Feature
Breaking Ground to
Grow Children for Life
“This groundbreaking
was special to everyone
involved with this
upcoming construction,”
said HomeAid Houston
President Greg
Tomlinson. “One visit to
this incredible campus
and meeting the
amazing kids who live
here is an inspiration to
all involved. We can’t
thank Jim Lemming and
Partners in Building
enough for sharing in the
HomeAid vision.”
Torrential rains pounded the Boys and Girls Country campus, but it never
dampened the excitement and enthusiasm at the groundbreaking held
November 17 for a new 7,145 sq. ft. cottage that will house eight children.
Dozens of guests were on-hand as well as all of our children and staff. The event
set the wheels in motion for construction of the Joanne H. Watford Cottage,
one of 11 planned over the next several years.
The cottage is the hub of life at Boys and Girls Country. Each cottage is
comprised of eight children, a married “Teaching Parent” couple and any
children they may have, and two single Teaching Parents. Teaching Parents
raise these children as their own. It is in the cottage where they prepare meals,
monitor homework, teach children the skills they need to be successful adults
and encourage the spiritual growth of each of our students. It is in the cottage
where the children learn the love of a family and the comfort of a place they
can call home.
Most of the 11 cottages currently on campus were built over 35 years ago and
the living quarters for the Teaching Parents are regrettably inadequate. Needs
of our resident children have changed also since the time the cottages were
first built. More and more children are coming