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LAKEWOOD/EAST DALLAS ADVOCATE
VOL. 33 NO. 2
12 GEDCC is more than ribbon cuttings
DINING
16 Brunch with a side of Hugs
20 East Dallas artist looks for ghosts
22 Everyone loves Lakewood Elementary’s crossing guard
29 Remebering Daisy with a stickand-tennis ball library
“Have you had your Hugs today?” is a popular phrase said at Hugs Cafe, which recently expanded to a second location on Live Oak Street. Read more on page 16. Photography by Kathy Tran.
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Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce puts additional focus on helping members in 2026
Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
Photography by AMANI SODIQ
The Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce has a chief executive officer for the first time in its 80 years of existence. Megan Dennen, an East Dallas native and Bishop Lynch High School alumna, was hired to be the chamber’s first CEO last year. She’s been a chamber member since before the COVID-19 pandemic and has a background in public relations and marketing, plus an education from Texas Christian University.
The new chairperson is Rheanna Avila, a local realtor and longtime East Dallas neighbor who previously served as a vice chairperson before stepping into her current role.
Dennen puts the chamber of commerce’s value into perspective this way: “If you went to a marketing agency and said, ‘Can you do these five things for me that I get from being a $500 (chamber) business member,’ they would be like, ‘That’s $2,500.’”
The chamber’s offerings are being fine-tuned in 2026. Avila says the value provided could be better communicated to members so they can take advantage of it.
“It’s such an exciting time to be part of the chamber because there’s just so much growth and opportunity,” Dennen says. “Everybody is in the right seat to really move the chamber forward, and it all compounds. Year after year, we’re not growing kind of like this linear line. We’re compounding. Every year we get better, but it multiplies faster.”
The two leaders talked with the Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate about what makes the chamber tick and how it can keep ticking along in 2026.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY THE MAIN OBJECTIVES ARE FOR THE CHAMBER THAT NEED TO BE MET EACH YEAR, AND HOW DO YOU KNOW IF THE CHAMBER IS SUCCESSFUL?
MD: The chamber hired me to help with growth and retention. So right now, they’re hoping to at least double their membership in the next three years, and they want a retention rate of 85%, which means that everything that we’re doing is working. The hardest thing about a chamber is some people join for a ribbon cutting, and then that’s really all they want from the chamber. But other members that join because they’re really invested in the community, they want to grow their business. They’re looking for the connections that really create a lasting brand investment into a community, and those are the people that we really want to invest in and make sure that they are getting their needs met. It’s really meant to grow not only your company, but grow the community as well.
WHAT WERE THE CHAMBER’S SUCCESSES IN 2025 AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE IMPROVED ON?
RA: Chuck Kobdish as chairperson did a phenomenal job, and we accomplished some really big goals that
we had set out to do that we hadn’t done. One was hiring the CEO. That had never been done. It took a lot longer than we had hoped it would, and then we also needed to raise our dues. That was something that hadn’t been done in years. All the previous chairpeople have really laid a good, solid foundation. You can’t turn a big ship overnight. We do have a long-term vision and goals we want to accomplish, and it’s just baby steps. Chuck did a great job of checking off some big bucket items, such as the dues increase, hiring the CEO, and I think under his tutelage, we put on more events in the last two years than we had ever done. He did a great job of getting awareness about the chamber out into the community, and we had some really big name speakers. We want to continue that trend with a heavy focus on bringing more value to our members.
MD: To Rheanna’s point, it’s not really improvement because the chamber has always done amazing things for not only our members but the community. It’s that stepping stone. How do we add more amazingness? How do you keep adding more sprinkles to the top of the sundae?
