An Arlington organization that has its roots in school beautification projects evolved into an uplifting presence in the Tarrant County community. 
ShareFest Texas was founded by John Thielman in 2013, with an eye toward engaging area high school students in cleanup projects on their campuses. Its mission now has turned to creating a welcoming home environment for families escaping domestic violence / child abuse circumstances.
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“Our goal was campus cleanup, in the Arlington ISD and Mansfield ISD,” said Thielman. “We also did neighborhood cleanups, painted murals, planted gardens, and things like that.”
Thielman, who retired after a career in IT, has a track record of working with students, going back to the years he spent leading groups on cleanup projects around schools in the Los Angeles area.
“Coming back to Texas got me back into working with at-risk youth,” he said.
The COVID pandemic, however, forced a change in course. He had been working through the Kiwanis Club of Arlington with student groups at Sam Houston High School and the AISD’s other high schools. But because of social distancing, student groups weren’t allowed to participate in such activities.
The pandemic also gave Thielman, and many families in North Texas, time at home to clean out garages and storage areas that had held unused – but quality – furnishings. 
As he, like many others in North Texas, began donating furniture, an outlet developed for the quality items being discarded. After multiple trips to deliver goods to Safe Haven of Tarrant County, an organization that assists domestic violence family victims, officials there noticed his efforts – and the quality of goods he was providing.
SafeHaven was clearing safe housing units because of COVID and asked Thielman if he could help move furniture. “I asked, ‘When do you need me to start?’ and they said, “Next weekend” Thielman recalled.
From there, the group has branched out to aid other agencies, including Mission Arlington, Arlington Urban Ministries, the Arlington Night Shelter, Arlington Housing Authority, Tarrant County Child Protective Services, and dozens of others.
That helped launch efforts for donors and volunteers to furnish apartments for families suffering domestic violence. In July, the organization is expecting to furnish its 300th apartment since 2020.
Thielman emphasizes that the apartments are more than a roof and walls. His aim is to give the occupants a welcoming home.
“We don’t just give them regular vanilla items and decor. We put rugs on the floor, artwork on the walls, fine furniture throughout” he said. “Everything is sanitized from the bathroom to the kitchen.”
Through an arrangement with Sealy, ShareFest receives a shipment of queen-size mattresses each quarter.
With the help of benefactors and donors, ShareFest has expanded from its original 10-by-20 storage cube to its current 4,200-square-foot warehouse, which Thielman said is now perpetually full.
One of the most significant moments in the development of ShareFest occurred when Thielman visited an estate to obtain any items they were willing to donate. When the trustees managing the pickup relayed his story to the family, wheels were set in motion for an unexpected and epic donation.
The family had decided to make a $100,000 initial donation to ShareFest with a check that was presented at a dinner. Thielman said that he and his board were astounded at the generosity. But that was only the beginning. A second installment for $310,000 stunned the organization a couple of weeks later.
Thielman said the family’s donations connected squarely with ShareFest’s mission statement. “That was the tie, providing hope,” he said. “There’s a connection in the big sky!”
ShareFest continues to grow, working with real estate agents who connect the organization with home sellers and buyers who donate furnishings from their home prior to moving them. They can move the content to a local storage unit at a low rent where the family can view it, select what they want to keep in the family, then donate the rest to ShareFest.
The group also collects bicycles, which are repaired and donated to unsheltered and sheltered homeless individuals who need transportation to and from jobs, and suitcases for foster children families who sometimes are forced to change homes with only the clothes on their backs.
Support also comes from fund-raisers, such as a recent “percent-of-sales” event at Moni’s restaurant in Arlington, and from the Arlington ISD, whose students both assist and benefit from the efforts.
Students help provision welcome bags that are distributed to DV families as they arrive in their apartments, and sometimes help move furniture.
“It gives them a view of what is involved with community service, receive copius amounts of gratitude and also learn how good they have it,” Thielman said.
One of the emotional elements of ShareFest’s efforts is a lamp that is given to each apartment recipient that has their name etched in it. It’s in the shape of a house with the recipient’s name engraved, along with hands and hearts to signify the donors and volunteers responsible for the strong support they receive. The lamp has a remote which allows the change of light colors and action.
“If you saw the level of gratification that pours out of the recipient mom and her children, and see the emotional transformation as they go from traumatic home environment to the shelters to their “model-like” apartment in very public space,” said Thielman. “That has an immediate impact on everyone involved; i.e., the donors, the SFT team, and of course the recipients. Every single move has been a Kleenex moment where joy-filled tears flow freely.” The impact comes full circle when prior recipients come to serve with the ShareFest team, a practice that has had a positive impact on their recovery.
More information on how to get involved with ShareFest Texas can be found at www.sharefest-texas.org.
