By:

Zaid Asfoor, Herbert Kang, Elizabeth Salazar, Edna Odonkor, Brian Dowdy
Tom Thumb
Prepared for:
The Dallas Chamber of Commerce

April 21, 2014

Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................. 3
Background .............................................................. 4
Proposal.................................................................... 5
Staffing ..................................................................... 7
Budget ...................................................................... 8
Authorization ........................................................... 9
References .............................................................. 10

Introduction
Runaway and homeless youth has become a severe issue. Youth escape from their homes and
runaway because of family and economic problems in the household. According to the National
Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL):

At any given night, there are approximately 1.3 million homeless youth living on the
street (NCSL, 2013).
Around 5,000 runaway, or unaccompanied, youth die every year because of illness,
assault, or suicide (NCSL, 2013).
46 percent of unaccompanied youth are physically abused, 38 percent are emotionally
abused, and 17 percent are being forced into sexual activity (NCSL, 2013).

Because of the high level of unaccompanied youth and the high risks they face, many states have
introduced and enacted legislations to help prevent it since 2006. In addition, these states have
developed programs to try to aid this issue. The NCSL listed these several states; however, Texas
was not one of them. With the help of Tom Thumb, we can help raise money and awareness for
Promise House, a shelter that provides care for thousands of teens each year, and reduce the
amount of unaccompanied teens in the Dallas area.
Promise House: Promising Youth. Promising Future.
Out of the many homeless shelters in the Dallas area, Promise House is one of the finest. With
the focus of homeless youth, Promise House's vision is that ''every youth has a safe and nurturing
place to call home.'' Since its opening in 1984, Promise House has helped over 70,000 youths in
the North Texas area. Moreover, they provide care to 3,000 teens and their families every year.
Besides taking care of homeless and runaway youth, Promise Houses core purpose is to steer
youth away from high risk towards safety through methods such as:

Education
Interventions

Counseling Services
Housing

This year marks Promise Houses 30 year anniversary, and because of that, we want to expand
its building and facilities by raising $500,000 over the course three months. In addition, we want
to have the Dallas Chamber of Commerce match the money that we raise from these events.

Background
What is Promise House?
Promise house is a well-known organization that helps homeless youth across the Dallas/Ft.
Worth area, by providing them with shelter and other services. Some of the programs Promise
House provides include a transitional living, street outreach, and emergency youth shelter.
Promise House welcomes all eligible clients and does not discriminate based on race, color,
national origin, sexual orientation, gender, religion or political belief. They have also served over
70,000 children, teens and families in the North Texas area.
Figure 1: Client Profile

The Need
There has been an increase in youth homelessness throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. This
problem is huge and needs to be reduced to ensure Dallass youth is kept safe and off the streets.
The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance conducted an annual homeless count in 2013 and stated
that Homeless teens are on the rise totaling 241 on one night in January of this year. About
69% of young adults/ teens are homeless while 685 of them are females. Homelessness is caused
by a multiple of factors such as being kicked out by family members, changes in family status,
abuse, and many other factors.
Who Are We and What is Our Goal?
Tom Thumb has always valued contributing to many charities that impacted the community. It is
through our Good Neighbor Program that customers are given the opportunity to donate to a
charity theyve chosen through our rewards program. Through the Good Neighbor Program, our
goal is to help contribute to Promise House and their efforts to reduce youth homelessness by
raising awareness and funds for a new building and its needed amenities.

Proposal
What Are We Proposing?
Being that it is the 30th anniversary of Promise House, we as the Good Neighbor Program within
Tom Thumb plan to partner with Promise House. Through this partnership we plan to raise funds
for a new facility and all the needed amenities that would extend Promise House further. A new
Promise House facility would be a life time investment for the city of Dallas and benefit
homeless youth. Not only would our efforts help raise awareness within Dallas communities, but
would also help reduce the amount of homeless youth.
Figure 2: Good Neighbor Program

Figure 3: Promise House

How Will A New Facility Help?

