MCH Youth Give Back to the Community

This summer, young people in our residential care programs are doing volunteer work and community service all around the Central Texas area. From helping with a local urban gardening project to building homes with Habitat for Humanity, our young people are learning to give back to their community, and our staff are working right beside them. Here are photos of some recent community service projects.

GAPP Kids Art Camp

The Grandparents as Parents Program (GAPP) at Methodist Children’s Home's Waco campus teamed up with the Art Center of Waco to offer a summer camp to the grandchildren of grandparents participating in GAPP. The five week summer camp allows children to create various forms of art, including sculptures, murals and paintings. They also learn about art history, participate in outdoor adventures and display their artwork during the Summer Camp Open House. Here are some pictures from a typical day at camp.







Thanks go to Rehan McNeil and Dave McHam for the story and pictures.

Waco Home Hosts Their Own Olympics

Trying to keep teenagers from being either bored or overly busy during summer is a fine art. One of our home units decided to use some of that extra teenage energy to host MCH Olympics. They invited over two other home units and had a variety of different games stationed all around their home. The games included jarts (similar to horseshoes), a ladder toss game, washer game, badminton, spoon and egg races, and volleyball. The girls from the host home made ribbons for all of the participants. However, there were no winners or losers, just had plenty of fun! Following are some pictures from the Olympic events.






Our thanks to Kirk Bovee for the story and pictures!

Summer at the Ranch

The Methodist Children's Home Boys Ranch staff put together a full summer of enriching activities for the boys. Their packed schedule includes exciting summer elective classes like cooking, grilling, painting, photography and fishing as well as day trips to Lake Waco and other Central Texas sites. The boys are having a great time learning life skills and becoming men of integrity. In fact, the theme the Ranch chose for this summer is Men of Integrity. All of their summer programs are striving to teach the boys more of what it means to be a responsible man. Way to go, Boys Ranch! Following are some photos of their summer fun.

Waxahachie Girls Enjoy Trail Ride

To kick off the summer, some of the girls from the Waxahachie campus came to the Boys Ranch for a trail ride. The experience allowed them to learn more about horses and the importance of caring for an animal. For some of the girls, it was their first time being so close to such a large animal. The Ranch will continue to offer trail rides to youth from the Waco campus and Waxahachie campus throughout the summer. Here are some photos from the ride.