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The Salvation Army Arlington, Texas, recently held its first ever Inspiring Hope Luncheon at AT&T Stadium to raise funds for its programs. The event attracted over 700 people and Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones was the keynote speaker. For more than two decades the charity and the teams have been closely linked.
The Cowboys and Jones family are longtime supporters of The Salvation Army. According to Jones, the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day halftime show has helped generate nearly $2 billion for the organization over the past 18 years. The Gene and Jerry Jones Family Arlington Youth Foundation also helped to fund the construction of The Salvation Army’s Youth Education Town—a program that helps disadvantaged kids in the area with reading, writing and arithmetic.
“The Salvation Army is an inspiration,” Jones said in his speech. “You’re here, and we want you to be interested, get interested.”
Guests at the event, learned that last year the agency’s downtown Arlington location served nearly 50,000 meals, distributed 3,300 Christmas presents and provided a safe place to sleep for hundreds of individuals and families. The Joneses’ foundation, which has pledged to donate $16.5 million over 33 years to organizations that support Arlington youths, has also awarded a $50,000 grant to help 15,000 Arlington school district students access supplies and resources to get ready to go back to school this fall.
Arlington, Texas, Salvation Army Capt. Jennifer Jones and her husband, Lt. Patrick Jones, said they were grateful for this donation. They said the Army’s goal is to uplift individuals and families and give them hope by helping them achieve their full potential.
“My husband and I have the most amazing job in the world,” Jennifer Jones said. “We see barriers fall away; we see dreams realized; we see hopes rebuilt.”
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