ARE
RA: The vision for 2026 is really to focus on creating opportunities for our members to either grow professionally and scale their businesses, and while giving them a platform to do so, we’ve done a great job in the past of getting community involvement and being very involved in the community, and there hasn’t been as much focus on the members themselves. This year, we’re hopeful to kind of bring more value in that way by some of our offerings. We’re starting a monthly Mastermind (program) to get our membership an opportunity to kind of have think tank-type opportunities. Entrepreneurs tend to feel like they’re the only ones sometimes, and to have a monthly meeting where they can come together and kind of brainstorm ideas and get insight from other people that may have gone through that is impactful, and it gives us a pulse on what our members are needing in terms of content by what’s a continual topic in those Masterminds. Our monthly luncheons are going to be focused more on panels with certain topics so that our members can come and share their expertise and provide value that way. Our members that were on the panel can offer more in-depth talks after the fact. If people want to learn more, they can jump on a Zoom that’s led by that particular panelist. We’re kind of going to the drawing board and analyzing everything that we do to ensure that there’s a purpose and intention behind it, so that it definitely not only benefits the chamber, it also benefits our members and/or the community
and our sponsors that are so generous to support us. I feel like the chamber, we need to be the example of how to run a business to our members. We’re not only the example, but we also need to provide those opportunities for them to learn as well. We’re kind of really taking a deep dive and getting processes and systems in place, just like you would with any other business. We tended to operate from a very reactionary standpoint. The goal this year is to be very proactive in how we approach things as a chamber, and that, in turn, will help the mindsets of our members as well.
MD: My favorite part of my day is to sit down with a business and show them all that we have to offer and then customize it to them. That’s why I always tell people, if you are a chamber member and you have not met with me, stop what you’re doing and meet with me because it’s just so much value. And I just love loving on our members.
RA: One of the roles that I took on about two years ago is I personally call all of our members regularly to check in and keep them in the loop. I’ve gotten to know our members at a deeper level. I know what’s going on in their lives. I know if they’ve gone on vacation. I know what their goals are. If they’ve had a broken arm. That’s my favorite part, is to be able to connect personally with them on a regular basis over the phone.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
New cafe location helps employees with disabilities shine
NEW RESTAURANTS DON’T ALWAYS OPEN WITH SPEECHES , a ribbon cutting and a moderately-sized crowd waiting for the doors to open. And the western stretch of Live Oak Street, down from Exall Park, might not be where you’d think to go to sit down for a meal.
But then again, Hugs Cafe isn’t a typical eatery. It’s also a nonprofit organization.
Hugs Cafe Inc. was inspired by founder Ruth Thompson’s work with people in the intellectual and developmental disabilities community. She started teaching cooking and life skills to her disabled adult students in McKinney in 2008. This led to her developing the idea of a cafe that employed people like her pupils to enrich their lives through training and work experience. To that end, Thompson opened the first Hugs Cafe in 2015 in downtown McKinney.
The cafe allows people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to show off their skills and potential through providing additional understanding and support, volunteer Shannon Varner says.
Much has been accomplished since then. Hugs (Hope, Understanding, Grace and Success) reached a major feat as the second cafe opened in December in the Wilson Historic District.
Simone Sterling, a 19-year-old who works the cash register at Hugs Cafe Dallas, recalled day one on the job.
“It was fun and exciting,” she says. “I felt like they were going to love me and treat me like family.”
So far, this has happened. Sterling also says the customers have been “very nice and very polite, no complaints, no attitudes.”
“And they love me, too, so it makes me feel joyful,” she says.
The Meadows Foundation on Swiss Avenue offered Hugs a partnership and a building for the restaurant. Thanks to the foundation, which gives grants and donates to organizations serving Texans, Hugs Cafe is able to operate rent free. This means that funds that would’ve been spent on
rent can now go back into operating the restaurant, instead of asking donors to help cover those costs, Hugs Executive Director and CEO Lauren Smith says.
“Too often, individuals with disabilities are overlooked and underestimated,” said Peter Miller, who recently retired as The Meadows Foundation president and CEO, at the ribbon cutting. “Hugs Cafe has changed that. They show every single day that when people are given an opportunity to contribute to work and to be seen and valued, they become stronger and so does the entire community.”
White Rhino Coffee founder and CEO Chris Parvin also attended and spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony as a Hugs Cafe partner. White Rhino Coffee Foundation donated a fully automatic espresso machine to the cafe.
