press & announcements

July 06, 2026

What the research says about a free bed, a pot, and a bar of soap — and what it looks like right here in Dallas-Fort Worth. 

Ask someone what changed their life and almost nobody answers "a set of towels." We tell the story through the big moments: the job, the move, the person who believed in us. But underneath most turning points is something quieter and more physical — a place to sleep, a way to cook a real meal, a way to feel clean before you walk out the door. When a family is starting over after a move, a layoff, or leaving a hard situation, the line between coping and going under is often drawn by something as ordinary as whether the house has the things that make it a home.

This isn't a faraway problem. It's a North Texas one. The average Texas household is now spending around $1,040 more every month than it did in early 2021 just to buy the same things, according to figures cited by the North Texas Food Bank from a Congressional Joint Economic Committee report. For families in the lowest income bracket here, rent and transportation can swallow about 40% of their income and groceries another 30%, leaving almost nothing for the rest of life. When the math gets that tight, the bed, the pots, and the soap are usually what don't get bought.

Researchers have a name for going without those things: material hardship — the inability to afford basic needs. And here's the part worth sitting with: material hardship is measured separately from income poverty, it shows up in more households than poverty alone does, and on its own it tracks with worse physical health, more behavioral and emotional struggles, and weaker learning outcomes for children. A widely cited 2022 analysis by Schenck-Fontaine and Ryan in the journal Children makes the case plainly — because these hardships come from different pressures, families need a mix of cash and in-kind support, meaning actual beds, actual pots, actual soap, to be protected.

That's the quiet argument for free household goods. They aren't a feel-good extra. They're infrastructure for a fresh start. Here's what the research shows, room by room — what's happening in our own zip codes, and one practical move for each.

There's a phrase that's entered the research world recently: bed poverty. It describes children sleeping on floors, sofas, shared or broken mattresses, or under bedding a family can't afford to replace. You don't have to look far to know it's here. The Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace runs on a single motto — "no kid sleeps on the floor in our town" — and spends most weekends building and delivering twin beds, complete with mattress, pillow, and bedding, to kids across Duncanville, Prosper, Fort Worth, South Dallas, Mesquite, and Balch Springs. The fact that the demand keeps a volunteer army busy across the Metroplex tells you how common a bare bedroom floor really is.

What makes this more than a sad image is what happens when a bed actually arrives. An evaluation of the Beds for Kids program, run through Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and published in 2023, found that simply receiving a bed was associated with children using screens less at night and sleeping roughly 20 minutes longer. Twenty minutes a night isn't nothing when you stack it across a school year, and sleep in the 5-to-11 range is when a lot of academic learning, emotional regulation, and physical recovery get locked in.

Try this: Protect the sleep space. 

Once a child has a bed of their own, make it a screen-free zone and keep bedtime within the same hour each night. It costs nothing, and the research suggests the bed plus the habit does more than the bed alone.

We usually talk about hunger as a problem of access — not enough food, not enough money. But nutrition researchers describe food security as having four pillars: access, availability, utilization, and stability. Utilization is the quiet one. It's whether a household can actually turn ingredients into meals, and that depends on having a working stove, a couple of pots and pans, a knife, somewhere to store leftovers, and the confidence to use them.

Hunger is not abstract here. According to the 2025 Map the Meal Gap study released by the North Texas Food Bank and Tarrant Area Food Bank, Dallas-Fort Worth has the third-highest number of people facing hunger of any U.S. metro area. More than 1.3 million people in the region are food insecure, and roughly one in five North Texas children — about 441,860 kids — don't have reliable access to enough food. Dallas County has the fifth-largest food-insecure population in the entire country; Tarrant County ranks twelfth.

