DALLAS, TX (March 29, 2016) – Bonton Farms, a small farm located in a South Dallas “food desert,” has been chosen by The Dallas Foundation to receive the 2016 Pegasus Prize. The $50,000 award will be directed to building the Bonton Farms Community Resource Center. The Center will provide a permanent space for the Farm’s market as well as programming focused on helping people from the Bonton community restore their health and discover hope. The award was announced at The Dallas Foundation’s spring Grantee Recognition event on March 28, 2016, at the Pecan Room in the Nurses Quarters at Old Parkland.
For the residents in Bonton, 63 percent lack personal transportation, and the nearest grocery store is a three-hour round-trip bus ride. Residents rely on the local liquor stores for their groceries, which leaves a devastating impact on their health. The area’s cardiovascular disease rate is 54 percent higher than that of the city of Dallas, diabetes is 45 percent, stroke is 61 percent and cancer is 58 percent.
The Bonton Farms project was developed by a Christian-based nonprofit called H.I.S. BridgeBuilders and employs residents of Bonton to work on the farm as a way to provide food, jobs, community development and restoration. Along with being employed at the farm, residents have access to the healthy and organic food they harvest. The farm also sells its produce and honey to other residents of the neighborhood and beyond, as well as to several Dallas-area restaurants.
“Providing resources to strengthen our neighborhoods and raising awareness about the need for more self-sustaining communities is vital to our region’s success,” said Mary Jalonick, President and CEO of The Dallas Foundation. “We hope the grant will assist in Bonton Farms’ long-term efforts to provide access to healthy food for families and help cover some of the expense associated with building the Bonton Farms Community Resource Center.”
The goal of the project is to create a neighborhood marketplace of economic and agricultural sustainability. Bonton Farms is currently home to an organic garden, free-range chickens, goats, turkeys, rabbits and beehives. Along with the recent additions of livestock and equipment, the grant will help construct a new Community Resource Center adjacent to the existing farm site that will provide the resources needed for residents to easily purchase fresh food and attend health and wellness programming.
“We are thankful for The Dallas Foundation’s support, which enables us not only to grow closer to building the resource center, but demonstrates their faith in our work, a move that we hope catalyzes additional support for our ultimate goal of a healthy, sustainable and hopeful community in Bonton,” said H.I.S. BridgeBuilders’ Vice President of Urban Missions Daron Babcock.
About The Pegasus Prize
The Dallas Foundation’s Pegasus Prize winner receives a $50,000 award and is selected by the Foundation’s Pegasus Leadership Initiative Committee. The Committee was originally formed in 2009 to award grants to nonprofits working to address pressing community needs in innovative ways. In 2015, the award was renamed the Pegasus Prize and will be given to only one organization annually.
About The Dallas Foundation
The Dallas Foundation, established as a community foundation in 1929, serves as a leader, catalyst and resource for philanthropy by providing donors with flexible means of making gifts and bequests, the income from which primarily supports the charitable causes of the city and county of Dallas. For more information
