On Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast, your host, Paul Cannon, talks with Carlos Piñero, the Program Manager of Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas’ Houston Men’s Recovery Center. The Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas’s Houston Men’s Recovery Center provides residential, faith-based programs for men to overcome addiction, transform their lives, and rehabilitate into society while maintaining their sobriety. The mission aims to provide effective solutions for individuals struggling with life-controlling drug and alcohol issues and connect them with individual and biblical counseling, spiritual support, and relapse prevention.

Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas Services

One of the services Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas offers is a Christ-centered residential addiction recovery program. The organization offers several men’s and women’s campuses across Texas where those seeking to end their addiction can stay. This program offers participants a place to stay while they receive group and individual biblical counseling, parenting classes, spiritual support, relapse prevention assistance, anger management classes, drug and alcohol education courses, and social/recreational activities with others seeking recovery.

Another service that Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas offers is aftercare support following completion of the residential program. Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas also offers an internship program with hands-on training for graduates who want to give back by pursuing ministry with the organization.

Sponsorship Opportunities

As a non-profit organization, Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas does not receive state funding and relies heavily on sponsors and donors. There are multiple ways that those looking to sponsor the mission can participate. One way you can sponsor the mission is by sponsoring a student either monthly for $35 or yearly for $420. This sponsorship provides the student with all the materials they may need to successfully complete the program and live a life of sobriety. Another way you can sponsor Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas is by sponsoring the yearly Come Alive Gala.

Volunteer Opportunities

Although they are a nationwide organization, Adult & Teen Challenge of Texas relies on volunteers to help those looking to escape addiction and reintegrate into society. As a faith-based organization helping people work through addiction.

Other Ways to Help

1) In May, the organization is hosting a Come Alive Gala to support addiction recovery. The location and time of the event can be found on the official Come Alive Gala website.

2)The Angelic Resale Shop accepts clothing, furniture, household goods, electronics, and appliance donations and resells them at a discounted price. 100% of the net proceeds from sales are used to provide Christ-centered addiction recovery services.

Contact and Info

The website address is teenchallengetx.org, and the Houston campuses website address is houstonmensrehab.com. On the site, you can find more information about the organization’s mission and ways to donate or get involved.

Meet Houston Missions and the Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Paul H. Cannon is a partner in the firm.

In this episode of Meet Houston Missions and the Simmons and Fletcher local missions podcast, we meet Megan Langham, the founder and president of Society Prosper. Society Prosper is a Katy, Texas mission, founded in 2020 for the purpose of breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect.

Society Prosper helps to provide funding and guidance so that children who are survivors of child abuse and neglect can get qualified therapy that enables them to cope with the abuse and overcome its effects. Society Prosper focuses on helping survivors break the cycle of child abuse. Society Prosper has a number of volunteer opportunities at their annual fundraisers, as well as their planning committees. They are in need of volunteers and ambassadors in order to get the word out about the organization and its goals. Some of their fundraising events that help raise money to go towards scholarships to help children get therapy include their Healing in Bloom fashion show and their Casino Night fundraisers.

To learn more about Society Prosper, visit https://www.societyprosper.org

The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Paul H. Cannon is a partner in the firm.

On this episode of the Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast, your host, Paul Cannon, talks with Andrea McClairne, the founder of JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16. JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 was started in 2023 when Andera McClairne felt a calling from God to support, teach, and empower young women leaving the foster care system. The mission is based in the greater Houston area and provides assistance programs and support to young women leaving the foster care system and entering the world on their own. JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 aims to provide a safe place for young women to stay and learn valuable life skills so that they can learn how to successfully live independently without turning to darker professions. JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 offers mentorship, education, and life skills courses, counselors, and therapists to young women leaving foster care. Additionally, although they do not yet have a home, JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 hopes to build a home in the future where girls leaving foster care can turn to for guidance and support.

JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 Services

The organization provides many services that put young women on a path to being successful in their newly independent lives. JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 provides therapists and counselors to young women leaving foster care because they know that living independently can be difficult, and they want to provide the girls with a safe space to take care of their mental health so that they don’t have to face them alone.

Another service that JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 offers is life skills teachings and mentorship. Many of the young women leaving the foster care system are not prepared for life on their own yet. JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 meets with these young women to teach them basic survival skills, such as cooking, how to be successful in college, and budgeting. Additionally, JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 provides mentorship for young women learning how to be on their own.

JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 Future Goals

JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 is currently searching for a home to provide for the young women coming out of foster care. This house would serve as a transitional home where the young women could have a safe place to stay and prepare for life independently. The organization’s goal is to have the young women stay in this home for about a year and a half to help them get to where they need to be mentally and emotionally and teach them basic life skills.

Volunteer Opportunities

As a volunteer, you may help provide support and assistance to the young women leaving foster care by talking to them, helping them with classwork and studying, and teaching them basic life skills. Additionally, JJ’s Home of Refuge 3:16 needs volunteer therapists and counselors.

Contact: The website address is jjshomeofrefuge.org. You are also welcome to call them at (832) 603-9145 or email info@jjshomeofrefuge.org.

The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Paul H. Cannon is a partner in the firm.

This episode of Meet Houston Missions features Bill Nash, the co-founder of Building Bridges of Hope. Building Bridges of Hope was founded 43 years ago after Bill’s son was miraculously healed from cancer. It is a music-driven mission that seeks to help children overcome difficult lifetime events. They have two primary mission events today—Champions Kids Camp and Texas Best Music Fest.

Champions Kids Camp

Building Bridges of Hope’s main mission event still today is that they partner with the Carolina Creek Christian Camp near Huntsville to provide children who survive traumatic events such as serious car accidents, illnesses, or other personal losses with an opportunity to attend a camp with kids dealing with similar life events. This partnership has been ongoing for 23 years now. In the first year, Building Bridges of Hope took 30 children to camp. Champions Kids Camp today is a summer camp that runs from Sunday through Friday and involves over 200 children and volunteers. Kids get to enjoy fun and fellowship with other kids dealing with similar traumatic life events. The camp is for children ages 8-12, however, many kids return to participate as leaders in training from ages 13-16. At the camp, children get to participate in numerous outdoor activities such as:

· Ziplining

· Learning to fish

· Swimming in the pool and the lagoon

· Motorboating

· Playing basketball

After each meal, the children meet in a group to sing songs and learn about Jesus. The camp takes place in July.

How to Help Champions Kids Camp

Building Bridges of Hope relies on scholarships to allow the children to go to camp regardless of their financial situation. Additionally, in order to run Champions Kids Camp, volunteers are needed to fellowship with the campers, teach them activities such as fishing or sports, and provide a safe environment. If you wish to provide a sponsorship or volunteer, read more below or visit Championskidscamp.org.

Sponsorships

Every child who attends the camp costs $500.00. They attend via scholarships that are donated or supplied by grants. 40% of the children come from foster care. Building Bridges of Hope depends on individuals, churches, and businesses for sponsorships that determine how many children they can take to camp each year.

Volunteers

Building Bridges of Hope relies on volunteers to teach the kids skills and direct events at the camp.

Texas Best Music Fest

Texas Best Music Fest is a festival put together by Building Bridges of Hope to raise money for scholarships and raise awareness of Champions Kids Camp. They bring together musicians from across the country to put on a concert annually in June at Moes Place in Katy, Texas. Visit TexasBMF.com for more information on attending or volunteering to help with this event.

Golf Tournament Fundraiser

In addition to the above, Building Bridges of Hopes has a second fundraiser on October 21st each year which is a golf tournament. The tournament is held at the River Bend Country Club. To volunteer, sponsor, or enter a team contact Building Bridges of Hope by visiting bbofhope.org.

