Texas Rangers, MLB choose Mission Arlington as World Series Legacy Gift recipient
ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex was founded by Tillie Burgin back in 1986.
"It began with a Bible study in an apartment," said Burgin, the nonprofit's executive director.
The organization currently serves 2,000 people every day, providing food, furniture, clothing and medical care for free.
"They come here without much and so when they leave, we want them to know that they have found significance...they've been in the presence of the Lord, so that kind of love, you can't explain but you sure can enjoy it," said Burgin.
Last Friday, before the Texas Rangers won Game 1 of the World Series, Mission Arlington felt like they had hit a home run when the Texas Rangers and MLB announced they had selected the nonprofit as the recipient of their World Series legacy gift.
"We're family and we feel so connected with the Texas Rangers," said Burgin.
Mission Arlington will use the donation to expand their medical clinic, which served 11,000 just in the last year.
"We are so thankful that we can expand the clinic because, even today, we had more doctors than we had rooms," said Andrea Wilson, the clinic's director.
Mission Arlington plans to build a larger triage room for their nurses and seven more rooms, including a pediatric room that will be decorated with Rangers gear.
The Rangers Foundation has supported Mission Arlington for years but this latest donation will help them provide potentially life-saving medical care at no cost to patients for years to come.
"It tells the community that the Rangers love this community and they have put their all into it just like we need to put our all into them."