New York Times Best-Selling Author and Award-Winning Country Music Artist Jimmy Wayne Will Deliver Keynote During The Salvation Army’s 2016 ‘Doing The Most Good’ Luncheon

Mary Clare Finney and Debbie Oates to serve as Chair and Underwriting Chair respectively

(Feature photos of Mary Clare Finney and Debbie Oates courtesy The Salvation Army.)

Dallas, Texas (October 17, 2016) – Jimmy Wayne is an accomplished recording artist, keynote speaker and three-time New York Times bestselling author (Walk To Beautiful, Paper Angels) whose life’s mission is raising awareness for at-risk youth in foster care.  Jimmy will be the keynote speaker during The Salvation Army’s 2016 Annual Doing The Most Good Luncheon.

The luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 17 in the Chantilly Ballroom at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. The event starts at noon and will end at 1:30 p.m. Mary Clare Finney is the luncheon chair and Debbie Oates is the underwriting chair.

In his keynote, Jimmy will share difficulties he faced growing up, which made for a complicated childhood. His father abandoned the family. His mother was sent to prison. His stepfather tried to murder him. As a teen, he was homeless, living on the street before being taken in by foster parents who helped change his life. He will also talk about the help he received from The Salvation Army.

“The Salvation Army provided food and clothes to my mom, sister and me when I was nine years old. They provided me my first guitar through the angel tree program when I was 14 years old,” said Jimmy.  “I vowed when I ‘made it’ I would give back to the Salvation Army. The first song I wrote when I received my first record deal was ‘Paper Angels’ – a song about the Angel Tree program. I wrote about the Salvation Army in my book Walk To Beautiful.”

This year’s luncheon chair, Mary Clare Finney, is a Director of Baylor Health Care System Foundation and a member of The Salvation Army DFW Metroplex Advisory Board.

“I’m extremely delighted to chair the 2016 Annual Doing The Most Good Luncheon, to raise funds to help The Salvation Army continue its important services in the DFW community,” Finney says. “The Salvation Army has helped thousands of needy members of our community through their most challenging times. It has provided shelter and food for the homeless, supported families in distress in their efforts to get back on their feet, and helped shape the futures of many disadvantaged children and youth.”

The Salvation Army provides more than 70 different programs and services in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton and Ellis Counties. They include food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, apartments for senior citizens and veterans, drug and alcohol addiction recovery, youth programs and financial assistance.

This year alone, The Salvation Army served nearly a million meals costing more than $2 million at its centers in the DFW Metroplex. The organization also provided 42,071 bags of groceries to help struggling individuals and families, shelter for 6,836 men, women and children, and substance abuse rehabilitation for 4,443 individuals. In addition, it gave Christmas assistance to 16,373 families and 51,918 individuals.

Luncheon tickets are $300 each. Sponsor levels range from $1,000 to $250,000. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit salvationarmydfw.org, email dfwmc_events@uss.salvationarmy.org, or call 214-637-8254.

About The Salvation Army:
The Salvation Army is a worldwide Christian organization that in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex provides more than 70 different programs and services to help make life better for individuals and families. Services include: substance abuse treatment, homeless shelters, life-skills classes, non-perishable food, Christmas gifts for children, disaster relief, a domestic violence shelter, emergency financial assistance, after-school programs, summer day camps, computer training, senior citizens services, and low-cost youth sports activities.

The Salvation Army’s religious and social service activities serve millions of men, women and children in more than 100 nations around the world. Volunteers, contributors, and other supporters make the services possible in local communities across the country. For more information, go to salvationarmydfw.org.

About Jimmy Wayne:
Jimmy is a former foster kid turned award-winning country music artist whose songs and story highlight his mission to raise awareness for kids in foster care. Jimmy’s hits include “Stay Gone,” “Paper Angels,” “Do You Believe Me Now” – which earned BMI’s prestigious Million-Air Award for receiving one million radio spins in America – and “I Love You This Much.” In 2009, Jimmy toured with Brad Paisley and recorded “Sara Smile” with rock ‘n roll Hall of Fame duo Daryl Hall and John Oates.

In 2010, Jimmy walked halfway across America (from Nashville to Phoenix) to raise awareness for kids aging out of the foster-care system.  In 2011, Jimmy released the novel Paper Angels which became a made-for-TV movie of the same title. In 2012, Jimmy helped get legislative bills passed extending the age of foster care to 21 in both California and Tennessee, and in 2015, he did the same in his home state of North Carolina. In 2014, he released Walk to Beautiful, a three-time New York Times bestselling memoir. In June of this year, it crossed the 100,000 print sales milestone.

A supporter of Jimmy’s tireless work is Coca-Cola. When the global brand heard about its role in Jimmy’s story, it commissioned 7,000 displays in grocery stores around America featuring Walk to Beautiful along with its classic Christmas Coca-Cola bottles. This was the first promotion of its kind in Coca-Cola history.  In addition, Jimmy’s song “I Love You This Much” is also currently part of Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke and a Song” campaign that features lyrics on bottles and cans of Coca-Cola nationwide.

On Monday, September 19, Jimmy Wayne was recognized with the prestigious Points of Light Award during a private event in Kennebunkport, Maine prior to which he met and sang for President George H. W. Bush at the Bush family residence on Walker’s Point.

On Wednesday, September 21, in recognition of his work, he was honored with an “Angels In Adoption” award by The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) during its 18th annual awards gala at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Jimmy lives in Nashville and continues to work tirelessly on behalf of at-risk foster youth by performing, writing books, keynote speaking and through Project Meet Me Halfway — an awareness campaign and resource to volunteers, mentors and foster parents — that he established during his 1,700 mile walk halfway across America in 2010.  His ultimate goal is to build transitional homes for youth who age out of foster care without a place to go. Visit project http://www.projectmmh.org for ways to get involved in your local community today.

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For information about the Salvation Army:
Solomon Moriba 214-637-8290 (work) or 214-799-2622 (cell)

(Press release courtesy The Salvation Army.)