A Promise To Say Thanks
I made a promise to Aida Hernandez to pass along a sincere word of thanks to you, and I’m making good on that promise now.
I met Aida last fall during a review of our work in Mexico. She’s an advocate for her community of Zegache, near Oaxaca. The village is in an impoverished agricultural area, located in a dry valley dependent on seasonal rains for crops.
As Lilibet Santiago, our Buckner regional director in Oaxaca, says of Zegache, “Most of their livelihood here is based on seasonal agriculture and it relies on the rains. When it rains, it’s OK, but when it doesn’t rain, they don’t have any harvest.”
So, hand-in-hand with you, we stepped in to provide hope for this community through our Family Hope Center, helping build greenhouses, putting in water collection and filtration systems, and poultry systems, as well as holding family strengthening classes, Bible studies, and economic development classes. Your support of these efforts means new life and new opportunity for families learning new skills through the Family Hope Center.
That support isn’t lost on Aida and her community. As we talked last fall, she broke into a grin as she swept her hand across the scene in front of her that includes the opportunity now presented to them and said, “Thanks to Buckner, hope shines here.” Then she asked me to “Please thank those who gave us all of these things.”
So, on Aida’s behalf, thank you. She’s only one of thousands of people you helped in 2018. Hope shines because in the eyes of our creator, every person is significant. The abused child hiding in a corner; the family on the verge of economic collapse and destitution; the parents trying to improve their lives so that no one takes their children from them; those who live in the shadows. Hope shines because God knows them. He knows them by name. Hope shines because God has given you and me the task of representing hope. Thank you for how you meant hope in 2018.
Albert Reyes, Buckner International president/CEO
2018 In Review: Pictures of Hope
Buckner Family Pathways
You provided safe places for single parents and their children to have the opportunity for an education.
In Houston, it was a new beginning for 20 single parents who moved into the new Buckner Family Pathways apartments located at New Hope Housing at Reed within Star of Hope’s Cornerstone Community.
As their possessions were unloaded off the moving trucks into their new homes, residents could not contain their smiles or excitement. For many of them, this is the first new home they have ever lived in and for others it is the first time they won’t have to share a bedroom with their children.
Some of the parents moving into their new, fully furnished homes were escaping abusive situations or homelessness. Entering the Buckner Family Pathways program allows them to work on their education while providing a safe and stable home for their children. They also receive counseling, resources and other skills to become self-sufficient.
“I’m going through a lot of emotions,” said Family Pathways resident Shanarica Bennett during her move-in. “I’m excited and nervous about the change, but I know it’s for the better. They have a lot of things here that will be wonderful for my children and myself. I see great things for my future. I know that when I graduate, I’m going to be very prepared for what is to come.”
The Turnaround
At the end of Abigail Tlamasico’s first semester at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas, she was quitting. It just hadn’t worked out. Her 1.0 grade point average was proof. But when she broke the news to Holly Valentine, the Buckner Family Pathways director refused to let her quit.
“I knew Abby could succeed,” Valentine said.
Last year, Abigail earned her bachelor’s degree in education at Stephen F. Austin University with a 3.6 GPA. And she’s investing her life into students who once struggled like she did to help them achieve things they once thought impossible.
Buckner Foster Care and Adoption
You supported loving foster or forever families for abused, neglected or abandoned children.
Ask anyone about 2-year-old Nayron, and they’ll typically respond in the same way: “He’s the happiest baby in the world.” They might just be right. Nayron fills the home of Cheryl and Shain Welch with laughter. Nayron is almost as unique as he is happy.
He’s one of dozens of primary medical needs children who come through the Texas foster care system each year. He was shaken at three weeks old, which caused a brain bleed that led to a stroke. Half his body is paralyzed, he suffers seizures and has a shunt to drain fluid off his brain.
Primary medical needs children often are among the hardest to place in family care. If homes cannot be found for them, they live in institutions. Some never know the love of family.
Shain says Nayron was “made in the image of God. He was made to be who Nayron is. For us to receive that blessing of taking him into our home means everything to us.”
The blessing goes both ways. Nayron has grown tremendously since coming into the Welches’ home.
“When we brought him into our home, we noticed he started thriving and gaining weight and doing well just with us holding him and loving him,” said mom, Cheryl.
