
If you are looking for a way to further engage with your United Way, please call or email and ask about our community roundtable. Representatives from Hood County agencies and community organizations get together to share ideas and discuss ways to help the entire community. Business owners, feel free to come and find out about the different agencies and find a place or program you feel led to sponsor. These meetings are open and held on the third Wednesday of every month.
Our May 11 meeting will be replaced with a volunteer program workshop that will give our agencies a new look on how to engage volunteers. If you would like to join us, please register on our website.
As always, I am available and would love to continue this conversation in person or by phone. Please drop by the office or give me a call anytime, I look forward to hearing from you.
crystalmoore@unitedwayhoodcounty.com | 817-579-5100