“We make great sandwiches. We make great cookies. But I’ll be honest, our coffee was ‘eh,’” Smith said at the ribbon cutting. “As we knew that we were going to have to expand to not only give a restaurant that was hopeful but a restaurant that was busy and had products that customers were going to be excited about for breakfast and lunch, White Rhino Coffee came in as not only a philanthropic partner but an in-kind partner with their coffee, their coffee equipment, their time and talent of their resource team.”
The food served at Hugs is made from scratch, except for the bread, says Smith, whose favorite menu items are the grilled Reuben sandwich ($14), the Greek salad with chicken ($16) and the wedding cake cookie ($3).
Aside from sandwiches, salads and sweets, Hugs Cafe also serves breakfast. Some of the offerings include a classic plate with eggs, toast, fruit and bacon ($13), buttermilk pancakes ($10), and a biscuit sandwich — a favorite of Sterling’s — with cheddar cheese, egg and sausage paired with breakfast potatoes and fruit ($12).
When she was off the clock, Hugs Cafe Dallas hostess Shannon Wakefield ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, which is made with herb cream cheese, cheddar, swiss,
provolone, tomato and bacon, and a cup of tomato basil soup ($14 for the meal).
“(My sisters have) been to the one in McKinney for years,” the 56-year-old Lake Highlands native says. “They just thought this would be fun for me working in a new restaurant because they think I’m such a people person.”
Volunteers also work at Hugs Cafe, like Varner. Her high school-aged son with “high-functioning autism” participated in the Hugs Training Academy in Dallas over the summer and then got hired for a position at the cafe. Varner says he loved that educational experience and earned his food handler’s license, plus some other certifications.
Varner heard Hugs Cafe was looking for volunteers, so she joined because she has restaurant experience, and she’s used to the hands-on work that comes with being a homeschool mom.
“They wanted volunteers that were able to help without taking over job responsibilities, like teach as opposed to doing it for (them),” she says.
Smith says Hugs takes the concept of accommodations a step further by offering everyone the right to have those.
“I would say to you as someone that I would be looking to hire, ‘What makes you successful at work?’ and you knowing that answer is a good thing for us, and if you don’t, then we try to work with you to figure that out,” she says. “But that’s not reserved for someone with an intellectual disability. So we try to reframe the word ‘accommodation’ about individual preferences to thrive in the workforce, and everyone should have those.”
Hugs Cafe Dallas, 2918 Live Oak St., 469.301.6900, hugscafe.org
Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
Photography by ETHAN GOOD
East Dallas neighbor Brad Ford Smith performs a ritual before he draws a landscape portrait of the place where a tragic death had occurred decades prior.
Smith takes his camping stool, 4-inch-by6-inch watercolor paper and a can of local craft beer. At the site, he pours out some of the beer to acknowledge the person who died there. He turns to the four corners of the compass to recognize his own family members and friends who have passed away and serves them part of the beverage.
Then, he takes a swig for himself and is ready to create. He draws the landscape at the scene in pencil and finishes the piece at his studio, though sometimes he’ll pull out the inks on location.
“I like to do as much as I can on site because it’s about my connection with that spot,” Smith says. “When you’re working on site, the day is passing, and the shadows are moving, and so you’re not capturing a photograph. You’re capturing a span of time.”
The art that came out of this ritual is what made up Where To Find A Ghost , published in 2025 through Dallas-based K.Co Press. The book showcases Smith’s drawings paired with descriptions of the tragic event that occurred there.
You might be expecting this art to be grotesque, given the subject matter. It’s not. These landscapes that are void of human figures and colored in ink to look sepia-toned are meant to depict what those places are like now. They are locations that you may see frequently in Dallas and not think twice about. And that’s the point.
Smith’s move into art based on reality is the opposite of his previous project, the Nomadic Fungi Institute . That was an experiment in pseudoscience and misinformation. He created the idea of a fictional mutated fungus that eats
automobiles and created fake experiments and results while wearing a lab coat at the shows. The scary part came when viewers took the concept seriously.
“There was that whole beginning of mistrust of news feeds, but at the same time, you could put something out there that was just totally fictitious, and people would accept it as real,” he says. “That really bothered me a lot with the Nomadic Fungi. So I backed off of that and started looking at the history around Dallas, my own city.”
