The Grace Foundation of Texas has given empowering scholarships to four worthy recipients since its inception. Two new recipients for the Austin chapter will be announced December 2009. Our first Houston chapter recipients will be announced first quarter 2010.

Please take a moment to hear our scholarship recipients speak about Grace, and the positive changes that have taken place in their lives after receiving a scholarship.

Houston Fund Recipients

Watch Candice's video testimonial:

Read a personal letter from another recipient:

I've thought long and hard about all I believe now, finally accepting that I cannot change the past despite all my effort to do so. Over the past few years there have been some hard truths, and although my memories breathe beside me I have chosen to feel these things inside me, and along side that comes all the incredible joy and heartache of being that much alive!

Leaving home when I was 13 years old was at the time in my adolescent mind the best decision, the safest decision considering my home environment. However, hindsight being what it is, I now know that I was leaving one nightmare only to find myself in another. The truth is sometimes when you live in darkness for so long you begin to prefer it, but I have light in my eyes and on my skin now, and although I am far removed from all those years in hell on the street I am still stung with the knowing that there are still so many out there struggling, trying and wanting desperately to have a better life for themselves, but they literally have no help, they have no one. If I could I would tell every one of them face to face that there is hope, that there is a way through, a way up. Real true blue help can be hard to come by and without the love and support I received from a select few who gave me the edge of hope I needed I would surely be dead. The Grace Foundation has played a profound role in my life, I would not be where I am today without their help.

In my life I have been misled, misused, and lied to over and over, so believe my certainty and fierceness that I feel when writing this, The Grace Foundation helped me trust that there is true kindness, true compassion in this hard world we live in. Of course the day after day of everyday continues, what we call real life, and yet I'm here and I'm alive and grateful and still trying, still moving forward. I could give you the long list of all the ways The Grace Foundation has helped me personally, but instead I will just say that everyday my life is a testament, living proof of the help they gave me, I'm strong and instead of just surviving, I'm thriving. The pain of my past may be ugly, but my survival isn' t . To say I'm grateful to all of you seems somehow understated, thank you for not being blind, to you who are aware of what's happening to homeless youth in this country, it's all around you, it's in your cities, please don't forget that they are there. They, like me, need your help. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Lastly, I would like to specifically thank Patrice Pike and Todd and Tiffany Young. If our parts had been reversed, my hope is that I would have been able to do for them what seemed impossible. That's what they did for me. They were Compassion and Faith in person. Here I am just one out of thousands upon thousands who share my same story, and I can promise that The Grace Foundation of Texas is helping, they are changing lives, taking action, raising awareness, and more importantly they are helping provide the tools to those, like me, who want out, who have a vision for a better life, to keep moving forward. I could never have wildly imagined how amazing my life is today. Thank you.