A new facility would allow Promise House to extend their programs on a larger scale within
Dallas. By making their programs bigger Promise House will be able to take more homeless
youth in and help them better their lives by keeping them off the streets.
Why is Money Needed?
For this project, we as Tom Thumb have agreed to pay for the construction of the building,
however money for the amenities within the facility are still needed. Therefore all proceeds from
the festivals and the formal event will all go toward the new Promise House facilitys amenities
listed below.
Needed Amenities:
Furniture
Supplies
Technology

Interior Design
Security

Our Plan for Good Neighbors 4 A Promise

Our plan is to raise funds by hosting multiple festivals and one formal event hosting Tom
Thumbs business contacts as Good Neighbor 4 the Promise. All proceeds from the festivals and
the formal event will go towards Promise House and the construction of a new facility. The
festivals are planned to occur during the summer of 2014 and the formal event is planned to
occur September of 2014.
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Festivals
The Good Neighbors 4 a Promise Festivals will be an event held every 1st and 3rd Saturday
during the summer months May through July of 2014. We are planning various events such as
the ones listed below to draw in the community to the festivals. The festivals will be held at
specified store locations where there will security to monitor and keep the festivals safe.
The events held within the festival will be:
Game Booths
Bounce Houses
Live Radio Entertainment

Food Booths
Paid Booths

At the food booths, people from the community will have to pay for food and beverages that are
offered at reasonable prices. For the game booths and bounce houses people will be able to buy
tickets that are redeemable for use of the games and bounce houses throughout the festival.
Companies that pay to have booths will inform the community on their programs that also
contribute to homeless youth in Dallas as well as host various raffles or games of their choosing.
At all event locations there will be donation jars where people are given the opportunity to
donate any amount of their choosing.
Formal Event
For the formal event, we are planning to hold a dinner for Tom Thumbs business contacts. This
dinner will be another way to get other companies involved in our cause. The purpose of this
banquet dinner is to not only to get them involved, but to also raise more awareness of youth
homelessness within our business contacts and invoke them to contribute more either through
their on methods. We plan to accomplish this by having a Promise House Representatives at the
event to speak more on their purpose at the dinner.
In order to attend this dinner, tickets for this event will be sold to companies. The money
obtained from ticket sales will go toward a bank account made just for Promise House. Promise
house will then be able to use those funds for anything the new and older facility might need
after it is open.

Staffing
Considering that there will be six events held on the parking lots of some specified Tom Thumb
locations, staffing is important for these occasions. At each event, at least one member from the
board will; be present to ensure the fundraisers go on smoothly.
Food Outlets
Tom Thumb usually has deli shops within their store. Since they are certified to serve food, the
employees will be given the right to serve food to participants for the awareness program. This
group of individuals serving food will solely be on the volunteer basis. There will be other
volunteers present to ensure that the needs of the guests attending the awareness program are
met; in terms of explaining to them what the program is about and what these guests can do to
donate or help in whichever way possible.
The Volunteer Center of North Texas has also been contacted and will be available to help. The
volunteers from VCNT will be two groups of 15 members each. The first group will help with
the setup of the event in terms of putting up the bounce houses for the kids attending and other
activities adult guest can participate in. The other group will be the clean-up crew, after each
fundraising event they will clean the parking lots and put everything in order.
Security
Due to the large amount of individuals expected to attend the festivals to raise awareness. It is
important that security is provided for the safety of our guest. The security agency that will be
used is Valor Security. Valor is known for having the best security system for shopping centers,
hospitality businesses, as well as providing security for mixed business properties. A minimum
of two or a maximum of four security guards will be available to ensure the safety of our guests.
Through negotiated rates, the guards will be paid $20 per hour. Extra security cameras will be
attached to the canopies to ensure the safety of our guests as well as our employees.
Formal Event
The formal event that marks the end of the awareness program is going to be in the form of a
banquet for Tom Thumbs business contacts. This event will be a way to involve them in raising
awareness of youth homelessness. The event is going to be held at the Sheraton Hotel and will be
catered for by the Two Sister Catering. The staff for the banquets will be provided by S&A
Staffing. The wage rate per server is $12 and a total of 15 servers are going to be hired. Hours for
the banquet are yet to be determined.

