North Dallas Shared Ministries
Location:
2875 Merrell Road
Dallas, Texas 75229
214-358-8700
www.ndsm.org
We have been involved with NDSM from its outset in 1983– in fact many of the early discussions for setting it up took place with several other congregations in our Fellowship Hall. There are now 50 covenant congregations. NDSM covers 20 Dallas zip codes, from just north of downtown to far north Dallas (75287) and I 35 to the area around Presbyterian Hospital.
NDSM serves the working poor through rental and utility assistance, food, clothing, job counseling, ESL classes, income tax preparation, glasses and medical and dental care. NDSM served over 62,000 clients in 2010 with $2,909,041 in aid. Each August, two school uniforms and grade related school supplies are provided to approximately 2600 students. NDSM also has a Friday FoodBasket, which is open to seniors and the disabled on fixed incomes from any where in the Dallas area: each week, a prepackaged bag of groceries, eggs and milk are available to them.
What makes NDSM so special is their reliance on volunteers – even the Executive Director is a volunteer. There are 2.5 paid workers, an administrative assistant (whose salary is covered by the Junior League of Dallas) and a part-time medical director (physician) and a medical assistant. Volunteers gave 47,507 hours, 80% of which came from members of covenant congregations. Our church members provide over 1000 volunteer hours each year.
NDSM partners with many other organizations. Each summer, a college intern develops a booklet listing where to turn for help in the different zip codes. This is distributed to hospitals, other agencies and churches at no cost to them.
For more information on NDSM go to the website
ndsm.org
Church Contact: Lois Duell