The Dallas Mavericks unveiled a $100,000 donation to the For Oak Cliff community center on Wednesday. (Azul Sordo/Staff Photographer)
Mavericks, Sands Corp donate $100K to For Oak Cliff amid trying times in Dallas community
For Oak Cliff is celebrating its 10th year of serving South Oak Cliff families through education, advocacy and community building.
The last time Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall came to the For Oak Cliff community center, it was under happier circumstances.
It was on her 64th birthday last Dec. 15 when Marshall arrived at For Oak Cliff, thinking she’d merely drop off a $15,000 donation check as part of her annual HeavenCynt charity initiative.
Instead, she was feted that day with a surprise party and a mural of herself on the wall of For Oak Cliff’s gymnasium, one of 30-plus gyms in North Texas that the Mavericks Foundation has built or renovated.
Wednesday’s visit, conversely, occurred less than three weeks after Dallas police officer Darron Burks was shot dead in his patrol car in For Oak Cliff’s parking lot, and less than two weeks after 14-year-old Jonathan Ayala was struck and killed by a car while walking across nearby Ledbetter Road.
“Everybody in this room knows it’s been a tough go for this community in the past couple of weeks,” said Taylor Toynes, co-founder and CEO of nonprofit For Oak Cliff, which is celebrating its 10th year of serving South Oak Cliff families through education, advocacy and community building.
Fortunately, Marshall on Wednesday brought her warm and dynamic persona — and she brought notable guest, Mavericks governor and Las Vegas Sands COO Patrick Dumont.
Dumont and Marshall met with Toynes and the For Oak Cliff board, toured parts of the 10-acre campus and afterward presented a pair of $50,000 checks: One from the Mavericks, the other from Sands, Corp.
For the Mavericks and Marshall, it’s continuing a deep relationship with For Oak Cliff; for Dumont and Sands, it’s making good on a pledge to invest in Dallas upon the Adelson-Dumont family’s Dec. 27 majority interest purchase of the Mavericks from Mark Cuban.
“At the Dallas Mavericks, we always say we don’t just work here; we don’t just play here. We live here too,” Marshall said. “And the things that are important to the community are important to us.
“When we had the ownership change, one of the first things that Patrick talked to me about was, ‘What are we doing in the community?’ He stressed his family is all about the community and wanted to make sure that we were, too.”
Dumont flew in from Las Vegas to speak to the Dallas Citizens Council on Tuesday and tour For Oak Cliff on Wednesday morning. What he saw and heard at For Oak Cliff clearly moved him.
“First of all, Cynt’s superpower is bringing people together,” Dumont said. “I have to congratulate everybody here. This is amazing, what you have done. Keep doing what you’re doing. ... It’s a great honor to be here. Thank you for taking the time to walk me through what you’re doing.”
Attending Wednesday’s walk-through and surprise check ceremony were about two dozen members of the For Oak Cliff staff, board members, Oak Cliff community leaders and at least half a dozen uniformed Dallas police officers.
This summer alone, For Oak Cliff has had nearly 8,000 campus visitors and more than 6,000 participants in its programs — and that doesn’t include the 1,800 visitors to the Juneteenth community engagement and 4,200 who took part in the annual Back to School festival.
As difficult as recent weeks have been for For Oak Cliff and its surrounding community, there is visible pride in the organization’s growth and success in its first decade, and of what is to come.
Suffice to say that Wednesday’s visit from Dumont and Marshall was a pair of timely Luka Doncic-like assists.
“I don’t know if this has ever happened in Dallas’ history, to where the leadership of a sports franchise came to a grassroots organization like this and actually took the time to develop relationships,” Toynes said.
“We’re celebrating 10 years of service and resilience, serving thousands of people annually and continuing to keep hope at the forefront of all the things that we do. And we hope that everyone who came in this building leaves inspired and encouraged to go out and serve, too.”
See photos as Mavs owner Patrick Dumont, CEO Cynthia Marshall deliver $100,000 donation to For Oak Cliff amid trying times in Dallas community
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