Brett started his life in a Houston hospital and spent the first six months there being treated
for neuroblastoma.

Brett battled cancer and overcame this challenge with perseverance and the determination to survive.
Radiation treatment as a baby caused his spine to curve later in life and during the summer after his sophomore year at Old High he had to have a rod put in his back. Brett missed most of junior year of high school due to this major surgery and being in a body cast. This did not slow Brett down; he later tried out for baseball and became the star catcher. Brett made all district that year. However at some point during that season the rod in his back snapped and he had to have two more surgeries to replace the rod.

During this time of dealing with cancer, the surgeries, and challenges, Brett loved being in Troop 15 of the Boy Scouts of America here in Wichita Falls. He loved to camp and would take on any leadership position. One time the troop was on a long hike and one scouter sat down and refused to go any further, Brett leaned over and whispered in his ear and the boy stood up and hiked another 8 miles with no trouble. The scoutmaster asked Brett what he said and Brett said, “I told him if he sat down again I was going to hit him in the head with a rock.” Being the baseball player that he was, the scout knew not to sit down.

Brett was a young man who never said “I can’t.”

He was always working to do his best. Brett was within two merit badges from earning the Eagle rank then he was put in a body cast. To this day Brett wishes he had made the rank of Eagle but he knows that just being a Boy Scout helped him to set goals, take leadership, show respect for authority, and never give up.

“Scouting adds a dimension to a young man’s life that can’t be found anywhere else. The balance of responsibility and fun that Scouting offers is priceless in this day and age. My Scoutmaster, Darrell Kirkland was the embodiment of what Scouting is all about. On campouts we washed our dishes, the correct way, and then we hunted “Snipe”—a perfect balance.”

Brett did his Undergrad studies at Texas Wesleyan and played baseball.
Brett received his Masters from Cal. State Univ. in Chico.
Brett was the strength coach at Pepperdine University and led them to two national championships in men’s volleyball and baseball. He is currently an Exercise Physiologist working in Cardiac Rehabilitation in Nashville TN.

No one wants to think about a child being abused but it happens every day. When I was 12, I learned all about child abuse.

I was afraid to go to sleep at night and afraid to tell anyone about what was happening to me in my own home.

Then a lady came to school and talked about how abused kids can get help at a local Safe Place program. That day I took the card, made the call and my life was never the same...it got better.

The Children’s Aid Society helped my home feel safe again for my mom, my sister and me. For teens like Valarie who learn much to early in life the fear of child abuse, The Children’s Aid Society is there to help them feel safe.

Junior Smith* has been a member of Camp Fire for two years. He has many medical and physical problems and kids often bully him and make fun of his speech impediment. One day I witnessed this happening and talked with him. He was very scared and alone. While on the van going home he began vomiting. As he got off the van, his father walked up. He was handicapped and had walked over a mile from home to pick up his son. They have no car or phone so I took them home that evening and asked Junior’s father to please allow him to go Harrell Park Day Camp.

When camp started, and we hadn’t heard from Junior or his father we began to worry. We learned Junior’s father had a brain tumor when he called to say he wanted Junior to come to day camp. Junior came the very next day and truly loved it. He seemed to be doing well, but few days later he passed out from what we thought was too much sun. In talking with him, we learned the only meals he was eating were those served at camp.

The camp staff worked especially hard make his time at camp fun and to let him know that there were people who cared. We lost contact with Junior and his family when the school year started but thought of him often. In the spring the family came to our Camp Fire office. Things at home were not good. The mother had been raped and the father was on morphine. The four boys in the family were sharing clothes and shoes. The boys told us they had applied for a lemonade stand through Sunkist by writing a letter. In the letter, they said they were going to raise money for Camp Fire in return for what Camp Fire had done for them. Their visit truly touched our lives. Someone who had so little wanted to do something so unselfish. Junior’s story continues to inspire and motivate us... camp after camp.

Their application for a lemonade stand was accepted. The four boys rode the van to Camp Fire Day
Camp that summer.

*name confidential

My name is Susan and my husband and I have three children. One of our children has a very rare disability. We both are working parents and Nancy needed a lot of help. My husband and I struggled to find someone to watch her during the years she was in school. As a teacher, my work hours were not a big challenge to having care after school but it would have been great to have that help. Many times I had to impose on family for assistance. And my husband and I had very little time alone together.

Being involved in The Arc helped us not only plan for Nancy’s future, as a volunteers, we helped build on community resources for other families such as ours. One of the new goals of The Arc was to provide a parent night out and child care after school and during summer months. It was great to be involved in starting these programs and watching them become a reality.

We met other parents while attending workshops sponsored by The Arc and received information on what services were available for our child. As an advocate, The Arc helped paved the way for changes at the local, state and national level, and opened doors for my daughter to have the right to go to school and live in her home town. When I meet young parents who have a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities I share with them how The Arc’s programs help improve quality of life as well as help them to prepare for their child’s future.

Today, Nancy lives in a special home in our community. Well provided for, she looks forward to our frequent visits and her visits home.

Child abuse and neglect cases are all about loss. Loss not only of a way of life but a profound sense of loss and grief that victims deal with everyday. In the Morris* case, it was much the same. When officers investigated a report of abuse they found three young girls covered in dirt, feces and a pregnant mother who was slurring her speech and unable to stand. The girls were removed from their home and placed in different foster homes. In less than a month, the girls had lost their father, mother, their home and then finally each other.

