Wright, Allmans Partner in Service
For Allie Beth and Peirce Allman, supporting the S.M. Wright Foundation comes about as naturally as, well, selling houses.
The Dallas real estate moguls chose the Rev. S.M. Wright II’s inner-city work as Allie Beth Allman and Associates’ official charity more than two decades ago – one of 50 nonprofits the company supports.
“I am a big believer in giving back to the community, and I was looking for something that I wanted our office to be involved in,” Allie Beth said of a fateful dinner in 2000 with the pastor of People’s Missionary Baptist Church. “That November, my office went down and served his church meals and then again at Christmas time.”
Her staff covered the pews with toys, beginning a tradition that would grow from 30 people served the first year, to 300 the next, to more than 40,000 people during the foundation’s annual Christmas in the Park event at Fair Park.
“S.M. has the strongest faith of any person I’ve ever met. When I panic if we are slow on donations, he says, “God will prevail,” and he does,” Allie Beth said. “What is so nice is you can truly see where the money is going.”
The Allmans’ involvement extends beyond the holidays. Pierce has served on the S.M. Wright Foundation board for years, and Wright recently honored them while reopening the foundation’s newly renovated South Dallas Community Clothing and Resource Center. The center, located in a house next to his church, provides free clothing, small appliances, hygiene products, and other essentials.
The Allmans bought and refurbished the house and supplied it with donations from their agents.
The pastor presented the Allmans with a hand-blown glass heart-shaped Legacy Award, inscribed, “For your longtime faithfulness to God in providing support to the less fortunate families in South Dallas.”
Allie Beth explained that she’s a “strong believer in giving back to our community. Dallas has been very good to us. We have so benefited. This is our way of thanking our community for all it has done for us.”