Meet Houston Missions is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Host Paul H. Cannon is a partner at the firm.

The video for this podcast can be seen at Meet Houston Missions: Building Bridges of Hope.

On this episode of Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast, Paul Cannon talks with Quincy Collins, founder of Families Helping Families. In 2013, Quincy and some friends helped out one family within his church that was struggling at Thanksgiving. From this, a vision was born with the goal of feeding as many families in need as possible in the Greater Houston area. What started out as a few friends and genuine compassion for their fellow man has grown exponentially today into a full-blown non-profit organization that provides a worth of food to thousands of people in need each year in the week leading up to Thanksgiving. The goal for 2024 is to feed 3,000 families.

What Families Helping Families Provides

Families Helping Families Sort box provides families in need with 10 pounds of chicken, ground beef, hotdogs, and the makings for a turkey dinner. It amounts to one week of groceries for a family in need. Families are sourced through local school systems, city health services, and law enforcement, who identify the families in need.

Each family is given a set time slot on the Saturday before Thanksgiving week in which to pick up their food at a set location. Any food not collected is given to alternate families and donated to Fort Bend Women’s Shelter.

How They Do It Today – Volunteer Power

Families Helping Families has partnered with HEB and a team of volunteer professionals from various fields ranging from shipping to logistics. They arrange refrigeration trucks to deliver the food to three distribution locations on the morning of Friday before distribution on Saturday. The team, including Quincy, is 100% volunteer. In addition to this team, they rely on 300-plus volunteers each year consisting of individuals, corporate teams, and organizational teams to gather on Friday to unload, sort, and pack the food so it can be delivered to one of three distribution points in Alief, Stafford, and Richmond. On Saturday, those volunteers return to help coordinate the cars arriving for appointments and hand out the food. They fill 300 cars every 30 minutes.

How You Can Be a Part of Families Helping Families

Volunteer

Families Helping Families welcomes volunteers. It is a two-day commitment to get involved. If you have a group or organization, they will make sure your team is stationed together to work as a group. To volunteer, visit https://www.fhfhouston.com/ and click on their volunteer sign-up link. From there, you can follow the organization in Eventbrite and be notified when it is time to sign up.

Donate

If you would like to donate as an individual or to participate as a corporate sponsor, visit the website. There are several levels of sponsorships and various types of recognition for your donation. Not only are the donations tax deductible, but 87% of all of the funds received go directly to purchasing groceries, and the other 13% goes to renting the equipment and organizing the event itself.

For additional information, email them at contact@fhfhouston.com.

Families Helping Families is a 501©(3) non-profit organization.

Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Host Paul H. Cannon is a partner in the firm.

On Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast, your host, Paul Cannon, talks with Nicole Davis, the executive director of Operation: Achieve Independence. Operation: Achieve Independence was started in 2017 when its founder, Tina James, felt a calling from God to create a non-profit organization intended to help young adults preparing to leave or who have already left the foster care system. The mission is based out of Spring, Texas, and serves the greater Houston area by providing programs and assistance services to those needing guidance while leaving or after leaving the foster care system. Operation: Achieve Independence strives to provide assistance to people leaving foster care while allowing them to achieve the independence they desire. Operation: Achieve Independence provides transitional living support, education and career preparation programs, life skills classes, and mentorship programs to individuals leaving foster care who need a little extra help adjusting to society. Operation: Achieve Independence is open to any individual leaving foster care or who has previously been a part of the foster care system.

Operation: Achieve Independence Programs

One of the organization’s main programs is its education and career preparation program. In this program, Operation: Achieve Independence has volunteers go into high schools and work with youth aging out of foster care. Additionally, education and career preparation program representatives will visit local school districts and provide school faculty with a four-hour trauma-informed training course.

Operation: Achieve Independence’s second main program is its mentorship program. In their mentorship program, volunteer mentors are matched with a mentee leaving foster care.