Smith grew up in East Dallas in the home he lives in now. His parents were freelance artists and worked in broadcast for Channel 8 (WFAA).
“There was this creative environment that I grew up (in),” he says. “I was playing with X-ACTO knives at a very young age, which would probably horrify me now if I looked and I’m like that 5-yearold is playing with a really sharp knife, and nobody’s looking at it.”
That upbringing led him to lead a 25-year career in art conservation, though he’s now retiring from that business and has turned to teaching drawing classes.
Smith spent the past six years doing historic drawings, and his research led him to ghost hunting, so to speak. He looked through newspaper archives and local history Facebook pages and blogs to find instances of sudden, tragic and unusual deaths.
“When you’re looking at headlines, people have been killing themselves the same way for hundreds of years,” he says. “You find the headline that (says), ‘Murder,’ and it’s like these are two people that got into an argument about something really stupid, and they stabbed each other. That’s 200 years ago, and that’s last week. So it’s got to be something kind of unusual that sets it off.”
It also helps inspire Smith if he has a personal connection to the place he’s depicting, like if it’s somewhere he drives by all the time. If he is to sketch the location, he must also be able to find the address and visit to see if there’s anything there to be drawn.
There are two kinds of ghosts in this work — the unsettled spirits of those who died but also the event itself that has become forgotten by the public at large.
Though not as disturbing, Smith’s other art books explore absence, too. House of Giller is his depiction of inside the home of his longtime friend and fellow East Dallas artist Susan Giller, who since passed away, during the times when he would house sit for her.
“Basically, it was never intentional to document her house, but what the heck are you going to do?” Smith says, mentioning that her neurotic cat hated everyone but Giller. “When she died (in 2024), I realized that I had all these drawings of her place, and then after we had the estate sale, and I was back at her little bungalow, it was like she just disappeared. Even when her house still had the things in it, because she wasn’t there, they were losing their sparkle.”
Nine Days With LiHua is made up of works he created from inside his friends’ New York apartment while he was looking after their cat, LiHua.
Despite invoking them both by name in the titles, Smith doesn’t draw Giller nor LiHua. Giller’s face is included via a self-portrait she made of herself, and LiHua’s face, obscured by a curtain, is shown in a photo. In LiHua’s case, the point is to show her home, which is everything to a cat, and make the viewer see the world through her eyes.
“The cat is present in her absence,” Smith says. “This is where she sleeps in front of the radiator. This is where she
inks his drawings
scratches her little paws. So she’s present, but like a ghost, I never saw her. I’ve cat sat for her four times, and she’s like a ghost. You only hear her as a bump in the night or as something out of the corner of your eye as she darts from one room to the other.”
Where To Find A Ghost also confronts some of Dallas’ ugly truths. A few of Smith’s drawings are about a married couple who were killed in separate explosions by gangster and later Las Vegas casino owner Benny Binion. Two others tell the story of how a mob of white men threw a Black man out of a window at the Old Red Courthouse, beat and then hanged him from a steel arch downtown. Smith remembers when the historical marker was put up in 2021 at the corner of Main and Akard Streets that describes how Allen Brooks was lynched without due process.
Smith will admit that this isn’t cheerful work, but he descends into the gloom and gore for a reason.
“It’s like I’m refinding these people, and I’m giving them a voice and bringing them up to the public again.”
THERE’S SOME THING ABOUT
Lakewood Elementary crossing guard steals the hearts of local families
FALL, THE FRIENDS OF LAKEWOOD DID SOMETHING BIG — the dad’s group gifted a 2026 GMC to longtime crossing guard Marian Jones after she lost her car in a wreck.
Jones had mentioned the wreck to one person, and the news travelled around the Lakewood Elementary community fast. A little over a month later, the Friends of Lakewood surprised her with the new vehicle in September.
One student was so excited he spilled the beans to Jones about the gift.
and afternoons, and she shows up to her shifts an hour early. The children give her pictures as they cross the street, and her positive reputation among parents gets handed down to new families.
