Helping Weather the Storm

October 4, 2021

CFT fund holders support CFT's North Texas Winter Weather Crisis Relief Fund

Margaret Elizabeth and Michael McKissack established the McKissack Family Fund in December 2020. They had been giving to nonprofits directly and through CFT’s North Texas Giving Day for quite some time, and their new charitable fund at CFT allows them to streamline their giving and lean on CFT’s staff expertise when needed.

In February, even while they were without power and heat and displaced from their home during one of the worst winter storms our community has seen, the McKissacks made their first gift from their fund to CFT’s North Texas Winter Weather Crisis Relief Fund. Margaret Elizabeth worked at Buckner International for 10 years in service to Dallas neighborhoods and had seen firsthand how vulnerable families who are already struggling to care for their children are impacted significantly when a natural disaster occurs. Margaret Elizabeth and Michael thought about their own personal experience during the storm with their three young children when they were without electricity and water and their home temperature was dropping below 40 degrees. While they were eventually able to travel safely to stay with friends and family members, their hearts were with the families in extreme distress and survival mode who didn’t have a place to go.

_{Photo caption: CFT fund holders Margaret Elizabeth and Michael McKissack with their children}

“It was hard for us to navigate our own storm crisis and to not be out in the community serving and helping when we knew how great the needs were, so we wanted to make a gift to help support other families. When disaster occurs, it’s hard to know where to give or how to help, but it was so easy to reach out to CFT and share how we wanted to help support families and the nonprofits that serve them that were affected by the weather. We are proud to partner with CFT to make Dallas stronger for its children and their families,” said Margaret Elizabeth.

Read September's 2021 IMPACT Magazine Here

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