10th Annual My Princess & Me Makes Dreams Come True for St. PJ’s Girls

The 10th Annual My Princess & Me was truly a magical event for over 600 mothers and daughters. Thanks to the generosity of local donors and sponsors, along with help from more than 300 volunteers, daughters received a professional hairstyle from top hairstylists, make-up application, a keepsake photo with Mom, and partied in royal style – all while helping support the victims of child abuse and neglect of St. Peter – St. Joseph Children’s Home. (St. PJ’s)

Founded by the family members of a child abuse survivor, My Princess & Me is a very special event that has inspired hundreds of little girls from all walks of life. Princesses of all ages enjoy an afternoon of royal treatment while making dreams come true for the girls at St. PJ’s Children’s Home. Since 2004, the girls at St. PJ’s Children’s Home have been the honored guests of My Princess and Me, an event that has collectively raised more than $100,000 for the home in its first nine years.

Debuting this year was the official “My Princess & Me Royal Court.” This newly developed annual fundraising campaign is a unique mother-daughter opportunity to support the mission of healing at St. PJ’s Children’s Home. For several months the mother-daughter teams worked to raise money through ticket sales, sponsorships, and donations to the My Princess & Me event. The Royal Court contestants for 2013 were Jennifer & Caylee Campbell, Joanna & Katrina Weidman and Michele & Meredith Vance.

Together the Royal Court raised an unprecedented $135,000! During the event, Michele and Meredith Vance were officially crowned the “My Princess & Me Queen and Crown Princess” and will represent both St. PJ’s Children’s Home and My Princess and Me at events throughout the year. St. PJ’s Children’s Home is grateful to every member of the Royal Court for their hard work and incredible fund-raising efforts during the inaugural year of the My Princess and Me Royal Court.

“This was a fun way to strengthen the mother-daughter bond while teaching our daughters empathy and compassion for all members of the community we live in.” said Terry Folawn, founder and chairwoman of My Princess and Me. “The My Princess and Me RoyalCourt can grant every woman’s secret wish to ‘wear the crown,’ and do it for a good cause.”

Notes From Home

ISSUE 4 FALL 2013

S T. P J ’ S C H I L D R E N ’ S H O M E

What’s Inside:

4TH ANNUAL GREAT PUMPKIN RUN

PAGE 2

LETTER FROM JAMES CASTROPAGE 2

NOVEMBER WAS NATIONALADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH

PAGE 3

VT SEVA VISITS ST. PJ’SPAGE 3

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Over the past ten months St. PJ’s has taken a

number of monumental steps toward improving how we heal children from the trauma effects of abuse and neglect. For years we’ve been providing excellent case management and counseling services, facilitating access to psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, and of course medical care. Yet statistics indicate while we keep children safe and nurtured in our care, once they leave our beautiful campus children from the foster care system face many challenges. They have the highest rates of becoming drug/alcohol abusers, commit crimes and are incarcerated, frequent homelessness, prostitution, chronically

unemployed, teen parents and worst of all continue the cycle of abuse and neglect by becoming abusers of children themselves.

We recognized that our good work needs to be better, so how could we be better? First, we determined we must treat the trauma issues of the child with the same sense of urgency as the physical protection of the child. The toxic stress of abuse and neglect on the rapidly developing brain of an infant, toddler, preschooler or youth can have permanent and prolonged negative developmental implications when not adequately addressed. Therefore, we have escalated our response of new admissions into the foster care system

with the same purposeful determination you would experience in a hospital emergency room. We have implemented The 14 Day Model toward Healing.

This Model is not implemented in isolation though. We are changing how we interact and communicate with Child Protective Services, the Family Courts, Ad Litem attorneys, care givers, foster families, community mental health providers, biological families and whomever else can and should participate in the healing of the child. Our short and long term goals are simple enough – All children must be healed of their trauma

issues in order for them to truly have a successful transition from childhood to adulthood! Once we all begin to address healing children of their trauma issues with the same sense of urgency as their physical safety, we will begin to achieve another significant goal – ending the

cycle of abuse and neglect!

Stay tuned, next time I’ll address how we’re strategically utilizing education, training and interventions to

heal children.

Please keep us in your gift giving during this holiday season.

Visit www.stpjhome.org or call 210-533-1203 to make a donation to St. PJ’s.

IT’S A FACT: Over 100,000 children and youth in foster care nationwide are waiting for permanent families.*

4th Annual Great Pumpkin Run

Sponsored In Part By:

LETTER FROM THE CEO

NOVEMBER IS NATIONAL

ADOPTION MONTH—A TIME TO

RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT THE

URGENT NEED FOR ADOPTIVE

FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN IN

FOSTER CARE IN THE U.S.

Most 52 year old adults look at their life and plan for retirement. Not Carolyn. She was a single woman, who owned a 4 bedroom condo, had a great job for 29 years, had two grown children, and a daughter in high school; but Carolyn wanted more. She wanted another daughter.