“He’s continuing to make progress. Even Buckner caseworkers are like ‘He was like this and now he’s like this.’ That’s what a little bit of love will do for these children.”
Cheryl and Shain adopted Nayron in January 2019, solidifying them as a forever family.
Buckner Family Hope Centers
You strengthened families emotionally, spiritually and economically.
Eleven years ago, twins Christian and Christopher started attending the Buckner Family Hope Center at Wynnewood in Dallas. They came back the next day, and for roughly 3,000 days after that until they were 18.
“The Family Hope Center has grown me into the person I am,” Christopher said. “It’s matured me as a person. It’s helped me grow closer to God. That’s a big deal because you can’t do anything without God.”
When mom Christie Young moved her family into the Wynnewood neighborhood, she knew what they were getting into. She gained even more intimate knowledge of it when a bullet flew through her daughter’s window and lodged itself into the ceiling.
Positive influences were mandatory if Christie’s boys were going to have the kind of life she wanted for them. But providing access to those opportunities was a struggle for a single mom with limited income.
“There’s a high crime rate here,” Christie said. “My boys were excited to come here. They’d really never been out of the home before. I really didn’t have money to take them all around Dallas. This place did. They met mayors. They went on field trips.
The path they started more than a decade ago has taken them to Texas Southern University, with the help of a scholarship from Buckner, where they are sophomores. Christian wants to be a neurosurgeon – “the best neurosurgeon in the world.” Christopher is working to become a psychologist. Their future is bright.
“They were always sweet boys,” Christie said. “The program made them grow from boys to men.”
Our Senior Living Communities
Inspiring happiness to cancer patients
For 20 years Buckner Westminster Place resident Betty Smart has diligently worked to serve the greater community by knitting caps for cancer patients at HOPE Cancer Center in nearby Tyler.
Smart was inspired while watching a local newscast and hearing the story of a woman making similar hats. She was emotionally moved by the story and was eager to pick up her own knitting needles to help people in need.
Once she completes her precious items, she delivers them personally to the cancer center, ensuring each one finds its way into the hands of those who need them most.
“In many ways, it just seemed natural, as knitting was something I already knew how to do, and I loved knowing I would see the fruits of my labor make someone else’s life better.”
Each cap is knitted to perfection with ultra-soft yarn and a bit of Smart’s love and compassion. In her spare time, Smart works on multiple caps at once, moving back and forth between them as she attempts to complete as many as possible.
In addition to knitting in her residence, Smart can be found on Monday afternoons working alongside fellow members of the Longview senior living community’s Knit Wits knitting group. Smart hopes that by sharing how knitting has impacted her life – and most importantly the lives of others – that someone will similarly be encouraged to give back.
“Making these caps for the past 20 years has brought only happiness into my life,” Smart said. “It would be amazing if people who hear my story are inspired to discover what they can do to help others. Whether it’s knitting caps or another act of volunteerism, I hope more people see the benefit in giving back to those in need and look for ways to support one another.”
Hope For 140 Years
Buckner was founded by the vision of one man, Robert Cooke Buckner. It was a vision to provide a place of hope for orphaned children, a home where they were fed, clothed, cared for and, most importantly, loved.
But as Buckner shared his vision of hope with others, they soon began to mean hope through their support. In 1877, he collected his first funds, $27, when he passed a hat among a group visiting under the shade of an oak tree at a Baptist deacons’ meeting. The first dollar given was his very own.
By the end of that year, a few weeks before Christmas, three orphan children were brought to their new home in a horse-drawn wagon personally driven by “Father” Buckner, a nickname given him by the children. The ministry continued to grow as more people saw his vision and heard his story, eventually becoming what we are today – 140 years later – an international ministry bringing hope to tens of thousands of lives each year.
But even from those earliest days, the story of Buckner went far beyond how the organization helped people in need. It was and continues to be the story of how a community of love and support – you – responded and rallied around those most in need.
Throughout our 140-year story, one theme has rung true: Buckner has never done its work alone. From the very beginning, churches and families who wanted to shine hope on children and families partnered with and supported our cause.
Today is no different. One of our brightest personality traits is that we affiliate with people compelled by their faith to shine hope: People who can see the needs and are compelled to respond to them.
By supporting this vision for children and families, you mean hope.