where God's love
changes lives
changes lives
Rev. Beulah H. "Bubba" Dailey, Episcopal priest and executive director of Austin Street Centre. Answering God's call to service, Bubba began her own outreach program in the early 1970s. Alone but undaunted, she slipped into the dark nooks and crannies of Dallas's largely ignored underbelly. Her goal: to dispense food, blankets and clothing to the destitute and dispossessed.
Friends familiar with the North Carolina native's one-woman crusade began referring to her nocturnal adventures as "Bubba's ministry."
She was not amused. "It's not my ministry," Bubba insisted. "It's God's."
God's ministry would ultimately move Bubba in 1983 to establish, with Rev. Jerry Hill, the Austin Street Shelter. Bubba juggled her duties at the shelter with a full course load at the Anglican School of Theology. There, she began preparing for the priesthood taking her vows in 1987.
Father Harry E. Dailey, Episcopal priest, alcohol and drug counselor and co-executive director of Austin Street Centre. Like Bubba, Harry had his own first-hand experiences with life on the streets.
Chronic drinking cost Harry several jobs and a marriage back in his native Ohio. By the early 1980s, he was homeless and adrift in Dallas. His frequent binges triggered the unholy trinity of alcohol abuse - pain, sorrow and heartache.
Bubba and Harry met in passing in 1982 at The Stewpot, a downtown food bank funded and operated by the First Presbyterian Church. The diminutive Bubba was serving soup to, and talked sports with, the raggedy, scruffy men who showed up each day.
One day, she swabbed an infected knife wound the hulking Harry had suffered in a street altercation. He politely said, "Thank you, ma'am," and promptly went back to the street - and the bottle.
God would bring them together again two years later. Harry, recovering from a serious alcohol-induced illness, showed up at Austin Street Shelter a repentant person. A near-death experience transformed him while he was in intensive care.
"I realized God had touched me and that my life would have purpose and meaning from then on," he says. "I knew I would be able to do good things. I was being given an opportunity to love and serve the Lord. That's the mandate for all of his children, really."
During a lengthy rehabilitation process at the shelter, Harry worked his way from floor worker to night manager and later to the executive staff. He also participated in Bible study and shared his awakened faith with the shelter's recently widowed co-founder.
He came to see in Bubba the embodiment of Jesus's instruction for his followers to love one another. "I had never met anyone, and still haven't, who radiates God's love more than she does," Harry explains.
In 1987, the Daileys exchanged wedding vows at the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Cedar Hill
Theirs was - and is - a union based on caring, compassion and a mutual desire to assist the needy and forlorn.
In the intervening decade and a half, the Daileys have devoted their lives to fulfilling Austin Street Centre's mission of providing shelter and care in a safe, compassionate Christian community.
Yoked by a call to serve the poor, they have touched thousands of people by providing help, hope and healing.
The Austin Street Centre's programs affirm the role of Christian discipleship. So, it's tempting to refer to the Centre as "Bubba and Harry's ministry."
But the Daileys, will be the first to say it's not their ministry at all. It belongs to God!
Friends familiar with the North Carolina native's one-woman crusade began referring to her nocturnal adventures as "Bubba's ministry."
She was not amused. "It's not my ministry," Bubba insisted. "It's God's."
God's ministry would ultimately move Bubba in 1983 to establish, with Rev. Jerry Hill, the Austin Street Shelter. Bubba juggled her duties at the shelter with a full course load at the Anglican School of Theology. There, she began preparing for the priesthood taking her vows in 1987.
Father Harry E. Dailey, Episcopal priest, alcohol and drug counselor and co-executive director of Austin Street Centre. Like Bubba, Harry had his own first-hand experiences with life on the streets.
Chronic drinking cost Harry several jobs and a marriage back in his native Ohio. By the early 1980s, he was homeless and adrift in Dallas. His frequent binges triggered the unholy trinity of alcohol abuse - pain, sorrow and heartache.
Bubba and Harry met in passing in 1982 at The Stewpot, a downtown food bank funded and operated by the First Presbyterian Church. The diminutive Bubba was serving soup to, and talked sports with, the raggedy, scruffy men who showed up each day.
One day, she swabbed an infected knife wound the hulking Harry had suffered in a street altercation. He politely said, "Thank you, ma'am," and promptly went back to the street - and the bottle.
God would bring them together again two years later. Harry, recovering from a serious alcohol-induced illness, showed up at Austin Street Shelter a repentant person. A near-death experience transformed him while he was in intensive care.
