Focusing on new beginnings during Transform Dallas

 Transform Dallas provided an opportunity to focus more on the world around her, said Lisa Gillman, who volunteered to paint homes during Saturday's citywide workday.

Lisa Gillman, left, helps other Transform Dallas volunteers paint a building.

"I just recently went through some events in my life that told me to stop focusing on myself," said Gillman, who joined fellow church members from Highland Park Presbyterian Church to paint homes at a Restoration Outreach work site in East Dallas.

"Then I ended up with two bad hands, and I couldn't play tennis anymore. So I'm just looking to do things more worthwhile with my time and looking just to be God's hands and feet."

Transform Dallas sent out a call for thousands of volunteers to paint houses, serve meals to the homeless, make improvements to elementary school buildings, assemble and deliver care packages to hospitals, host carnivals and block parties for children, and assist formerly incarcerated women. 

Highland Park Presbyterian is part of a core planning team of five churches that partnered with Dallas Leadership Foundation to launch Transform Dallas.

Lisa Gillman, left, takes a quick break with a fellow Transform Dallas volunteer.

Gillman, an avid tennis player, recently learned that she has carpal tunnel in both hands. She had used tennis as an outlet and a source of friendships since moving several years ago from Tulsa to Dallas.

What she's finding out is that a new beginning lies behind the unexpected change of life.

"About a year ago, God repositioned our lives," she said. "So I'm just looking for a bigger purpose."

Transform Dallas prepares a surprise for Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center students

Aleandra Lyons, Mill City
Community Association President

Transform Dallas volunteers on Saturday made improvements at the Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center, hoping to wow students on Monday with aesthetic updates.

Teen volunteers planted trees, laid down mulch and added shrubs and decorative rocks. They also transformed the school library into their own colorful designs.

Aleandra Lyons, the Mill City Community Association president, said she was thrilled to see youth volunteering at the elementary school. She said she started volunteering when she was a youngster, and now that she's in her fifties, volunteering is still a special part of her life.

Sandra Garza helps with landscaping at Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center.

Working alongside Lyons and planting trees was teen volunteer Sandra Garza, who said it was important to engage with communities.

Garza is a member of a church in Fort Worth. "We're here because my youth leader, who is my brother, told us that it's time to take a stand," said Sandra, 17. "So he told us to take a stand, so we have to move and help others before us. And that's why we're here."

Youth Pastor Henry Garza brought teens from Fort Worth to work at Transform Dallas.

Garza's 23-year-old brother Henry said that they wanted to make an impact. "I thought this would teach them a little something about the importance of community service and just sticking together as a community. We're doing it for the children... They really love kids, and we're just really excited to see their reaction Monday when they come in and see that their school has undergone some changes."

Lyons told Dallas Leadership Foundation earlier that in Mill City, “We are doing positive things to create a positive environment for the residents who are here and to encourage new people to move in.”

Well, today's volunteers came to help.

Transform Dallas kicks off in Hamilton Park

Volunteers gathered Saturday morning to kick off the first-ever Transform Dallas citywide community service workday in Hamilton Park. Dallas Council member Adam McGough joined volunteers who ate a quick breakfast and received instructions before going to their worksites.

Dallas Council member Adam McGough, left, and DLF president Wil McCall.

The Tenth District council member, whose district includes Hamilton Park, said he supported the Transform Dallas effort because it was an opportunity to collaborate. "For so long we've been doing great work in isolation, across the city, but across our neighborhoods too," he said.

Dallas Leadership Foundation, along with five churches -- Concord Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Friendship-West Baptist Church, Highland Park Presbyterian Church, and Park Cities Baptist Church formed the first-ever partnership last year that led to Transform Dallas.

By pulling together groups who have worked separately, McGough said, "we can move the needle, we're able to leverage each other, and we're tying our energy and efforts in a smarter way, and make it have a bigger impact on the community, and that's what it's all about."

McGough said the church he attends, Prestoncrest Church of Christ, has been involved in the Hamilton Park area for a long time. "I love to be in a position as the council member to be able to come alongside and help in any possible way I can."

Jicori Minor, who grew up in Hamilton Park, was also on hand to volunteer for the Transform Dallas workday as a representative of Texas Instruments.

"I'm volunteering today because I'm actually from Hamilton Park, I was born and raised in Hamilton Park," said the 34-year-old, who works in finance operations at Texas Instruments. "And going to Georgia Tech, and coming back to work for Texas Instruments, I think it's very important that we partner with our neighboring neighborhood, and put energy back into the neighborhood -- paint, and do whatever we can."