Additional Services

Operation: Achieve Independence also provides additional services such as transitional living support and life skills courses designed to assist youth transitioning out of foster care who may not have all the tools necessary to be successful on their own.

Volunteer Opportunities

As a volunteer, you might be part of the education and career preparation program where you will help youth leaving foster care learn about the benefits available to them, talk about their goals, and help set a plan for how to reach those goals. Volunteers may also serve as mentors for an individual leaving foster care. Additionally, people can volunteer to provide transitional living assistance or teach life skills courses to youths leaving the foster care system.

Other Ways to Help

If you wish to help financially, you can donate from their website or participate in their hygiene drive or back-to-school drive. Additionally, you can enter a team in their annual skeet shoot or attend their annual Gala.

Contact and Info

The website address is https://www.oaicares.org, or you can call (281) 825-7295 or email nicole@oaicares.org.

Operation: Achieve Independence is a 501©(3) non-profit organization. All donations made are tax deductible as per the IRS guidelines.

Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Paul H. Cannon is a partner in the firm.

This is a rerelease of the original video produced when Susan Leining, a/k/a Cookies for a Cause, came to the offices of Simmons and Fletcher to teach her cookie decorating classes as a way to raise money for Alzheimer’s research and awareness.

Cookies for a Cause by Susan is a mission to raise money to fight Alzheimer’s and bring awareness to the community about this illness. Through baking cookies for events and teaching courses on cookie making and decorating, Cookies for a Cause by Susan makes activism and education both fun and delicious!

Susan travels to businesses and offices who invite her and teaches cookie decorating secrets, allowing your staff to learn to do the decorating themselves. While teaching the class, she lectures about Alzheimer’s and how it has impacted her family. Courses start at 30 per person.

Additionally, Susan takes orders to create cookies for events and celebrations.

Proceeds from her classes and her cookies go primarily to the Alzheimer’s Association, and she organizes some events for cancer research charities as well.

Contact Information
https://www.facebook.com/CookiesforaCausebySusan/

email: cookiesforacausebysusan@gmail.com

Meet Houston Missions is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C.

This episode of Meet Houston Missions features Ryan Kreipe, the Manager of Braes Interfaith Resale Store & IT Director for Braes Interfaith Ministries. Braes Interfaith Ministries serves the needs of the southwest side of Houston providing food and clothing for less fortunate people as well as clothing for people transitioning from prison back to the workforce. They operate a food pantry at Willow Meadows Baptist Church as well as a Resale Shop on Post Oak, which serves two purposes: to clothe people in need and provide income to support the mission.

Braes Interfaith Ministries was started by the Southwest Ministry Alliance over 35 years ago and is supported by 14 area churches and synagogues. It is in the Braeswood neighborhood of Houston.

Donations Needed

Braes Interfaith Ministries regularly needs donations of clothing, household goods, and monetary donations to support efforts to help people recover from disaster, fire, or loss. Monetary donations are always needed to support the mission as well. They also accept donations at the Resale shop of household goods and clothes that can be sold. For every $1.00 profit that Braes Interfaith Ministries generates, they are able to purchase $27.00 worth of food from the Houston Food Bank, which the ministry then distributes through the food pantry.

Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteers are always needed to sort, stock, unload, and/or deliver food and clothing between the food pantry, Houston Food Bank, and the resale shop. To learn more about these opportunities, please visit the Braes Interfaith Ministries website at https://braesinterfaithministries.org/ or visit the resale shop website at https://www.braesresale.com. You may also call Ryan at the shop at 713-723-3841 to coordinate a time to volunteer.

Locations

The Food Pantry is located at Willow Meadows Baptist Church, 4300 W Bellfort in Houston, Texas.

Braes Interfaith Resale Shop is located at 10814 S Post Oak in Houston.

Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Podcast are brought to you by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Host Paul H. Cannon is the Managing Partner.