Budget
Contingencys

Estimated Need

Pay Per Rate

Radio Promotions

7am,11am,5pm,9pm

$500 X 12wk

Live Radio Show

6 events with Disc Jockey

Donated by 106.1 Kiss

FM, 99.5 The Wolf
and 97.9 The Beat

Valor Security

4 Security Guards 6hrs per

event

$20 X 4 X 36

$(2,880)

S & A Staffing

15 Servers 8hrs per event

$12 X 15 X 48

$(8,640)

Ticket Press Up

1,000

1,000 X $0.45

$(450)

A-1 Bounce House

6 Events ( 3 Bounce Houses)

6 x 3 X $130

Insurance

6 Events

Covered by store
location written policy

Food service
managers

6 events

2 x 6 x $20

Miscellaneous
Materials

Rope, twine, canopies, traffic

cones, etc.

Banners

DFW store locations and

various donors locations

75 x $75

$(5,625)

Location Rental

Event 7 venue at Sheraton

Hotel downtown Dallas

1 night includes set up

and take down of floor
plan

$(3,500)

Contingencys

TBA

Total

Total
$(6,000)
$0

$(2,340)
$0
$(240)
$(2,000)

$(5,000)
($36,675)

The festivals and the dinner will cost about a total of $36,675 to run which is all donated by Tom
Thumbs Good Neighbors program. All the events will have security and be insured. These
events will also include donated services as well as services that will be paid for by Good
Neighbors. We also are planning to pay for any unexpected costs these events might incur.
Charitable Donations by Dallas Chamber of Commerce
The Budget for Dallas Chamber of Commerce to match is the amount raised from dontions
booths at all the stated events. This number will not be expected to be matched if the proceeds
become greater than $500,000. All the proceeds from each company will be given to promise
house for expansion to help battle homeless teens in the Dallas community.

Authorization
As Tom Thumbs Good Neighbor Program, we feel that Good Neighbors 4 A Promise is a
fundraiser that will help contribute to Promise House in a big way. Our efforts will help raise
awareness within the community and raise funds for a new facility and its needed amenities.
Main Goals:
Raise awareness within community.
Raise Funds for Promise House.

Reduce the amount of youth

homelessness.

What A Contribution From The Dallas Chamber of Commerce Can Do?

If the Dallas Chamber of Commerce chooses to contribute by matching our raised goal of
$500,000, it would help reduce youth homelessness. By reducing this issue, more of Dallass
youth will be able to stay out of trouble and remain in school. With an added contribution
Promise House will be able to put more youth through their programs and keep them off the
streets. Please join our cause and help keep the youth of Dallas County off the streets.
Good Neighbor/ Tom Thumb Board Members

__________________________________________
Zaid Asfoor, Coordinator/ Board Member

___________________________________________
Elizabeth Salazar, Coordinator/ Board Member

__________________________________________
Herbert Kang, Coordinator/Board Member

___________________________________________
Brian Dowdy, Accountant/ Board Member

___________________________________________
Edna Odonkor, Human Resource/ Board Member

________________________________________________________
Signature of Approval/ Acceptance of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce

References
About Us. (n.d.). Promise House. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://promisehouse.org/about-us/
Homeless and Runaway Youth. (2013, October 1). Homeless and Runaway Youth. Retrieved April 20,
2014, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/homeless-and-runaway-youth.aspx
Our Story. (n.d.). Tom Thumb. Retrieved, from http://www.tomthumb.com/ShopStores/OurStory.page
NRS Statistics on Runaways - Third Party Statistics | National Runaway Safeline. (2014). Retrieved April
19, from http://www.1800runaway.org/learn/research/third_party/
Rosales, C. (2013, November 21). Youth advocates gather for annual event to discuss teen homelessness
in dallas area. Retrieved from http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/11/youth-advocatesgather-for-annual-event-to-discuss-teen-homelessness-in-dallas-area.html/
Figure 1: Client Profile [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://promisehouse.org/about-us/client-profile/
Figure 2: Tom Thumb [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.tomthumb.com/ShopStores/OurStory.page
Figure 3: Promise House [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://promisehouse.org/

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