Harvey Meissner, center, delivered a check for $75,000 in unrestricted funds to AIN. Pictured are Director of Programs Zachariah Skariah, Events Coordinator Isaac Lobo, CEO Yolanda Jones, Office Manager Kay Hale, COO Joni Wysocki, Director of Development Mark Quigley and Timm Chamberlain in Development.

Donations give unrestricted funds to 7 LGBTQ organizations

From Staff Reports

The Anthony Bobrow Trust, created by former Hidden Door Dallas owner the late Tony Bobrow this week delivered checks totaling more than $300,000 to Dallas nonprofits serving the Dallas LGBTQ community.

“This is the seventh consecutive year we’ve distributed unrestricted donations of around $300,000 in late spring,” said Harvey Meissner, president of Hidden Door Inc. and co-trustee of the Bobrow Trust. “Organizations tell us budgets are especially strained by mid-year, so our donations are vital for their operations.”

Donations this week included $75,000 each to AIN and Legacy Cares, $50,000 each to AIDS Services of Dallas and Taste of Hope, $27,500 to the Family Place, $10,000 to DFW Sisters and then $5,000, via the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Dallas to CASA Summer Camp Project.

“Our year continues with donations throughout, and we always try to ensure a Merry Christmas,” Meissner continued. “As an example, later in 2023 we donated $25,000 to the Greater Oak Lawn Committee to ensure maintenance at the Legacy of Love Monument, located at Oak Lawn Avenue and Cedar Springs Road, for the next five years, and we donated an initial $25,000 to the Family Place. It’s a resource many don’t know about, offering services and resources tailored specifically to survivors of relationship violence in the LGBTQ community.”

Meissner explained that Tony Bobrow grew up in Teague, Texas, about 100 miles south of Dallas, and that “he never forgot that, and he left specific instructions to ‘make life better for Teague.’

“We have done that. For the past seven years we’ve funded food assistance, social services and supplies, programs for senior citizens, for libraries, for Teague schools and for the Teague Museum. Every year we’ve donated at least $10,000, and last year we gave $20,000 to help pay for the new fire engine.”

Meissner added, “It’s our customers at the Hidden Door and Tony’s wise investments that allowed the Bobrow Trust to write checks for more $450,000 in 2023. Tony left his trust well-funded; successor Trustees are already in-place, and we expect the Bobrow Trust will continue to make substantial donations for at least a decade into the future, and hopefully longer than that.”