Mary, a 3 1/2 year veteran of Child Advocates, was assigned as the girls’ CASA volunteer in the summer of 2006. “The girls were very difficult,” Mary says. “The oldest was angry about everything. The other two cried constantly. In the beginning I felt helpless. I witnessed many tantrums and sudden outbursts. There was no way to comfort them,” Mary said. Trips to the park, cards on special occasions, lunches at school and trips to the library with the girls helped them decide that Mary was worth trusting. “It took a while before they were willing to let down their guard and just have fun and talk to me.”

Janie*, the oldest, was placed with Meliene, a single mom with hope of helping a child in need. “She was my first foster child and we made a real connection.” Meliene didn’t have room for all of the girls since she had children of her own still living at home. In most removal cases every attempt is made to place the children with relatives. Following a home study, the girls were reunited and placed together with a relative in Houston. “I kept tabs on all of them after they left,” said Meliene. When the other child, Jenny* was born Meliene took her in. “Four months after Jenny was born, they asked if I could take her. I didn’t hesitate,” says Meliene.

The Houston placement didn’t go well. Mary had to be content with just talking to the girls on the phone. “I called them often and sent gifts and cards to make sure that they knew I was thinking about them.” Mary spoke with teachers who reported poor performance and behavior problems. The local CASA reported that the oldest child was violent, hurting animals and having nightmares. CPS acknowledged the problems but were satisfied with the placement and were ready to close the case, keeping the children right where they were. Then things got worse. Ms. Morris died of a drug overdose and the girls lost their mother forever. In a placement review hearing CPS recommended that the relatives in Houston be granted permanent managing conservatorship of the girls. Mary fought that recommendation in and out of court, working with attorneys and the caseworker to convince them that the girls needed to be moved. The relatives finally acknowledged the problems, changed their minds and told CPS to come and get the girls. The next day, Mary was in the car with the CPS worker on her way to Houston.

The girls never looked back. Meliene was excited that the girls were coming back to the area and that they were looking for a foster home. Two other foster children had just left her home, her own daughter had turned 18 and moved out, so now there was room for all of the girls.

“Once they were with Meliene there was no more violence, no more trouble at school. We got the girls into counseling and they really began to improve.” On one visit with the girls Janie said to Mary, “Don’t ever take me back there.” Mary remembers, “I knew exactly where ‘there’ was. It was the only time she ever spoke of her time with her family in Houston. I told her, ‘I’m the one that picked you up, I’m not taking you back.’”

“Mary has always been there,” says Meliene. “She’s helped me with the girls in so many ways. Doctor visits, all kinds of issues. You can tell that she really loves them. The girls think of her as a grandmother.”

Four months later Meliene told the girls that she wanted to adopt them. The younger three were ecstatic. Janie was unsure. She was still having visits with her father and he had told her that he wanted her. She kept asking him to let her be adopted. He kept saying no. He relinquished his rights for the other girls, but was unwilling to let Janie out of his life. Then Meliene did something extraordinary – she offered to allow him access after the adoption. “The more people there are to love them the better,” she said. He signed the papers.

Through the hard work of a CASA and the love of a foster family, four girls now have an adoptive family, a
CASA “grandmother,” a biological father and other biological relatives in their lives. In the end, the children lost their mother and a chaotic way of life, but they gained a circle of adults that love them, care for them and will continue to give them everything they ever need.

*name confidential

Michigan winters can be brutal. When it was time to retire after more than 30 years in the Army, my husband said, “Rowena, let’s go back to Texas!” That was over 30 years ago.

After scouting the countryside, we found a small place in Iowa Park. My husband kept himself busy although his health was not good. I set up shop as a seamstress, raised chickens, recycled cans, glass, and newspapers. I guess I was a “Jill of all Trades.” One day about 1982, I was putting a new roof on the house when a man pulled up and swore he’d never seen a woman roofing a house. We had a nice life until my husband died in 1992.

Soon after he passed away, my friend Verna came by and invited me to go with her to the Friendly Door for dinner. I was familiar with it because I had always delivered them my surplus eggs. I told Verna thanks, but I had way too much work to do. She kept insisting that I had to eat something sometime. That was a new beginning for me. The people were all so nice and the food was wonderful. I started going regularly and really looked forward to my little break in the day. Several of the folks play dominoes after lunch, and I decided to join that too.

One afternoon an especially sweet gentleman asked me if he could come by my house to see my birds. I felt a little like a school-girl, especially when he invited me over to his house to share a pot roast he had going in the slow cooker. At first I said no that I had too much work to do, but when his face just fell, I could tell he was REALLY disappointed. Well, I went to dinner at his house and one thing led to another, if you know what I mean. Gene and I were married right there at the Friendly Door with all of our friends on July 30, 1993.

Several years later the Friendly Door decided to begin recycling aluminum cans as a fundraiser. Being an old recycler, I was all for that. Cans came in from everywhere. We carried hundreds of bags home over the years to crush out in our barn and recycle at Bell Processing. I never kept track, but Linda Perry claims that over the years we’ve raised almost $30,000. It seems so sensible rather than letting all those cans go into the trash. I love the Friendly Door and all my treasured friends in Iowa Park. We laugh and cry together. We support and love each other. Our lives are woven so tightly together like a blanket that warms us when we need to come in out of the cold. After almost 90 years, these people and this place are where my treasure lies.

Rowena can’t drive anymore. Gene broke his hip last December and resides at the nursing home. The Friendly Door driver picks her up every morning to visit Gene and then takes her to the Friendly Door for lunch. In spite of an ailing shoulder, most days she leaves with cans to crush in her barn. “It’s not so many anymore, but I do as much as I can.”