"I realized God had touched me and that my life would have purpose and meaning from then on," he says. "I knew I would be able to do good things. I was being given an opportunity to love and serve the Lord. That's the mandate for all of his children, really."
During a lengthy rehabilitation process at the shelter, Harry worked his way from floor worker to night manager and later to the executive staff. He also participated in Bible study and shared his awakened faith with the shelter's recently widowed co-founder.
He came to see in Bubba the embodiment of Jesus's instruction for his followers to love one another. "I had never met anyone, and still haven't, who radiates God's love more than she does," Harry explains.
In 1987, the Daileys exchanged wedding vows at the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Cedar Hill
Theirs was - and is - a union based on caring, compassion and a mutual desire to assist the needy and forlorn.
In the intervening decade and a half, the Daileys have devoted their lives to fulfilling Austin Street Centre's mission of providing shelter and care in a safe, compassionate Christian community.
Yoked by a call to serve the poor, they have touched thousands of people by providing help, hope and healing.
The Austin Street Centre's programs affirm the role of Christian discipleship. So, it's tempting to refer to the Centre as "Bubba and Harry's ministry."
But the Daileys, will be the first to say it's not their ministry at all. It belongs to God!
Community Development:
Austin Street Centre's leadership has a combined 80 year experience working with the homeless population.
Rev. Bubba and Father Harry have been instrumental in developing and implementing programs for the homeless. Past and current involvement and participation with community developement projects include:
Working with independent consultants for the past 26 years
Mayor's Symposium on Poverty
12-Step Interfaith Coalition
Mayor's Task Force on homelessness, alcohol and drug treatment issues
Commission on addiction and recovery, Episcopal Diocese of Dallas
Recognition:
Night of Light Award
Award of Excellence in non-profit leadership
Executive Director of the Year Award-Texas Homeless Network
Service to Mankind
Martin Luther King Freedom Award
Heart of Gold Award
Center of Non-Profit Managmment Award of Excellence
Profiles in Leadership Award from SMU
Women of Spirit Award-American Jewish Congress
Selected by President-elect George W. Bush to participate in his National Prayer Service during Inaugural Weekend
Martin Luther King Jr., Teaching Personal Freedoms Award
Jefferson Award
Qualification:
Rev. Bubba Dailey:
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
Graduate, Anglican School of Theology, Dallas, Texas
Episcopal Priest
Worked with the homeless since 1974
Austin Street Centre since 1983
Father Harry Dailey:
Theology Degree - Anglican School of Theology and Contemplative Studies - University of Dallas
Episcopal Priest
Pastoral Counselor
Specializing in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues
Certificate of study in counseling from Hazelden South West counselor training
Austin Street Centre since 1984
Carisa Austin:
Bachelor's Degree in Social Work
Austin Street Centre since 1989
Austin Street Centre's leadership has a combined 80 year experience working with the homeless population.
Rev. Bubba and Father Harry have been instrumental in developing and implementing programs for the homeless. Past and current involvement and participation with community developement projects include:
Working with independent consultants for the past 26 years
Mayor's Symposium on Poverty
12-Step Interfaith Coalition
Mayor's Task Force on homelessness, alcohol and drug treatment issues
Commission on addiction and recovery, Episcopal Diocese of Dallas
Recognition:
Night of Light Award
Award of Excellence in non-profit leadership
Executive Director of the Year Award-Texas Homeless Network
Service to Mankind
Martin Luther King Freedom Award
Heart of Gold Award
Center of Non-Profit Managmment Award of Excellence
Profiles in Leadership Award from SMU
Women of Spirit Award-American Jewish Congress
Selected by President-elect George W. Bush to participate in his National Prayer Service during Inaugural Weekend
Martin Luther King Jr., Teaching Personal Freedoms Award
Jefferson Award
Qualification:
Rev. Bubba Dailey:
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
Graduate, Anglican School of Theology, Dallas, Texas
Episcopal Priest
Worked with the homeless since 1974
Austin Street Centre since 1983
Father Harry Dailey:
Theology Degree - Anglican School of Theology and Contemplative Studies - University of Dallas
Episcopal Priest
Pastoral Counselor
Specializing in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues
Certificate of study in counseling from Hazelden South West counselor training
Austin Street Centre since 1984
Carisa Austin:
Bachelor's Degree in Social Work
Austin Street Centre since 1989
© 2006-2010 Austin Street Centre, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
Austin Street Centre - 2929 Hickory Street - Dallas, TX 75226
