Buckner Children and Family Services

Programs

Buckner Making a difference in the lives of children and families

Buckner Children and Family Services is making a difference in the Rio Grande Valley, seeking to heal
the hurts of the heart and restoring and reuniting families through a wide variety of services, including:

	The Rio Grande Children’s Home Since 1963, the Rio Grande Children’s Home in Missions has provided the best in residential care to children who need love, care and a homelike setting due to neglect or abuse. It became a part of Buckner in 1998, further strengthening a loving, nurturing ministry to children.
	STAR Services to At-Risk Youth are offered to children ages 7-17 who are at risk of running away, juvenile delinquency, truancy or family conflict. Services may include group, individual or family counseling.
	Border Ministries Buckner has initiated several ministries that seek to meet the needs of families in the lower Rio Grande Valley, including provision of clothing and other humanitarian aid, emergency assistance and missions opportunities for religious groups. It also supervises border social services programs in colonias in El Paso, McAllen and Progreso, Texas.

Colonias Program Gets Boost from Zapata

The hiring of the new Border Ministries Coordinator has been a blessing we’ve all been waiting for. Jorge Zapata is definitely an angel in disguise! Since his arrival at Buckner, he has helped us provide many blessings to many needy families.

Recently, the community centers at San Carlos and Progreso received more than 2,000 pairs of shoes through the Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls drive. Hundreds of families and individuals came to the centers to select their shoes.

Recently, center directors Leticia Rodriguez of Progreso and Yolanda Martinez of San Carlos received training and certification as safety seat technicians by the Texas Injury Prevention and Research Center. They already have assisted in eight events held in locals businesses throughout the Rio Grande Valley and have helped with the installation of more than 2,000 car seats for families.

In San Carlos, the Gomez Family (not their real name) came to the center to receive WIC services. While there, Yolanda Martinez became aware of the family’s many other needs.

The parents, both unemployed and undocumented, live in a small, unfinished home with no electricity or indoor plumbing. Most of the windows are broken. They have six children and one on the way. Both parents are diabetic. Dad is a mechanic and works odd jobs when he can. Through the assistance of the center director and border ministries, they have received blankets, a heater, food, clothing and shoes. Mrs. Gomez has been attending nutrition classes at the center.

The Gomez Family, along with five other families from San Carlos and Progreso will be treated to home repairs and remodeling. Beginning during spring break and through summer, several groups are lined up to come to the colonias of the Rio Grande Valley and provide much-needed missions work.

In Progreso, the Jorge Lopez Family featured in a past issue of Buckner Today, is one of the families that will receive home remodeling and repairs. Their home suffered extensive damage in December, 2001. The family has continued to live in their home, trying to make ends meet. With the help of Border Ministries coordinator Jorge Zapata and Buckner friends and partners, they will be blessed!

STAR Helps Victims of Home Fire

STAR (Services to At Risk Youth) caseworker Corina de la Rosa recently helped the Flores family (not their real name), whose home burned down a few weeks before Christmas.

The referral was made by the mother, who was requesting help for her 12-year-old stepson. Oscar (not his real name) had just moved to Harlingen from Mexico where he had lived with his biological mother since birth. He and his younger brother were having a hard time adjusting to living in the U.S. and attending a new school.

His stepmother and his father have an 8-month-old baby and another on the way. Also living with them is a 21-year-old stepsister with two small children (18 months and 6 months).

During the fire, the family lost their home and everything in it. De la Rosa was able to refer them to the American Red Cross. They were given $150 for groceries, $720 for clothes and $130 for diapers, baby formula and blankets. They were also given emergency lodging at a local hotel and then they moved into three shelters until they obtained emergency housing from the county’s housing authority. But the family had nothing to put in their new home.

Mrs. Flores learned how to take one problem or need at a time and set goals and steps to help the family achieve them. In the STAR Program, this process is known as the action-planning process. Mrs. Flores also learned to be resourceful and was empowered to look for help by calling local resources. Each time she met one goal, she felt the benefits of her work.

With the assistance of Buckner Border Ministries coordinator Jorge Zapata and his church, Community Baptist Church, the family received many blessings. Church members donated a refrigerator, microwave, household furniture and personal hygiene items.

This connection provided the family with much-needed spiritual support as well as basic needs. Mrs. Flores describes STAR’s involvement in their lives as "God-sent." In her words, "it just had to be the right time and the right people for everything to fall into place." In addition, Oscar is now well-adjusted to his new home and his new school.