Journey to Dream recently received the inaugural Atria Impact Award in recognition of the organization’s outstanding work in the community.
Shelly Dodge, Financial Advisor and owner of Visionary Financial Group, nominated the organization, which helps at-risk and homeless teenagers in the community. The award was created to celebrate local charities in which financial advisors and employees of Shelly’s brokerage firm are involved.
“The Impact Award is dedicated to amplifying the charitable work of financial professionals and employees throughout the Atria family,” Shelly says. “Impact allows Atria to acknowledge the meaningful work between a local non-profit and the financial advisor to expand the charity’s reach by making a contribution to the organization on behalf of the financial advisor.”
Four charities were selected to receive $5,000 each. Three were nominated by the company’s financial advisors, and one was nominated by its employees.
“For this first year, out of the 2,500 financial advisors and 500 employees, there were 143 charities nominated with four winners being selected in a blind nomination process,” Shelly says. Journey to Dream was one of the four winners.
Journey to Dream’s mission is to empower, equip and embrace victimized, at-risk and homeless teens to overcome adversity and homelessness through education, life skills and positive experiences.
Journey to Dream impacts the lives of more than 15,000 teenagers each year through its housing programs, school assemblies, support groups, RESET forums, community outreach and supportive resources.
Shelly says the organization holds a special place in her heart for many reasons. She has chaired galas, served on the board and is a founding donor of Kyle’s Place, Denton County’s only homeless teen shelter. In addition, during Shelly’s leadership as President of the Cross Timbers Rotary Club, Journey to Dream was awarded a grant to update Kyle’s Place.
For more information on Journey to Dream, visit journeytodream.com. For more information about Visionary Financial Group, visit visionaryfinancialgroup.com.