“The new ones that come every year, they say, ‘We heard about you, Ms. Marian,’” she says. “I say, ‘I hope it’s good.’”
One of the things that makes Jones unique is her willingness to dress up while on duty. For example, Jones arrived to her afternoon shift looking like Christmas on one of the last school days at Lakewood Elementary before
“WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE MISS
and Sondra Drive to the one by the school’s entrance and drop-off/pickup lanes.
Her efforts are usually in conjunction with Friends of Lakewood dads, who put on seasonal costumes and volunteer to greet students coming into school. Jones remembers doing her job with a lei around her neck once in a warmer month. She doesn’t have a favorite costume; it’s all about making the children happy. Seeing them smile is one of the best parts about her job.
“They give you love back,” she says.
OUR BELOVED LAKEWOOD CROSSING
GUARD!!LET’S
AND HELP GET HER BACK ON THE ROAD.”
“Some little boy, when they were going to present the car, he thought I already got it; he said, ‘Ms. Marian, did you get your car?’ Then I said, ‘Are they going to give me a car?’ He said, ‘Never mind!’” Jones says.
She reflected on the big moment with quiet humility, saying she felt “just happy, overwhelmed. I don’t use the word ‘lucky’ — blessed, joyful, grateful.” She remarked on how Lakewood Elementary parents really care.
Jones has become a cherished person at Lakewood Elementary. She helps students cross the street in the morning
the winter break.
She wore a red and white knit dress with a striped skirt and textured white faux lapels. The middle of it was designed to look like a belt that included a gold sequined buckle. She completed the look with tall black boots, velvet-looking gloves with white trim and a Santa Claus hat-styled headband that she wore over a fluorescent yellow cap.
“I like to dress up when I have something,” she says.
Though the 65-year-old has been a crossing guard since 2008, Jones started dressing up more when she was moved from the crosswalk at Hillbrook Street
The Oak Cliff native, who now lives in the Park Lane area, started working as a crossing guard at Lakewood Elementary after she got laid off from Taylor Publishing Company, formerly on Mockingbird Lane, during the Great Recession. Back then, crossing guards were managed by the Dallas Police Department. Now, she cashes checks from All City Management Services, a private company.
Jones has worked with children before in a daycare, raised three of her own and likes to see them grow and smile. That’s why she was interested in the crossing guard job.
Most of Jones’ crossing guard experience has been at Lakewood Elementary, though she had a couple of temporary stints at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School and Solar Preparatory School. On her first day, she didn’t know how to get to Lakewood and had to get directions from a friend, since GPS directions weren’t as accessible as they are today. But once she got to the school, she clicked into the community.
“On my first week at any job, you’re going to be nervous, but I was excited to be here,” Jones says. “From day one, I don’t know, people just fell in love with me. That’s my gift.”
Love isn’t too strong a word to use here. The Friends of Lakewood said the same thing on their Instagram account when they raised money for her new vehicle.
“We all know and LOVE Miss Marian!! Our beloved Lakewood crossing guard!! Let’s show Lakewood LOVE and help get her back on the road,” reads a post from last fall.
It’s hard to beat a new car, but that’s not the only thing Jones has been gifted over the years. She received a heated jacket and gloves, and when her stop sign broke, people rallied to get her a new one. The community supported her when she needed a kidney transplant by raising thousands of dollars and volunteering to take her to dialysis appointments prior to her surgery.
“When you are good to people and respect them,” she says, “I guess it comes back to you.”
From divorce and custody matters to enforcement and modifications, Derek Bragg brings clarity and strength to life’s most personal legal challenges. A Partner at Calabrese Budner, Derek is known for his calm presence, strategic mind, and unwavering integrity.
A proud member of your community, Derek is here when your family needs experienced, compassionate legal support, close to home.
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HANDYMAN SERVICES
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By PATTI VINSON
friend lives on through service to other canines
East Dallas neighbors, if your family includes a beloved pet, go grab him or her now. There’s a fairly good chance you’ll want to give your fur baby a hug after reading this.
