Helping Hand Home hosted this year’s Champions for Children luncheon with a crowd of 1,100 attendees. Every fall, Helping Hand Home for Children hosts the Champions for Children luncheon recognizing nonprofits, corporations and individuals who support children in need. The event, chaired by Bergan Casey, Buck Cody, and Lesley Pitts, raised over $1 million for the Home.
The 2024 Philanthropic Honoree was the Nolan Ryan Foundation, headquartered in Central Texas and formed in 1990 to provide resources for youth education and community development. This year’s Champions for Children featured speaker was Kondo Simfukwe, who attended elementary school in Zambia, high school in Australia, and college in the United States. Kondo’s family has been made complete through the gift of adoption. He and his wife felt compelled to bring home a little girl from Haiti only to discover she had two sisters....none of whom knew the others existed. Believing sisters belong together, they would adopt all three girls, changing the Simfukwes’ lives and propelling them into the world of advocacy.
Other award recipients included Candlelight Ranch Founders Don and Randy Barr. Candlelight Ranch partners with community groups, nonprofits and schools to provide interactive learning programs and experiences that are customized to meet the specific needs of the youth and families served, including from the Helping Hand Home.
Helping Hand Home also recognized Marcus Reese for his philanthropic work. As a survivor of childhood abuse for more than a decade, Marcus Reese made the courageous decision to share his story, and seek prosecution of his abuser, to prevent a similar fate for other vulnerable populations. Through a nonprofit he founded called Break the Silence, he aims to be a light for other survivors and their families in their journey toward healing.
The luncheon also honored former Helping Hand Home resident Karen Boeske. At just three years old and a survivor of childhood abuse, Karen and her two siblings came to Helping Hand Home, where she says she finally felt safe and loved for the first time.
The Champions for Children luncheon was created 25 years ago by Susan Erickson to honor caregivers, organizations, advocates and volunteers for their exemplary work with children in need in Central Texas and has raised more than $10 million for Helping Hand Home’s direct care of children and families. The Home’s mission is to bring hope and healing to children and families through a continuum of trauma-informed, therapeutic care, including residential, foster, adoption, and support services. For more information, visit www.helpinghandhome.org.
Photos are courtesy of Buster Jetter of Jetter Photography
