Happy New Year!
Let’s raise our glasses to toast the close of a wonderful 2019 with so much to celebrate. We had a fantastic 28th Christmas Home Tour with 800 community members volunteering over 12,000 hours over two days and welcoming over 1,100 guests as they toured four beautiful homes and learned about child abuse impacting our community. Thank you to everyone who was a part of this special weekend!
In 2019, we estimate that we served 3,000 children and families, with a record number of child abuse reports. We created and strengthened long lasting connections for 50 children in foster care through Collaborative Family Engagement. Nineteen children were adopted on National Adoption Day and found their “forever homes”. Once again, we matched 100% of children in foster care with a CASA Advocate — and were one of only 3 programs in the state of Texas to achieve this and the ONLY program which has consistently achieved this for many years. We provided a safe place for over 1600 children to tell their stories perhaps for the first time. 100% of our teens graduated high school and are pursuing higher education, community college, vocational school or careers in the military. And, we undertook a complete remodeling and expansion of our building and will be opening the new Davis George Campus in February 2020. This new 27,000 square foot facility will provide the capacity to double the number of children we can serve and introduce a completely new 10,000 square foot Children’s Advocacy Center. We will open a new Training and Learning Center for educational programs for our volunteers and partners. We will add interview rooms, therapy rooms, family meeting rooms and more space for collaborating with our partners in CPS, DA’s Office, County Attorney’s Office and Law Enforcement.
We are excited to welcome our volunteers, board, donors, staff and partners to our new campus and hope you will find it an uplifting, nurturing and healing environment where children and families in crisis find comfort and support and where all of you who work every day to provide a voice, heal the hurt and break the cycle of abuse find a collaborative environment so that we always achieve the best outcomes for these children.
We’re moving on Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1. We’ll be in the moving process both days and will be back up and running on Tuesday, February 4.
For the Children’s Sake,
Ruthanne Mefford
CEO, Child Advocates of Fort Bend
Progress Meter: The Campaign For The Children’s Sake
Ellyn Wulfe, Regional Community Impact Leader for Gensler talks about the project.
Watch the video!
Click the link and scroll down our Capital Campaign page to view the video.
Holiday Extravaganza Filled with Love
Chicago Title, Hometrust Mortgage and Johnson Development did it again! The 2nd Annual Holiday Extravaganza Toy Drive brought together members from the real estate community in support of Child Advocates of Fort Bend. Almost 100 realtors and other real estate professionals joined the festive fun which was held at Sewell Audi-Sugar Land. Even Santa, Mrs. Claus and several of their elves dropped by! Special thanks to Suzanne Slavin (Chicago Title), Mary Titel (Hometrust Mortgage) and Tammy McCall and Trey Reichardt (Johnson Development) for your dedication to Child Advocates of Fort Bend. And to all our friends who attended the event – thank you for bringing joy and happiness this holiday season to the children we serve. We are so very grateful!
Special Thanks!
Special thanks to everyone who donated items for us in December (and throughout the year)! We really appreciate your generosity!
Jingle Bell Jog!
We were out cheering our Fort Bend County employees at the Jingle Bell Jog on December 2, 2019. We even ran into Santa and Mrs. Claus. You know we are ALWAYS on the Nice List. Thanks to all the participants who chose Child Advocates of Fort Bend as recipients of new toys. They will go to the children we serve in the CAC and CASA programs. Fort Bend knows how to make the holidays merry and bright!
Love in Action – Christ Church Sugar Land
Special thanks to Deborah Jones and the UM Women’s group from Christ Church in Sugar Land for their wonderful donation of blankets. Many of the blankets they donated were handmade – a true testament to their “Love in Action” mission work. We enjoyed their time with us which included a tour of our Children’s Advocacy Center and a dialogue about their continued support. Thank you Christ Church UMW for sharing your beautiful talents and for making a difference in the lives of the children we serve.