She came to St. PJ’s in February of 2011 and did an orientation to learn what she needed to do to become a verified family to adopt a child within the Foster Care System.

Carolyn was able to meet all the requirements by January of 2012. Her information was sent to Department of Family Protective Service to see if she would be a “match” for any of their teenage girls.

There were many legally free teenagers available for adoption and waiting for a “forever home.” Carolyn just needed to find a child that matched her families needs. In April of 2012, Carolyn was “matched” with a girl named Tammy. Tammy was 14 years old. Unfortunately, she was in an adoptive placement that “fell through” so she was hesitant to be in another adoptive placement.

Carolyn’s first visit with Tammy was in May the following year. Carolyn will

never forget this day, since this was the first time her daughter hugged her. After 9 visits, Tammy was placed with Carolyn and Carolyn’s other teenage daughter, Annie. Tammy also met her other siblings Trudy and Stephen.

During the home visits to check on Tammy with her new family, Tammy said, “Things are going good.” Tammy is in 9th grade, and in gymnastics/pep squad; which is “hard” but she likes it and she has never had the opportunity to do extracurricular activities before. Tammy’s mom and sister help her cope with her feelings. They “control her” when she gets angry or frustrated by talking to her calmly and slowly.

Things continued to go well and it was time to finalize Tammy’s adoption with Carolyn. So in December of 2012, Tammy got a new family for Christmas.

Since this was such a wonderful experience for Carolyn and all four of her children, she decided to adopt another teenage daughter. As a result, Rosemary was placed in Carolyn’s home in July.

If this story speaks to you, contact St. PJ’s for an orientation to find out what you need to do to be verified as a Foster or Adoptive Parent. You could be the next “Forever Family” for a child.

Visit www.stpjhome.org or call 210-533-1203 to learn more about adoption and foster care.

HEALING AT HOME: ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH

VT SEVA VISITS ST. PJ’s, TUTORS CHILDREN

Super Heroes, ghosts and goblins of all ages participated in 4th Annual Great Pumpkin Run/Walk benefiting St. PJ’s. The event took place on October 12th on St. PJ’s Campus. More than 400 Participants enjoyed a 5K run/walk through the historic Mission Trails area starting and ending at the St. PJ’s campus, followed by a pancake breakfast sponsored the Magnolia Pancake Haus. The Great Pumpkin Run raised more than $20,000 for St. PJ’s. St. PJ’s would like to thank the generous sponsors, volunteers and participants for making the event a huge success.

We will see you next year for the 5th Annual Great Pumpkin Run on

October, 11th 2014!

James Castro, St. PJ’s CEO

St. PJ’s Celebrated the Completion of the

Children’s Emergency Shelter. Special Thanks

to: Bexar County Housing Foundation, Zachry

Foundation, Catholic Life Insurance, Texas

Cavaliers, Charity Ball Association, Kiwanis,

Madeline Anz Slay Architects and the staff and

volunteers who made this project possible!

www.childwelfare.gov

VT Seva is a nonprofit international organization that reaches out to countries that are in dire need. They have sent financial relief to Tsunami and Earthquake victims. In the U.S. the organization has donated financial funds and services to fire victims and homeless individuals. Recently, the group visited St. PJ’s and worked tutored the children in the subjects of math, science, reading and social studies. On a local level, the newly formed San Antonio chapter of VT Seva is eagerly looking to provide services in four categories which include hunger/homeless, education, environmental awareness/cleanup and health awareness.

“My experience with the kids was fantastic. My peers and I observed that the kids really enjoyed the one-on-one tutoring and the games that followed. Furthermore, the kids expressed interest for us to return back for similar activities. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to make a difference in the children’s lives. In turn, this experience made a positive impact in our lives. I love volunteering because I am giving back to the community with a hope to make people happy,” said VT SEVA member, Gopinath Thangada. VT SEVA provides comprehensive services in four categories, which include education, environment, healthcare, and hunger and homelessness.

A GROUP OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM VT SEVA SPENT THE DAY ON ST. PJ’S CAMPUS VT SEVA VOLUNTEERS HELPING A BOY FROM ST. PJ’S WITH MATH

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919 MISSION RD, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78210

MARCH 22, 2014 | 6PMGRAND HYATT ON THE RIVERWALK

PLEASE CONTACT ST. PJ'S DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT AT (210) 531-8592 OR VISIT

WWW.STPJHOME.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Save these Dates:7TH ANNUAL NSIDE GALA

BENEFITING ST. PJ’SDECEMBER 12, 2013

WESTIN LA CANTERA HILL COUNTRY RESORT

11TH ANNUAL RED SHOES GALAMARCH 22, 2014

GRAND HYATT ON THE RIVERWALK

WAYS TO GET INVOLVEDPURCHASE TICKETS OR SPONSORSHIPS

DONATE AUCTION ITEMSVOLUNTEER

REDGALA

SAVE THE DATE !

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