Glen Lake Camp

In honor of the first week of school, here is a look back at summer camp at Glen Lake Camp in Glen Rose, Texas. Our youth had the opportunity to attend camp this summer with other kids from across the region. Last week, as a celebration of the end of summer, the Religious Education department put on a mini-camp for all of the kids from the Waco campus, Waxahachie campus and Boys Ranch. The youth were able to use the zip line, fish, bask in the sunlight, swim and play games for the day. Thank you to the Glen Lake Camp staff members for all that you do for our youth!

GAPP Night Out

For many of the grandparents connected with our Grandparents as Parents Program, having a night to themselves is not a regular occurrence. For these grandparents, their time is filled with raising busy grandchildren and staying on top of all of their activities. And many times these grandparents are still juggling other responsibilities to their work, church and community.

Seeing the need for a night of freedom for grandparents, Rehan McNeil, coordinator of the Grandparents as Parents Program organized a Grandparents Night Out event. The kids were whisked off to the Waco campus where they took part in an exciting evening of relaxation and fun. The grandchildren went swimming in the pool, held relay races, bounced on inflatables, ate snow cones, cotton candy and pizza, and even had face-painting and karaoke!

Meanwhile, the grandparents enjoyed a night of relaxation knowing their grandchildren were in good hands. Youth from the Waco campus volunteered to help with the children during the festivities, and staff from the Transition Services department were on hand to make sure everyone had plenty of food and fun. Here are some photos from the event.





Thank you to everyone who made this event possible!

Field Trip on the Wild Side

Youth from our Waxahachie campus enjoyed the air conditioning at Watkins Wildlife Museum in Corsicana during one of their summer field trips. The staff at our Waxahachie campus have done a great job investigating fun, educational opportunities in their area. After a tour of the Wildlife Museum, our kids ate a picnic lunch at a local water spray park.

Do you have pictures from an MCH summer event? Click the blue button below and share your fun summer story with the MCH community!

Boys Ranch Ribbon Cutting

This past Saturday marked a special celebration in the lives of our Boys Ranch youth and staff. The brand new Boys Ranch Recreation and Activities Center was dedicated along with a special ribbon cutting. Representatives from the Boys Ranch, MCH administration and special donors, alumni and friends were in attendance. Here are some pictures from the memorable celebration.

Boys Ranch Youth, staff and friends at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

After the Ribbon Cutting, the Ranch held it's first free-throw contest. Five boys competed in the contest against their challenger, Dick Kenyon, a member of the MCH Board of Directors.

While at the Ranch for the Groundbreaking in the fall of 2008, Kenyon had challenged the boys to a free-throw contest once the gym was complete. Kenyon made good on his challenge during the Ribbon Cutting and even managed to win! The boys were excited to compete against Kenyon.

Saber lines up his shot at the free-throw line.

Dick Kenyon showed the boys he had been practicing!

Over the course of the past week the boys have wholeheartedly embraced the new facility with even more boys participating in recreation than usual. Thank you to all the individuals, families, churches and foundations who made this building project a success.

Serving and Sweating

Boys from one Waco campus home have spent the summer beautifying the Waco community by doing yard care in several neighborhoods around town. The boys bring lawn mowers to the homes and empty lots, cut the grass and pick up trash in the area. Coach Johnson, an MCH staff member who works with the boys, believes that it is a great service project because of all that it teaches.

"The boys learn responsibility," Coach said. "It shows them to give back to their community, but it also teaches them an important skill, taking care of a piece of land."

Several other homes from the Waco campus and the Boys Ranch also serve the community by providing lawn care to families and churches in need. While it is definitely hot and sweaty work, the boys feel that it is rewarding to see the properties are well-maintained.

Stephen started up the mower...

and received instructions from Coach Johnson.

Iram enjoyed listening to his MP3 player while mowing.

Alexis spent his time mowing the side yard.

Here is a video of Stephen mowing.

Water Day

On Thursday, the Boys Ranch held a Water Day. They even invited youth from the Waxahachie campus to join them. The afternoon was filled with water balloon games and relay races, all designed to help the kids cool off and enjoy the hot summer day. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, but we will let the pictures and video speak for themselves!

The balloon toss.

The water balloon "fight" with over 1,000 balloons!

Everyone took a break for Sno-Kones.

The bucket relay race was a big hit with all of the kids!

Service to the Community

Youth from across the MCH community are giving back by spending part of their summer on community service. Youth from the Waxahachie campus are serving at a local nursing home, helping with their school and even cleaning up their campus by picking up trash. Boys Ranch youth have volunteered to pick up trash in the Lake Waco area as well as some county roads around the Ranch.

The Waco campus youth have given their time to a wide variety of projects. However many homes have given a substantial amount of their time to help the local Salvation Army. Salvation Army representative, Christie Harper was very complimentary of their efforts.

"They are a great group," Harper said. "They have been a huge help to us. In fact, we sometimes have trouble keeping them all busy because they are such hard workers!"

