Pan Dulce

Raising the Bar

This past week, Buckner leadership met at Camp Buckner, near Burnet, Texas to considering “Raising the Bar” for our work in 2010. We affirmed our mission of improving the lives of orphans, vulnerable children and families through Christ-centered values. Our mission is to provide protection for children, to promote independence, and to build strong families. Our vision is to become a global ministry maximizing resources and leadership to serve children and families around the world. We do this work by providing a continuum of care, using an integrated approach, optimizing global and local resources. We value servant leadership, stewardship, integrity, respect for the person, great people, and quality client services. As we say at Buckner, it is about the children! I believe that this mission is worthy of your personal engagement and participation.

Apparently, Pastor Anthony Sizemore, Dr. Raymond McHenry, and Charlotte Young agree. They formed a site visit team for the Institutional Relations Committee of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The team visit Buckner offices and toured the Children’s campus and the Humanitarian Aid Center last week and offered the following evaluation:

After a day of site tours Pastor Sizemore said “They (Buckner Leadership) extended an invitation to anybody interested to come and see what they do. It is inspiring…I trust you will take time to explore Buckner International…get involved…go somewhere, be a voice, and do something.”

Our leadership presented new models for delivering an array of services to communities to keep families whole rather than allowing them to disintegrate and only respond with intervention strategies. While those services will be needed, we believe working proactively to keep families healthy will keep children in the family of origin. This is the best place for a child.

We acknowledged that while change in organizations is hard, it is necessary to remain viable and effective. Each time this year, Buckner sets aside time to re-invent itself for greater effectiveness. We change ourselves, our structure, our way of delivering services to be in a better position to serve children and families. I am very encouraged by our collaborative relationship with Buckner Foundation, the resource development arm of Buckner. David Slover and his team are an exceptional group of professionals that minister through generous stewards to provide the resources we need to serve families.

We are positioning Buckner for greater capacity to receive resources and to deliver services to impact more children and more families in Texas, the USA, and around the world. We presented a model for operational excellence and a new organizational structure to reflect our effort to deliver higher quality service to our clients. I am thrilled with the leadership team we have in place and anticipate great things in the coming months. We are the new Buckner. Stay tuned for more changes to come.

2,000,000 Pair of Shoes for Orphan Souls

Buckner has had a great day at the Center for Humanitarian Aid today: We received a shipment of 60,000 Crocs for Shoes for Orphan Souls, which included our 2 Millionth Pair of shoes donated in 10 years. This morning, camera crews representing five North Texas TV stations all filmed the unloading of the trucks. We anticipate coverage at 5, 9 or 10 on WFAA/Channel 8. The estimated value of all of the shoes we've collected in the past 10 years is around $50 million. You can see a clip of the shipment now at www.shoesfororphansouls.org. Click on the image to see the video.
 
Wow, what started out as a small program to bless children has turned into a global humanitarian aid project blessing children and in more than 62 countries worldwide and many children in US Cities and along the Borderlands across the US-Mexico Border.

In some countries, shoes for children could mean the difference between life and death. Children that run and play barefoot are susceptible to cuts and open wounds that can be easily infected and if not treated properly could prove to be fatal. 

Rachel Garton, Matt Asato, and their teams are due a major high five for their efforts to reach this milestone. Collecting shoes for children is a wonderful way to serve others. Go to www.shoesfororphansouls.org to learn more.