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Buckner International President and CEO Albert Reyes joined campaign co-chairs Meredith and Kyle Bebee and Katie and John Golden today to announce the “Shining Hope Dallas Campaign,” a capital campaign to build and fund a new Buckner Family Hope Center in the Bachman Lake Community of Dallas.

Reyes said the impetus for the project began with a “simple question: What if we could protect Dallas’ most vulnerable children? Buckner helps families rise above their circumstances and meet their God-given potential so that each child is safe and thriving. This Buckner Family Hope Center will enable and empower children to stay where they belong— in their own families.”

Meredith Bebee of Dallas echoed the need, inviting Dallas to rally behind the effort. “We believe family is God’s ideal for every child, which is why we’ve joined with the Golden family and other Campaign Council members to lead the Shining Hope Dallas Campaign to fund a new Buckner Family Hope Center at Bachman Lake.”

The campaign seeks to raise $14.5 million for the new Buckner ministry, which will offer programs and services to protect children and strengthen families in the area. Construction costs for the project are $10.5 million, with a $4 million endowment to fund ongoing programs. Reyes said preliminary fundraising efforts among select Buckner supporters have already raised $9.5 million towards the goal, including a $1.125 million commitment from the Crystal Charity Ball.

Reyes said construction on the project will begin this fall. A groundbreaking event is set for Sept. 27 at the building site. The proposed 21,795-square-foot, two-story Family Hope Center will be built on approximately two acres at the corner of Lombardy Avenue and Geraldine Drive. It will sit strategically between multi-unit family living complexes and single-family homes in on of Dallas’ most economically challenged areas. Buckner operates 26 similar Family Hope Centers in Texas and six countries.

“This is a unique area that needs our unique services,” Reyes said, pointing to the Bachman Community’s chal- lenging demographic needs. “We will be coming into a three-square-mile area with an estimated population of 82,000. Its five elementary schools have 4,000 students, 96 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged. It has a Child Protective Services removal rate twice the average in Dallas County. Knowing this just increases the urgency we feel to move forward on this campaign.”

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