Leadership Starts Early: How Trinity Christian Academy Students Are Reaching Every Corner of North Texas
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, a group of upper school students at Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) in Addison turned tables of donated water bottles, snacks and hygiene products into care kits for people experiencing homelessness across North Texas.
The students are members of Reach Every Corner, a service club founded at TCA in 2019 by a student working alongside Upper School math teacher Greg Merrifield. The mission is in the name: reach people in need in every corner of North Texas.
The need in North Texas
Housing Forward, the lead agency for the homeless response system in Dallas and Collin counties, identified 3,513 people experiencing homelessness during its 2026 Point-in-Time count on Jan. 22. About 82% of them were in Dallas County.
There is good news in the data. The 2026 count marked the fifth consecutive year homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties declined. But the count captures a single night, and local experts say the number of people experiencing homelessness on any given day is higher. Large-scale programs are moving the numbers. Small, steady acts of care like Reach Every Corner's kits meet people where they are in the meantime.
A club that outlasted its founder
In our recent post on the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas' Key Leaders Luncheon, we wrote about how youth sports build the teamwork and leadership skills that show up later in the C-suite. Reach Every Corner shows the same thing from a different angle. Students who give back learn to spot a need, and do something about it, building community and follow through, the same habits that make strong leaders in any workplace.
A former TCA student saw a need, recruited a teacher, built a repeatable process and asked the school community to supply it. Seven years later, the student has graduated but the club is still packing kits and making an impact because it is built on a clear mission and a simple process.
Why stories like this deserve to be told
At Dala Communications, we spend a lot of time helping schools and nonprofits tell their stories, and student service projects are some of the strongest stories they have. They are local, visual and driven by people rather than programs. A few lessons from Reach Every Corner apply to any school or nonprofit communications team:
Lead with the people. Reporters and readers connect with a student who started something, not with a program description.
Give the audience something to see. Students packing kits is a natural visual opportunity for TV and photographers. Here is one of those packs that aired on Fox 4.
Make the right voices available. A student and a teacher together show both the initiative and the institution behind it.
Connect it to the bigger picture and localize it. Local data, like Housing Forward's annual count, explains why the effort matters now.
Tell it more than once. A club that has served for seven years has a story every season, with a growing impact and a great reach.
The same principles drive nonprofit fundraising. People give to stories they can see themselves in, and service stories told well invite the next volunteer, donor or partner to step in.
How you can help
If this story moves you, there are ways to help close to home. Housing Forward's website lists volunteer and giving opportunities across Dallas and Collin counties. And, the 2027 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count will take place the evening of January 21, 2027. Consider participating in this federally-mandated count to help North Texas gather the data needed to understand the extent of homelessness in our region as well as ways we as a community can better support these individuals.
We're grateful to the TCA students who carry on the mission of Reach Every Corner, reminding us how much good can start with one student and a table full of donations.
Dala Communications is a Dallas PR and strategic communications agency that helps schools, nonprofits and businesses across North Texas tell the stories that matter to their communities.