Tony Vellucci

Trans Kids and Families of Texas is newest organization on the list of grantees

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
One new beneficiary is in; one old one is back, and three of last year’s recipients are gone from this year’s Black Tie Dinner’s list of grantees.
One national and 18 local non-profit organizations will participate in and receive funds from the 37th annual gala that will be held at the Sheraton Dallas on Nov. 3.
Black Tie also announced its theme for this year’s dinner and introduced its new development director at a kick-off event held Thursday night, April 5, at The Hall on Dragon and underwritten by Eighty Three Creative Inc.
The new kid on the beneficiary block is Trans Kids and Families of Texas. The returning beneficiary is The Women’s Chorus of Dallas, who was a recipient as recently as 2016, but wasn’t among last year’s grantee organizations.
DFW Trans Kids and Families was founded by a few families in 2015 to support their transgender or gender expansive children of all ages in the DFW area. Its nonprofit status is registered as Trans Kids and Families of Texas.
The organization holds monthly socials to connect families that support each other and their kids as they transition. They provide peer-to-peer and online support and offer medical, counseling and legal referrals. They offer help with the expense of transitioning and other related needs.
This year, Trans Kids and Families of Texas began a scholarship program for graduating high school students.
“Our group has been growing pretty rapidly over the last three years,” said founder Melissa Ballard. “We have about 600 members. We want to provide ongoing support, and that’s what Black Tie will help us do.”
After a year’s absence from the beneficiary list, The Women’s Chorus of Dallas returns this year. “We are so grateful to Black Tie for assisting us with fulfilling our mission,” said Ann Rathbun, general manager of The Women’s Chorus of Dallas.
Rathbun said TWCD has a gala on Saturday, April 7 at 7 p.m. at the Interfaith Peace Chapel as well as its Mother’s Day concert at 2 p.m. on May 13 at the Texas Discovery Gardens. Tickets to both are available at TWCD.org.
Three beneficiaries not returning this year are AIDS Interfaith Network, now known as Access and Information Network, Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas and the Trevor Project. Trevor and SCCenter didn’t apply this year.
Trevor, a national LGBT teen crisis hotline, had hired a full-time development director for the region to do fundraising across an area that generates the largest portion of its hotline calls. He left later in the spring, so the agency had to hire someone just to coordinate the beneficiary requirements — table sales, raffle sales, collecting auction items and providing volunteer hours.
BTD Co-Chair David Gifford-Robinson explained that AIN was undergoing some reorganization.
Human Rights Campaign Foundation remains the national beneficiary, as it has been since the inception of Black Tie Dinner.
Black Tie Dinner supports a variety of organizations throughout the Dallas LGBT community. Four of the agencies are HIV-related, four are youth- or family-oriented, and four are religious organizations. Three are cultural organizations, and three are legal or legislative organizations. Among those 18 agencies, several overlap in services provided — Legal Hospice of Texas is both a legal and HIV services agency. Among Resource Center programs are those addressing issues related to HIV, youth, family and more.
Returning beneficiaries are AIDS Outreach Center, AIDS Services of Dallas, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Cathedral of Hope, Celebration Community Church, Congregation Beth El Binah, Equality Texas Foundation, Lambda Legal, Legacy Counseling Center, Legal Hospice of Texas, Northaven UMC, Promise House, Rainbow Roundup, Resource Center, Turtle Creek Chorale and Uptown Players.
The theme of this year’s Black Tie Dinner is “Visible.”
“It is imperative to the progress of the overall equality movement that we each show up everyday and are Visible in our workplaces, homes and communities,” said Gifford-Robinson.
Black Tie also announced hiring Tony Vellucci as the new director of development. Velucci has held development positions with Spooner House that provides shelter services in Shelton Conn., the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA and the Archdiocese of New York.
Most recently, he served as the assistant director of development for Vogel Alcove in Dallas. Black Tie beneficiary Congregation Beth El Binah was one of the founding organizations of Vogel Alcove.
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2018 BENEFICIARY ORGANIZATIONS
AIDS Outreach Center
AIDS Services of Dallas
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Cathedral of Hope
Celebration Community Church
Congregation Beth El Binah
Equality Texas Foundation
Lambda Legal
Legacy Counseling Center
Legal Hospice of Texas
Northaven UMC
Promise House
Rainbow Roundup
Resource Center
Turtle Creek Chorale
Trans Kids and Families of Texas
Uptown Players
The Women’s Chorus of Dallas
Human Rights Campaign Foundation