Hello and thank you for visiting Compassion Connection of Texas. Let me introduce myself, my name is Sally Blessing, I am the Executive Director. We have been a non-profit (501c3) since 2011 and officially with the IRS in August of 2012. We originally started under another name because our mission was to solely help domestic violence victims and their children. In 2018 we decided that we needed to help a broader population of clients, All families that were in need; thus was born, Compassion Connection of Texas.
Currently, we help 300 plus families per year (through various programs and services) with food, clothing, and basic necessities which includes sometimes relocating to a new residence.
WHO IS SALLY BLESSING?
I am a two-time survivor of domestic violence and one of the situations that I was in, lasted about four and a half years. I planned my escape over a 3-month period of time and I was able to SAFELY Escape in 1991 and relocate to the DFW area.
After moving to the DFW area, I continued my career in trauma nursing. I became physically disabled in 2004. I still continued to work on and off over the next 10 years, doing what I loved, working in trauma.
In 2011, I knew I wanted to do more. I wanted to help other victims of domestic violence.
I started with having a 24-hour crisis hotline and helping to educate anyone I could. Once I became a 501c3 the following year, I made plans to open a first of its kind not only crisis shelter; but also, a transitional housing center and educational complex that would be all Under One Roof so it would not only help survivors have a place to go in time of crisis where they could stay for up to 90 days but then after that 90 days they would be able to go into our educational/vocational program while living in our transitional housing programs for up to 2 years.
That idea was met with resistance from our local government at that time (2012), who “did not believe that there was domestic violence in the city of Burleson”.
I continued over the next few years taking crisis calls 24 hours a day and I was able to go back to work temporarily but my heart always came back to wanting to help those in need. Even though I was working part of the time, I still helped relocate over 7 women and children from one state to another safely.
My heart and my passion are helping individuals in need, whether they are domestic violence victims or just a family down on their luck. We try to help whenever we can. This year will be our fourth year of having the Thanksgiving Holiday Dinner event and our Angel Tree of Necessities . A few years ago we also started partnering with a Mission to help feed the homeless (Our Budget has since been very very limited and we have not been able to help with that program in the last year). 2022, we started the Blessing Bags for Seniors program (You can see images from that event in our Gallery).
2023, we are currently making plans to open the Crisis Shelter, Educational Complex and Transitional Housing Program - a 1st of its kind in Johnson County and we are looking forward to the public’s help in raising funding to make the project a reality, so we can help the hundreds of families right here in Johnson County, escape from a painful reality of abuse and violence. We will also have an extensive education program where we go into the schools and educate our children from an early age on “What is abuse” and what to do as well as teach the children about self esteem and self worth. No one deserves to be abused!
Please find it in your heart to help us with our mission because it truly does take a “village”, especially in these very difficult times of financial disparity and homelessness.
God Bless you and your family.
Sally Blessing