News and Events

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Christmas was wonderful, as always, and we certainly were ready for the year’s end.  Executive Director Sammye Ruppeck had hip-replacement surgery in June. Fortunately, the surgery was a success and she’s no longer in constant pain, but convalescence and rehab made her always busy life even busier. 

 

Our Tea Party in November of 2009 and our Bluegrass Festival this April both went well.  It seems that neither of these events is really ever over, since the dust hardly settles after one year’s production before work begins on the next.  Neither would be possible without the hard work and devotion of many dedicated volunteers.

 

Prominent among these volunteers are the members of  our Sustainers’ Circle.  In addition to working at the events, members this year gathered items for a very successful raffle and snack table sale  at the festival.  Membership is open to anyone interested; if you would like to be involved with the group please call or email info@conchokids.org

 

We received a grant from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to establish a Transition Center for this region of the state to serve former foster children starting life on their own.  Our existing TLS program offers help  with apartment- and job-hunting, limited financial assistance, gifts of donated  food, clothing,  and so on. .

 

The new Center will enable us to add a scanner and wireless laptops for clients’ use, build an on-site storage unit so donated furniture and other items will be readily available, and generally expand our services

 

Home improvement shot up on our list of priorities when we discovered early this year that the roof had been leaking in the closet of an upstairs bedroom that had been unused for a while.  There was pretty extensive damage, requiring ceiling and sheetrock replacement, so we temporarily closed the house. But that was just the beginning.  Come April Fool’s Day, the houseparent noticed water on the floor.  Spreading water, with no perceptible source.  It was finally tracked down to a failed valve on a water heater, which allowed  a big buildup of water very quickly.  There went vast areas of laminate flooring, with attendant soaked carpet and general saturation.  Director Sammye Ruppeck has since been spending a lot of time talking to insurance and repair people.