Mission Oak Cliff donations outside in the days following The Clyde explosion. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.

On May 28, Gannon Sims, senior pastor at Cliff Temple Baptist Church, heard the sirens. Out the front entrance of the church, you could see the plumes of smoke that came from The Clyde apartment explosion, which claimed three lives.

“Some of our staff working upstairs at the time did feel it,” he said.

Within hours, Cliff Temple and Mission Oak Cliff, its nonprofit committed to breaking the cycle of poverty in our neighborhood, were contacted to help.

“Red Cross and City of Dallas Emergency Management were looking for an agency that was right here in the neighborhood,” said Julie Hargrove, director of Mission Oak Cliff. “We had a long history of being here and helping neighbors, and somebody that would be able to take the donations, financial and physical donations, and everything, and get those out to the people in need the most. And so, that’s what we do every day. So we’re like, ‘Absolutely, we’re happy to help.’”

Sims said it was clear from the outpouring of support in the days following the explosion that neighbors wanted to assist those affected in any way they could.

“People are looking for tangible ways to help, I think they look out at the world, and they don’t know what they can do. But this was a tangible thing that people could do, and any of us could be without a roof over our head at any time. So I think that spoke to people,” he said.

The nonprofit continued providing their everyday services in addition to handling the support for those displaced by the explosion.

“Initial physical donations, I’m not even sure we could quantify,” Hargrove said. “I mean everybody in Dallas County cleaned out their closets and brought us clothes, and we had lots of cases of water.”

Photo by Victoria Hernandez.

Mission Oak Cliff was able to take items needed to The Clyde residents relocated to hotels, and assist the residents of the neighboring complex, The Bonnie. Hargrove said those residents “kind of were camping all summer.”

The Bonnie was without hot water and working gas for months following The Clyde explosion.

“They were just kind of waiting all summer because apartment management was telling them, ‘Oh, everything’s going to be fixed. Everything’s going to be fixed.’ We were hearing some other information that, no, they’re probably not going to fix it,” Hargrove said. 

She added that some people had lived in the complex for around 20 years and were planning to wait it out.

“Well, we tried to help them obviously while they were waiting it out with air fryers, crockpots, all that. And gift cards and water and food, and they’d come to our food pantry,” she said. “But then when they did get evicted with three days’ notice, we were able to step in and say, ‘OK, let’s find you a place to live.’”

In coordination with Catholic Charities, Mission Oak Cliff hosted events for people who needed assistance with The Bonnie relocation. Mission Oak Cliff was also able to provide a deposit and eight months’ worth of rent for 22 people in their new residences.

“I mean our church people and area business owners just showered these folks, and our volunteers … no one missed a meal or a snack,” Sims said.

In addition to food, Hargrove said they were able to assist in replacing work clothes, appliances such as crock pots and electric skillets for The Bonnie residents, and purchasing what’s called a “house in a box.”

Now, five months later, there are still ways to help. It’s also not just those affected by the explosion, Sims said that there has been an increase in the homeless population and those experiencing food insecurity. 

“We had this major tragedy happen, and we were able to really see that, see these people rehoused, and then all the other people are still here, and in fact that’s growing,” he said. 

Over a two-month period from August to September, Mission Oak Cliff has seen over a 47% increase compared to last year.

“We’re still going to support all of these folks from The Clyde and The Bonnie, but we’ve also got an increase in our regular folks that need our support as well,” she said. “But that takes financial resources … and volunteers. Absolutely, we need volunteers.”

“This is a place to make a meaningful impact and to see lives change,” Sims said.