A box of kitchenware is one answer to that. Penn State's "Cooking with the Community" program, reported in 2023–2024, paired gifted cooking equipment with hands-on instruction and watched participants' confidence in the kitchen climb over time. A 2025 study in PLOS One came at it from the other direction, finding that cooking skills and self-efficacy are tied to lower food insecurity, and framing cooking ability as a kind of human capital that keeps paying off in a way a one-time handout can't. Home-cooked meals also tend to be cheaper per serving and higher in vegetables and fiber — exactly the gap that stretches a tight grocery budget further.

Try this: Build a five-tool kitchen and cook one extra meal at home a week. 

You don't need a matching set. A good knife, a cutting board, one pot, one pan, and a few storage containers cover most of what a family actually cooks. Start with a single repeatable meal you can make on a Tuesday, and add from there.

The least-discussed of the three has a name now too: hygiene poverty — going without soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, period products, diapers, or cleaning supplies because the money has to go to food or rent. The North Texas numbers are sobering. Hope Supply Co., the Dallas-based bank that's the largest children's diaper and critical-needs provider in Texas, points to data showing roughly 87,000 babies and toddlers in Dallas County alone don't have adequate access to clean diapers. About one in four of those parents say they've skipped meals to afford them, and nearly half of families with children under three experience diaper need at some point.

The toll isn't only physical. National research backs up what those local numbers imply: in its 2024 report, The Hygiene Bank found that around half of people experiencing hygiene poverty said it was feeding anxiety or depression, and that 65% of affected parents had been forced to choose between buying hygiene products for themselves or for their children. The effects reach school, too. Clean clothes turn out to be quietly load-bearing — Whirlpool's long-running Care Counts work, alongside U.S. Department of Education data showing chronic absenteeism affecting close to a third of students, points to a real link between being able to show up clean and being able to show up at all.

Try this: Keep a small "reset basket" and don't carry the ask alone. 

Stock one caddy with the non-negotiables — soap, detergent pods, toothpaste, deodorant, a multi-surface cleaner — so the essentials never run fully dry. And know that nearly half of people experiencing hygiene poverty say they're too embarrassed to ask for help. North Texas has real handholds for exactly this: Hope Supply Co. and its 70-plus partner agencies for diapers and hygiene, Sleep in Heavenly Peace for beds, and the NTFB and TAFB pantry networks for food. Using them is resourcefulness, not failure.

There's a thread running through the newest research that's easy to miss: dignity is part of the intervention. Studies of client-choice pantries — including a 2024 qualitative study with clients in Cook County, Illinois — find that letting people choose what they take home reduces stigma, cuts waste, and respects that every household's needs are different. The same principle holds for any program handing out home goods. A family that gets to pick the towels, the dishes, the bedding walks away with something more than supplies. They walk away with a say.

That's the real reason "just stuff" matters. A bed is sleep. A pot is a shared dinner. A clean towel is the confidence to show up. Give a family the basics — and the respect of choosing them — and you're not handing over inventory. You're handing back the ordinary, steady ground that everything else gets built on. Right here in North Texas, that's what a fresh start is actually made of.

1. Protect the sleep space. Keep a child's bed screen-free and bedtime consistent. The bed plus the habit beats the bed alone.
2. Build a five-tool kitchen. A knife, board, pot, pan, and storage containers, plus one home-cooked meal a week, turns ingredients into real food security.
3. Keep a reset basket — and ask without shame. Stock one hygiene-and-cleaning caddy, and lean on North Texas resources like Hope Supply Co., Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and your local food bank pantry when you need them.

