DALLAS — Joy and laughter are again filling the rooms at the "I Have a Dream" Foundation after-school program in Dallas.
The center, at the Cedar Springs public housing complex, re-opened this week. The program reaches out to low-income kids who want to go to college.
Dominique Deloney, 13 years old, is glad to be back. "It's a place for us to get off the streets," she said. "It's a place for us to come after school to help us with our homework."
The 8th grader missed her second home. "When it closed, I was just sad cause like we didn't have nowhere else to go," she said. "We felt like we was just pushed out."
The "I Have a Dream" center closed nearly three weeks ago after its main financial sponsor cut all funding, but the center's employees didn't give up.
"I just felt like a mother who had to hurry up and take care of all of her kids," said Sally McMullin, a social worker at the center.
McMullin and executive director Phillip Lyles — who lost their jobs after the shutdown — never stopped working.
For the past few weeks, they have posted their pleas for help on nearly every social networking site on the Internet. They received anywhere from $2 donations to a $1,000 offering.
So far, the foundation has raised more than $20,000.
"I am so excited and happy that the community stepped in and helped us," McMullin said.
More donations keeping coming in.
This past week, philanthropists Harold and Annette Simmons donated $20,000, and Panda Energy told the foundation it will match each donation up to $80,000.
"We are going to take our future in our own hands and do what we need to do to make this thing work," Lyles said. "Failure is not an option. We are not giving up."
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com
