The educational resource center For Oak Cliff was decked for the holidays on Friday but celebrated a birthday.
"Thank you for being part of this national holiday known as my birthday," Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall said.
Marshall was at For Oak Cliff to give gifts on her birthday.
"I didn't want people sending me a lot of stuff. I didn't want a lot of gifts. I said, 'What I want for us to do is to pour back into people,'" Marshall explained to the crowd. "So that's when I developed Project HeavenCynt."
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Marshall brought a check for $10,000 which will be given to more than 10 families from For Oak Cliff, including Ranell Henderson.
"It's been a hard year," Henderson said, head in her hands, wiping away tears. "I swear, I really needed it."
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"That is a gift to me to know that she is so emotional about the help she just received," Marshall said. "It makes me cry just thinking about the situation that some of these people are in, but we get to help them."
Students also got new tablets donated by Chime.
"This has been my favorite event of the year just to see how gracious and thankful the kids were was really awesome," Chime Head of Corporate Social Impact Kira Traore said. "I'm glad we could give them something extra for homework and for some fun this holiday season."
For Oak Cliff also had a surprise for Marshall. They unveiled a new mural with her face and a favorite quote from Theodore Roosevelt, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
"For these young people to see someone that looks like them to be in the position of CEO with a professional sports team, one of the top businesses in the world, that's really important," For Oak Cliff CEO Taylor Toynes said. "Because I truly believe that if we see it, we can achieve it."
For Oak Cliff families weren't the only ones to benefit from Project HeavenCynt. Marshall said she had people across the country giving out checks to match the number of years she's celebrating. This year, that's 64.
"The more I give, the more come back," Marshall said. "That's what it's all about."
