I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jacqueline Johnson (“Jackie”) since 2013, when I met her through a business associate shortly after my wife died. I can honestly say that she is one of the most uplifting and spiritual people I have ever met. At that time she was running a resale shop focused on helping women find bargain clothing as part of her ministry to help women in need to get back on their feet. My wife’s wardrobe was huge and I donated 100% of her clothes, toiletries, and personal items to her resale shop in North Dallas on the condition that Jacqueline would do all the transport from my house. Over the next four weeks or so, she made daily trips to pick things up at whatever time of the day she could swing it. Her store was so well stocked with merchandise of all kinds to the point where she couldn’t store it all. During that time she was able to outreach to an even larger number of women, most of which she could draw into her ministry … meetings often held at the store. Since then, I have gotten to know Jacqueline even more deeply. We speak and pray together frequently.
Jacqueline reaches out to the community in many ways. She mentors small groups of women over several months to help them get the skills needed to find jobs, hold-on to jobs, and gain a new sense of independence. She supports other women n crisis one-on-one. She conducts a Back-To-School program where hundreds of kids get equipped with all kinds of school supplies that they would not otherwise have. She is involved with many other programs in the community.
Adventure and Victory’s overall mission is to “is to provide quality educational life-skills, leadership and on-the-job training programs that empower low and moderate-income women and their families the tools needed to reach their full potential as contributing members of society.” That is a very big mission statement, yet is an understatement of what Jacqueline does. She is continually reaching out to individuals, small and large groups, and the community in general. To fund her programs she will not hesitate to reach out to businesses (small to large), she has developed a series of relationships with banks, and she participates with a wide variety of churches. Additionally, Jacqueline maintains a series of spiritual networks that meet however they can, often-times on a regular conference call or on Facebook.
Jacqueline has helped me through some very difficult challenges with my wife’s death, a serious illness that almost took my life, and the financial failure of a business. Prior to meeting Jacqueline, I worked 32 years for Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, where I was one of the company’s “founding fathers” of the corporate program to support minority and women-owned businesses … the first such program in Dallas. I spent 30 years working with small businesses helping them develop and succeed in competing with or working with their big business competitors and develop lasting relationships with their big business customers. Oftentimes, we had to teach the big businesses how to work with the much smaller minority & women-owned businesses. My work was recognized with the receipt of PepsiCo’s highest recognition award. During that time I also represented PepsiCo to United Way for over 20 years, was vice-chairman of the Plano Chamber of Commerce, held other community representations, and worked with a wide variety of non-profits including the Rape Crisis Center, Children’s Advocacy Center, and a minority group Next Generation Success, focused on helping minority teens in Plano make it through High School, go to college or into jobs and find summer employment, and ultimately.
Helping Adventure & Victory Make A Difference in the Community. Board Member
Sam Frenkil