• North Texas Food Bank & Tarrant Area Food Bank, 2025 Map the Meal Gap findings (DFW ranks third nationally; ~1.3 million food insecure; ~441,860 children; Dallas and Tarrant county rankings).
• North Texas Food Bank, FY24 figures citing the Congressional Joint Economic Committee ($1,040/month cost-of-living increase; income-share figures for rent, transportation, and groceries).
• Hope Supply Co. / Diaper Insecurity Dashboard (≈87,000 Dallas County children without adequate diaper access; parents skipping meals; diaper-need prevalence).
• Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Dallas/Fort Worth chapter (bed builds and deliveries across the Metroplex).
• Schenck-Fontaine, A., & Ryan, R. M. (2022). Poverty, Material Hardship, and Children's Outcomes. Children.
• Williamson, A. A., et al. (2023). Evaluation of bed provision and sleep education, Beds for Kids / Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
• Penn State, Cooking with the Community (AJPM Focus, 2023–2024).
• Monteza-Quiroz, D., et al. (2025). Cooking skills and food insecurity. PLOS One.
• The Hygiene Bank, Hygiene Poverty in 2024 report.
• Whirlpool Care Counts program research; U.S. Department of Education chronic absenteeism data.
• Client-choice pantry and dignity research, including a 2024 qualitative study in Cook County, Illinois (Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved).

May 04, 2026

At Chozn 2 Outreach, we believe that every home, person, and community has potential. Bringing that potential to life requires a stable foundation, which is why we are honored to spotlight our Springfest 2026 Legacy Partner, Power Home Remodeling (“POWER”).

As the nation's largest, full-service exterior home remodeler, POWER operates with a heart-forward commitment to the communities they serve. Through their POWER for Good initiative—a philanthropic model built on democratized giving—POWER employees have a direct voice in shaping the company's impact.

For Springfest 2026, the POWER team is providing the essential bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom infrastructure our families need to turn their "First Classroom" into a sanctuary of stability.

• A Legacy of Excellence: Established in 1992, POWER provides energy-saving solutions, including windows, roofing, and solar panels, to residents in over 20 states.
• Employee-Led Impact: POWER for Good has engaged up to 90% of its workforce, donating nearly $8.6M to over 2,200 schools and nonprofits since its inception in 2023.
• Stabilizing the Home Front: By sponsoring foundational home goods, POWER is helping our Lead Architects remove barriers to success and lead with precision.

"Everything we do is in service of bringing potential to life. By engaging our people in how we give back, we’re fulfilling a greater purpose of realizing the potential in every home we serve."

What’s Next?

Our board is currently in the Application Review & Selection phase (May 1–16). We look forward to announcing the 15 families who will benefit from this incredible partnership during the week of May 18, 2026.

Learn more about POWER for Good at www.powerhrg.com

April 28, 2026

Clearing the Path to Mastery: Aligning the Home Environment for Success 

Chozn 2 Outreach is proud to highlight our strategic partnership with Premier High School – Arlington for the "Clean Slate Initiative". As a tuition-free institution dedicated to student success, the school has donated essential household cleaning products to ensure our Springfest 2026 families begin their new chapter in an environment of health and order.

This collaboration bridges the school’s mastery-based curriculum with our mission to stabilize the "First Classroom". Just as Premier High School provides individualized education plans to help students reach their unique goals, this provision removes the physical barriers to success, allowing our Lead Architects to lead with precision.

There's still time to apply for Springfest 2026, but it's almost time to close the application! Once applications are closed, we will review submissions to select our 15 recipient families. Stay tuned for the official announcement of our winners during the week of May 18, 2026.

• Individualized Support: Premier High School – Arlington provides a learner-based environment that caters to unique career aspirations.
• Foundational Mastery: Their curriculum ensures students develop a solid foundation of knowledge, mirroring our goal of creating a stable home ecosystem.
• Community Impact: This partnership is part of a curated effort to equip custodial parents in the DFW area with the infrastructure they need to thrive.

April 20, 2026

Bridging 27 Years of Clinical Excellence with Practical Compassion

At Chozn 2 Outreach, we know that a stable household requires a blueprint built on both clinical expertise and heartfelt support. 

We are thrilled to welcome Sam Gates as a featured speaker for Springfest 2026. Sam brings a wealth of knowledge as the Director of Clinical Strategy and Practice for the Chief Nursing Organization at Humana.

Her presence in our "Village" ensures that our primary caregivers are equipped with the strategic tools necessary to foster a healthy, thriving environment for their families.

