A Place to Call Home: From Floods to Freedom

By Anita Ramesh

Before the devastating floods ripped through Sri Lanka in late 2014, Mithuja and Nivanraj lived in a small, tin-roof cottage with their grandmother in the impoverished village of Aaryampathy.

When torrential rainfall pounded the Batticaloan countryside and triggered massive floods, more than a million people were affected. More than 6,000 homes were destroyed, another 16,000 homes were damaged, and 37 people lost their lives, according to Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Center.

Children’s Emergency Relief International (CERI), the international arm of BCFS, operates a foster care program in two of the hardest hit cities in the region, Batticaloa and Weligama. CERI connects orphans in the region with loving family members and provides food, clothing and case management to the displaced children and their caregivers.

Nivanraj and Mithuja came to CERI as 9- and 4-year-old orphans. Their grandmother, Maheswary, cared for them and three other adult children of her own – all under one roof in a shabby tin structure.

When the flooding began, CERI teams trudged through waterlogged streets searching for children and families in danger. CERI operated an emergency shelter for dozens of displaced foster families whose homes were destroyed.

“We could survive on biscuits when there was nothing else to eat,” said Mithuja’s grandmother. “CERI cared for us and never left us alone. They brought us and kept us in a safe place until the flood receded and offered groceries and medicine. They built a shelter for us.”

Mithuja and Nivanraj’s home was wiped out in the flood. The entire family of six crammed into a temporary shelter, powerless to rebuild everything that was lost. CERI gave them food, clothing and water, and CERI case managers worked to ensure the children could continue their schooling. Mithuja and Nivanraj found peace by studying their schoolbooks by the glow of an oil lamp.

But there was, indeed, a light at the end of the tunnel. CERI pledged to build the family a new home.

Construction began at daybreak on a Saturday. The family, CERI staff and a volunteer crew gathered together for early morning prayer before laying the first stone. About a month later, Mithuja, Nivanraj and their family moved into their brand new 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom home, complete with electricity, plumbing, a kitchen and a dining room. The family is humble and thankful.

“Your love and care resembles that of a mother on her child that we can’t forget,” says Mithuja. “Jesus has compassion on us and he rewards us with unexpected blessings. It’s like a dream and Jesus has fulfilled our desire. We thank the Lord from the bottom of our hearts.”

BCFS Kicks Off Holiday Season With Thanksgiving Events

BCFS Health and Human Services celebrated Thanksgiving the best way we know how: by helping children and families enjoy good food and fellowship — giving them experiences that would otherwise be out of reach. Our initiatives were a precursor to the holiday season, and as December progresses we plan to deliver even more joy to children and their families this Christmas.

Family events

Prior to Thanksgiving Day, BCFS Education Services Head Start invited children and families in Beeville, Fredericksburg and Johnson City to free family events on November 21st and 22nd.

More than 530 turkeys were given away to local families. About 2,000 free meals were served from gourmet food trucks. Plus, 400 backpacks were given out to children.

Kids enjoyed face painting and balloon artists, met superheroes and princesses, and got to check out a real fire truck, courtesy of local fire and police departments partnering with BCFS for the event.

The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about BCFS Education Services’ Head Start program, which provides free Pre-K and early education services to 3 and 4 year olds. BCFS Education Services is enrolling students now for their Head Start classrooms in Harper, Johnson City, Beeville, Skidmore, Refugio and George West.

Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children by providing educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

Turkey & trimmings for Del Rio families

In Del Rio, more than 100 families received turkey and all the trimmings on the week of Thanksgiving. The meals were given to congratulate the families for completing the STAR program operated by BCFS Health and Human Services, which provides counseling, trainings and other services to unify and strengthen families.

Services To At Risk Youth (STAR) helps Del Rio families create stable, loving home environments by providing free counseling, training for youth and parents, and help reducing family conflict and delinquent behaviors in youth, like truancy and running away from home. The STAR program serves families with youth 17 years old and younger. This November, BCFS helped 160 children and youth and gave out 133 Thanksgiving meals.

“Many of the families we serve live paycheck to paycheck, or are struggling with unemployment, so putting a full Thanksgiving spread on the table is a burden, or completely out of reach,” says Interim Director, Delia Ramos. “We wanted to help families enjoy a holiday meal with loved ones, but also leave a more lasting mark on their lives through the STAR program.”