Down on Fisher Road, close to White Rock Lake, Mark Coleman and Kimberly Haley-Coleman make their home. In front of their place, near the street, stands Daisy’s Memorial Dog Stick Library, a tribute to Daisy, the family dog, who died in 2024. The structure, handmade by dad Mark and daughters Maggie and Haley, encourages dogs walking by to “take/leave a stick.” Think Little Free Library but with sticks and tennis balls.
The Dog Stick Library was a labor of love and a way to cope with the family’s loss. Kimberly explains, “I needed someplace to park my grief and lingering warm fuzzies.”
Described by the Colemans as “shy, hesitant, not brave, very needy and full of love,” the sweet Labrador joined the family in 2012 at 7 weeks old and quickly made herself at home. “Daisy was the love of our life and the glue to our family,” Mark says.
“She was a huge part of our lives, the subject of so many of our conversations, and the pile of warm fuzz that instantly brought our stress level down, even if she left yellow fur everywhere that smelled like funky corn chips no matter how often we bathed her,” Kimberly adds.
Daisy, like every dog, had her own unique personality. “She refused to retrieve or play with other dogs, was afraid of leaves falling, thunder and anyone who couldn’t see she liked to be talked to in a baby voice,” Kimberly laughs.
But she enjoyed serving her family, and one of her “duties” was bravely escorting Maggie and Haley to school. “She would leap into the passenger seat,” Haley remembers, “paw at the door until the window rolled down and hold her nose up high as we cruised down Mockingbird Lane.”
Haley continues, “She never disappointed me, ever.” She pauses. “Well, except when she decided to make friends with a skunk. That was bad.”
Daisy also served as Mark’s security guard on his daily runs in the neighborhood, but “she insisted on carrying the leash bundled up in her mouth.”
She loved hanging out with the family, even though she could be a bit underfoot. “She took up the majority of the kitchen floor when we were cooking, so we all got pretty adept at a Twister-
style game of getting food prepped while navigating around an 80-pound smelly blob of sweet fur,” Kimberly says.
Sweet Daisy enjoyed a wonderful 12 years with her family until she died of old age. Six months later, they erected Daisy’s Memorial Dog Stick Library and announced the grand opening on social media. “Attention all good boys, girls and their humans: the wait is over! Drop by curbside: furry friends can take the paw-fect stick or ball, or donate one for others to enjoy … in celebration of my girl’s legacy of love and play.”
The post struck a chord, generating about 150 likes and dozens of comments, most along the lines of, “This brings me joy,” or, “Teary-eyed.”
When the Colemans see dogs discovering Daisy’s “library,” it makes them happy. “Seeing all the dogs stop at our house on their walks gives us untold joy,” Kimberly smiles. They sometimes have the opportunity to chat with dogs and their people who stop by. “It always leads to a good discussion about their dog, which sure makes me smile,” she says.
Some visitors even leave notes of appreciation. “Most tell us how it made them smile and remember how much their own pets mean to them and other sentiments along those lines. They do mean so much to us.”
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Daisy’s Memorial Dog Stick Library recently reappeared on social media, this time from neighbor Hari Bhushan, whose wife Morgan Martindale noticed it when she was biking by and took a photo. The post, once again, touched readers and received almost 600 reactions and over 60 comments, all variations on lovely, glorious, wonderful.
One commenter wrote: “This is absolutely heartwarming and special. Shows the love you had for your dog.”
Another wrote: “What a beautiful memorial for Daisy. Our fur babies are our family. Daisy is sharing what she loved. This is genius and a masterpiece of love from her family. Now Daisy, you run, have fun and chase you some tennis balls and sticks in Heaven.”
By channeling their grief, the Coleman family found a way to treat good dogs to a nice stick or ball and to remind humans to love their pets during their all too brief time with us. “She was so much to us in so many ways,” Kimberly says of Daisy, “full of love and warmth and sweetness. We miss her.”
Said one sage commenter on social media: “Daisy was very loved and how kind that she and her family are giving this love to others.”
PATTI VINSON is a guest writer who has lived in East Dallas for more than 20 years. She’s written for the Advocate and Real Simple magazine.
