Meet Our Charity Partner

Snowball Express rides its way to a win in the 2015 CultureMap Charity Challenge

The votes have been tallied in the 2015 CultureMap Charity Challenge presented by Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty, and Snowball Express has emerged victorious to become our charity partner for 2015. The nonprofit earned 40 percent of the nearly 7,000 votes cast.

Twelve deserving organizations — including Advocates for Community Transformation (ACT), Art Station Fort Worth, Cafe Momentum, Dallas Cert, Dwell with Dignity, Men of Nehemiah, Nexus Recovery Center, Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, SPCA of Texas and YW Nurse-Family Partnership — battled it out in the second annual competition. The prize? A CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

"Snowball Express is thrilled to win the Charity Challenge and be selected as CultureMap's charity partner for 2015," says executive director Buck Kern. "This honor will give us a great opportunity to tell more people about the great work that Snowball Express does and how we serve the children of our fallen military heroes."

Snowball Express, founded in 2006, provides hope and new, happy memories to the children of military fallen heroes who have died while on active duty since 9/11. Tragically, there are more than 8,000 children who will never be reunited with their military parent because he or she made the ultimate sacrifice to our nation. These children and their surviving mother or father will continue that sacrifice, as they struggle with the reality of living without their parent and hero.

That is where this organization comes into play. Snowball Express brings kids from all over the country to DFW to enjoy four days of fun activities, including sporting events, dances, amusement parks and more.

Children who are picked for the Snowball Express experience often are reserved, withdrawn or unwilling to talk about their loss. Participating in Snowball Express changes that, allowing each child to feel understood so they can talk about their feelings with others who have lost a parent.

"The timing of this could not have been better," Kern says. "This year is our 10th anniversary, and we want to engage the citizens of Dallas to help us remember, honor and inspire these children, each of whom has lost a dad or mom serving in the military since 9/11."

For more information about how you can help Snowball Express in its mission, visit the website.

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happy go lucky plano

Dallas neighbor dazzles on new list of happiest cities in America

Photo courtesy of Visit Plano

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A new happiness study has ranked Plano one of the happiest cities in America this year, and it once again landed on top as the happiest city in Texas.

Plano has moved up on the list and ranks as the 16th happiest U.S. city in 2026. Last year, it was 17th.

WalletHub determined the happiest cities in America based on 29 relevant metrics based on "positive-psychology research" across three main categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, income and employment, and community and environment. As with most WalletHub studies, it compared the 182 most populous U.S. cities.

Fremont, California claimed the top spot as the happiest city nationwide for another year. Bismark, North Dakota and Scottsdale, Arizona, respectfully, rounded out the top three.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Plano across the three key dimensions:

No. 15 – Emotional and physical wellbeing
No. 22 – Community and environment
No. 72 – Income and employment

Plano and its residents have continued improving their city year after year, whether its through opening new bakeries and restaurants, inviting fun pop-ups for locals, or having a strong job market.

Plano's happiness far outshines the rest of North Texas; according to WalletHub, Irving is the 70th happiest city in the country, the third-happiest in Texas, and the second-happiest city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. Garland ranked farther behind as No. 92 nationally, and more DFW cities ranked even lower: Grand Prairie (No. 106), Dallas (No. 111), Fort Worth (No. 113), and Arlington (No. 119).

The report additionally found that Dallasites spend the third-most amount of time at work in the nation. The city ranked No. 180 in the national analysis of U.S. cities with the "fewest work hours."

WalletHub also emphasized that money doesn't buy happiness — after a certain point.

"For decades, researchers have explored the science of happiness and identified several core factors, including mental well-being, physical health, strong social ties, job satisfaction, and financial stability," the report said. "Still, income has its limits — studies show that earning more than $75,000 a year does not lead to greater happiness."

Six-figure earners in Plano aren't necessarily as happy as those who don't make as much, as a separate financial study from SmartAsset revealed these big earners are only taking home about $72,653 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living.

This is how other Texas cities ranked in the report:

No. 39 – Austin
No. 128 – Houston
No. 135 – Lubbock
No. 137 – El Paso
No. 140 – Laredo
No. 143 – Amarillo
No. 150 – Brownsville
No. 154 – San Antonio
No. 155 – Corpus Christi

wallethub plano reports