When a North Texas business owner got word of an unprecedented storm hitting North Texas, she jumped into action to make sure her neighbors were safe through the storm. She's this week's KRLD Difference Maker.
When Bridgitte Buckholtz moved her vintage furniture shop, Eastside Gems, to a warehouse between Deep Ellum and Fair Park, they met a lot of new neighbors.
There is big homeless camp near their warehouse.
"We knew at the time we wanted to find a way to help the community in some way, we just didn't know what that looked like at the time," Brigitte said. "But since then, we hired one of the men from the camp. And he works for us three times a week and has become like family to us."
So when word that a dangerous winter storm was coming through, Brigitte naturally worried about her neighbors.
They met as a family and wanted to find a way to get hotel rooms for the people at homeless camp near their warehouse, knowing no one could survive outside in dangerously cold temperatures.
Using their Eastside Gems Instagram page, they made a plea for donations.
They raised 25 thousand dollars in about 24 hours via a gofundme campaign.
They were able to take a count of how many people wanted to go to a hotel, transport them to the hotel, buy clothing and hygiene items for people and partnered with several stores and restaurants to provide food as well.
"We were just overwhelmed with the support we got," Brigitte said.
Bringing the community together and epitomizing their name, Eastside Gems
We're proud to call Brigitte Buckholtz and Eastside Gems this week's KRLD Difference Maker.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com.