Trained Volunteers Needed
If you have already gone through the CAFB training and you are waiting on a case OR if your case has closed and you are awaiting a new one, we have many other ways for you to volunteer. If are available during the day, we would love for you to fill in a shift at our Children’s Advocacy Center. As we prepare to move back into our new building, we need volunteers to assist with children coming into the CAC for appointments. If you are interested in filling a shift, please contact Melissa Johnson at mjohnson@cafb.org or Lindsey Castellanos at lcastellanos@cafb.org.
Can’t volunteer during the day? That’s okay – we can still use your help. We need ambassadors to help spread the word about the work that we do, volunteers to help with our Break the Cycle presentations and outreach efforts and volunteers to help with our events, including our upcoming Gala. There is always a place for you at CAFB! For information on how you can help, contact Lindsey at lcastellanos@cafb.org.
Would You Like Us to Speak to Your Group?
See that cute t-shirt Ms. Brandy Parratt is holding? It’s from our Break the Cycle presentation. We give out lots of supportive materials for teachers, students, and parents, for our Break the Cycle presentations including these awareness shirts. If you would like us to come speak to your school or other group please email Lindsey at lcastellanos@cafb.org. We are available for presentations in January and February.
January is. . .
January 11th, 2020 is National Human Trafficking Awareness day.
Human Trafficking is a growing problem in our area and we have been selected as the care coordinator for all human trafficking cases in Fort Bend County. Want to know what you can do to help? Wear blue on January 11th to support the important mission to end human trafficking which includes minor sex trafficking.
Week of Giving
Thank you to Shady Oak Christian School PTO for allowing Child Advocates of Fort Bend to be recipients of their “Week of Giving” drive. Children of all ages brought toys to support the children we serve. Thanks to Judy Ronning for coming out to Shady Oak to decorate our awareness tree this year! This is our second year to be part of this magical week. We also had the opportunity to share our Break the Cycle presentation with the elementary students at Shady Oak Primary School. We are so grateful for the community support during the Holiday Season!
N.E.S.T. Updates
Happy New Year! The N.E.S.T. team will be having their first Education Committee meeting of the year on January 28th at 4:00 p.m. at the Justice Center. If you have a student in school who needs academic assistance, please contact April Shaver ashaver@cafb.org or Alli Waterwall awaterwall@cafb.org and they will connect you with our committee. Also, if you are an active volunteer advocating for a school-aged child please login to our website to find out about upcoming events and available resources we have for you.
WOW – Christmas Home Tour!
THANK YOU – THANK YOU – THANK YOU!!! To all the homeowners, committee members, volunteers, hosts, entertainers, cookie bakers, sponsors, Board of Directors, staff and friends. The homes on the tour this year in Alkire Lake, Sugar Creek, Sweetwater and Sienna were all AMAZING! I hope you got to see them all because WOW and we must mention how incredible the weather was too!!
Take a moment to check out our website and Facebook page for photos and videos. Be sure to save the date for next year’s Home Tour on December 11th + 12th
For more information, please contact Lisa at LMoore@cafb.org.
Wreath Raffle Winners!
Congratulations to these lucky individuals who won our 2019 Wreath Raffle!
Wreath #1 – Cindy McCauley
Wreath #2 – Deborah Spencer
Wreath #3 – Nazlin Keshwani
Wreath #4 – Sue Lockwood
Wreath #5 – Christi Trimble
Wreath #6 – Gregg Weaver
Wreath #7 – Bob Mayo
Wreath #8 – Lisa Yates
Wreath #9 – Gene Nutt
Wreath #10 – Roy D. Ellison
Wreath #11 – Jim Bradford
Wreath #12 – Susie Goff
Wreath # 13 – Stevie Irby
Wreath #14 – Jo H. Till
Mark your calendar!
February 11, 2020 Volunteer Banquet
May 2, 2020 Through The Looking Glass Gala
September 24, 2020 Voices for Children Breakfast
December 11-12, 2020 Christmas Home Tour