Here are a few photos and a video of MCH youth and staff serving at the Salvation Army warehouse.

The boys working outside to clean the drop-off driveway.

The girls work to sort and hang donated clothing to be sold in the Salvation Army store.

The boys and MCH staff join in on the sorting.


Way to serve, MCH!

Pigs Galore

The Boys Ranch is proud to announce several new arrivals to the pig barn. Actually, over the past few weeks they have welcomed 41 brand new piglets, and more are on the way! Here are some pictures of the newest Ranch residents and the boys on the hog crew.

Jocolby, holding a very sleepy piglet.

Trent (right), and Hayden helping the newest piglets.

Stuart, holding the biggest piglet.

The hog crew boys.

Summer Internships

This summer, interested youth from the Waco campus are participating in internships across campus. This year, we have over 40 youth participating in the summer internship program. Internships are a great way for our youth to learn more about different careers and engage with wonderful staff across the MCH community.

Meron is enjoying her job in the Administration building.

From left: Jennifer, Tori, Stephanie and Simona are interning in the accounting office helping with mailings and filing. They are even learning a little accounting on the side!


Tsion (left) is helping staff member Allison Zenkner make up new employee handbooks for the Human Resources department.


Kendal (right), a resident of the Waco campus, is enjoying his internship at the MCH Plant with Daniel Mendoza. Kendal gets to deliver and pickup mail, work in the cooler sorting food for our campus home and participate in hands-on learning at the Plant.

Summer Mission Trips

It seems like only yesterday summer was just beginning, and yet our MCH residents have already put in many hours ministering on mission trips and serving the community through community service with their home units. During the month of June, MCH had two different groups of youth serve on short-term missions teams through the Central Texas Conference Youth in Mission program.

Youth from our Waco campus served the community of Mt. Pleasant, Texas alongside young people from Austin Avenue UMC of Waco, Dido UMC of Fort Worth, Good News UMC of Cedar Park/Leander, Mart FUMC and Palo Pinto UMC. Our youth worked tirelessly to build wheelchair ramps, repair roofs, paint homes and share the love of Christ.

Calvin, a Waco campus resident, works to fix a roof.

For Anthony, a Waco campus resident, the trip was a great combination of meeting new friends from other youth groups and serving people in need. "I loved helping clean up this one woman's house. She really needed help power washing the outside and then repainting it," Anthony said. "She was really grateful." The weeklong mission trip was filled with these experiences, in fact, Anthony said there was only one downside - they had to get up early.

Anthony (in foreground), repaints a home with his CTCYM team.

The team from MCH Waxahachie teamed up with the First United Methodist Church of Waxahachie to serve a community in Monroe, Louisiana. Their experience was similar to Anthony's. They served individuals in need by helping paint, rebuild and restore their homes. Working alongside youth from Graham FUMC and Weatherford FUMC allowed them to meet other young people while they immersed themselves in service.

Amy (left), a Waxahachie resident, works with Katlynn, from FUMC Waxahachie, to build a wheelchair ramp.

Special thanks to MCH Chaplain, Steve Heyduck and FUMC Director of Children and Youth, Amanda Sargant for the pictures.

Six Flags Trip

In early June, several of our Waco campus residents enjoyed a day of fun at Six Flags. The recreation department offered the trip for all of our "Off Steps" youth (for an explanation of Off Steps see below).

There is nothing quite like rewarding positive behavior with a fun day of rides and carnival food! Our youth and staff had a wonderful time on all the roller coasters and adventure rides. MCH residents Brittany and Kat even found two new "furry" friends!

Special thanks to Waco campus recreation coordinator, Matthew Maron for this photo.

What is Off Steps?
Off Steps is the final level on MCH's accountability and opportunity program, Steps to Success. The program works within our strengths-based philosophy of care to place youth on the appropriate level or "step" based on their attitude and behavior. Youth who achieve the Off Steps level are some of the best role models to other residents.

A Splash into Summer

Summer programming began with a splash at MCH!

While some of our young people are attending morning summer school at our Waco campus charter school, our other residents are volunteering their time to a variety of community service projects around Waco. And the afternoons are filled with summer fun like swimming at our Waco campus pool and field trips to local parks.

Four of our youth from the Waco campus are in Mt. Pleasant, Texas serving with Central Texas Conference Youth Missions by building wheelchair ramps, cleaning up parks and painting and repairing houses for those in need. We also have four youth from our Waxahachie campus who are currently in Louisiana serving on a mission trip with the First United Methodist Church of Waxahachie. Way to serve, MCH! Look for mission trip pictures in upcoming posts.

Here are some pictures of youth from the campus and Boys Ranch taking advantage of the hot weather to bask in the sun and spend time at the pool.




Some boys from the Ranch spent time at Cameron Park enjoying fishing and playing catch and disc golf with staff.





Respond with a Comment: If you are an MCH employee, what is one exciting summer adventure your residents are looking forward to enjoying?