Clinical Excellence Meets Practical Compassion 

Sam’s career is rooted in a deep commitment to helping others grow through excellence and compassion. With 27 years of experience as a Registered Nurse—primarily serving in home health and hospice—she understands the intricate needs of a household in transition.

• Strategic Leadership: Before her current role at Humana, Sam led the CenterWell Home Health Learning Team and has served in capacities ranging from field case manager to director of education.
  
• Specialized Care: She is Wound Care Certified and is widely recognized for creating meaningful learning experiences that elevate the standard of patient care.
  
• Community Roots: Beyond her professional accolades, Sam serves on the leadership team for the M25 Ministry at Legacy Church of Fort Worth, where she leads outreach efforts focused on practical, everyday compassion

Sam believes deeply in the strength and untapped potential of young and single mothers. Having navigated her own journey, she understands that success isn't about perfection—it's about persistence.

"With faith, support, and determination, you can build a life you’re proud of—one step, one season, one brave decision at a time."

April 14, 2026

Chozn 2 Outreach Welcomes Dr. Mubarak & LJ Books

Dallas-Fortworth, TX (DFW Metroplex) —

A Legacy of Literacy: Introducing Our Springfest 2026 Featured Partner

At Chozn 2 Outreach, we believe that a stable home is the foundation—but a home library is the launchpad. We don’t just want to fill your cupboards; we want to fuel your child’s future.

We are incredibly honored to announce a special addition to this year’s resource provision: a curated partnership with Dr. Lynda J. Mubarak and LJ Books. 

Equipping the Mind and the Home

As a career educator and early literacy specialist, Dr. Lynda understands that the books in a child’s home act as both windows to the world and mirrors of their own potential. To ensure our Springfest families have the tools they need to be the "Lead Architects" of their children’s education, we are including a special "Grant Addition" this year:

• The Curated Collection: Every Springfest 2026 recipient will find autographed copies of Dr. Lynda’s works inside their provision—literacy tools designed specifically to inspire curiosity and confidence.
• The Springfest Keynote: Dr. Lynda will join us at our annual event as a featured speaker, teaching our primary caregivers how to build a world-class home library on any budget and sharing the "why" behind early literacy.

When we stabilize the home front, we create the mental space for wonder to grow. By placing these books directly into the hands of our Village families, we are helping you turn your living room into a sanctuary of discovery.

April 8, 2026

Chozn 2 Outreach and Seductive Butters Announce Strategic Partnership to Redefine "Self-Care"

for Families in Transition

Dallas-Fortworth, TX (DFW Metroplex) —

Chozn 2 Outreach, a premier nonprofit dedicated to filling the gaps for families in transitional living, and Seductive Butters, a high-end artisanal skincare brand, today announced a landmark partnership. The collaboration, titled “The Glow of Resilience,” aims to integrate luxury wellness into the essential support provided to individuals rebuilding their lives.

Through this partnership, Seductive Butters will collaborate and provide feature products to be included in Chozn 2’s Springfest outreach kits. While Chozn 2 provides the infrastructure for a fresh start—kitchenware, bedding, and hygiene—Seductive Butters provides the restorative care necessary to heal the spirit.

“A fresh start shouldn't just be about surviving; it should be about thriving,” says the team at Chozn 2. “By partnering with Seductive Butters, we are sending a message to every family we serve: You are worthy of luxury, you are worthy of care, and you are chosen.”

The partnership will kick off with a dedicated "Care & Comfort" drive, ensuring that selected families amongst the community entering new homes/spaces this season receive a signature Seductive Butters restoration kit.

About Chozn 2 Outreach: Founded on the principle of "Filling the Gap," Chozn 2 supports individuals transitioning from crisis to stability by providing household essentials and advocacy.

About Seductive Butters: A boutique skincare line dedicated to handcrafted, nutrient-dense body butters designed to nourish the skin and soothe the soul.