Thanksgiving luncheon for San Antonio youth

On November 24th, BCFS hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon in San Antonio for youth from foster care and their foster families. The luncheon brought together approximately 200 youth from foster care, foster families, and BCFS’ community partners including the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS).

The event was complete with long, family-style banquet tables, games like giant outdoor Jenga, and a football game on projector screens. Youth played with BCFS staff members and mentors, and expressed their thanks for BCFS Health and Human Services’ PAL program, among other blessings.

The PAL program, or Preparation for Adult Living, helps youth from foster care prepare for life on their own by teaching life skills like budgeting, healthy relationships, and how to access critical resources.

What’s next?

December has begun in the same spirit as November with #givingtuesday, an international day of philanthropy, which fell on the first of the month. BCFS Health and Human Services encouraged supporters to sponsor a child through CERI (Children’s Emergency Relief International), and welcomed donations to our many community programs.

As the holiday season continues, stay tuned for more information on the annual BCFS program Christmas Dreams, which will give youth in the BCFS Lubbock Transition Center holiday meals, visits with Santa, and donated gifts. This year we will give gifts to 55 young adults and their 23 children.
BCFS’ Lubbock Transition Center is a one-stop-shop for youth in or aging out of foster care, those in the juvenile justice system, and others in need of a helping hand to make the transition into adulthood. The center provides case management, counseling, life skills training, and education and employment assistance.

The Lasting Impact of the Lee Family and Texas Baptist Men

For Marjorie Lee–the cheerful, gracious woman from Colorado Springs, Colorado–retirement didn’t mean taking it easy. “When you retire from your regular 40-hour-a-week job,” she explains, “you can’t just sit and do nothing.”

Marjorie, along with her late husband Frank, embodied that spirit with their own retirement. After a short period of the usual retirement for Frank, they knew it was time to get active and give back. “When you give to the Lord, you get back more than you give. You get the blessing, too.”

That spirit led them to Texas Baptist Men in January of 1990. By volunteering, the couple had the opportunity to volunteer in projects across the United States. Not only did they help so many along the way, they helped themselves as well. “We were helping churches get new buildings or additions and other construction jobs. Doing that work helped us ‘old people’ too,” said Marjorie. “If we had to sit in our easy chairs and twiddle our thumbs the rest of our lives it wouldn’t have helped, and it wouldn’t have been as much fun. We got the benefit as much as the churches did. It was a two-way street.”

Over the next seven years, the Lees joined many volunteer projects–lending their hands to every project they could be part of. One special opportunity came in October of 1997 when the Lees joined dozens of other volunteers in Tyler, Texas. The work of every volunteer helped bring the Breckenridge Village of Tyler to fruition. At the Breckenridge Village of Tyler, adults with intellectual disabilities receive the opportunity to live in a community that provides love, care and support to each individual as they develop physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Taking that huge, empty Tyler pasture from nothing into something truly special resonated with the couple. Over those few weeks, the volunteers built six cottages that remain in use today. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the Lees, Frank’s health was in decline. Frank would succumb to cancer just two months later, with his family by his side. With Frank’s passing, the Breckenridge Village became even more special to the Lee family–it served as Frank’s final project.

That sentimental value continues to draw Marjorie, their three daughters and extended family back to the family. There, they maintain bonds with the adults with disabilities and their families. “We sensed right from the beginning what a marvelous concept BVT was,” says Marjorie.

In the spring of 2015, Frank and the Lee family’s journey brought him back to BVT–this time to honor Frank’s legacy and efforts at BVT and for Texas Baptist Men as a whole. At the ceremony, Frank was honored with a tree and plaque placed where Frank’s ashes were interred. For Marjorie, this has all been worth the wait. “I always wanted Frank to go to the Village and be interred there. When BVT said they’d be pleased to do that, it just thrilled me to death. I’ve put this off for almost 18 years since he died.”

Since the efforts of the Lees and the other initial volunteers, BVT grew to a 70-acre campus with six homes, a chapel and many other facilities that promote vocational training as well as leisure and spiritual activities.