Gary Seals, a local businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, was named as the New Braunfels Philanthropist of the Year by New Braunfels Community Foundation on Dec. 5.
The award, better known as “The Eager,” was announced during the NBCF year-end event at McKenna Events Center by NBCF Board Member Wes Studdard and McKenna Foundation CEO Alice Jewell.
“This is the second bestowing of the New Braunfels Philanthropist of the Year Award,” Jewell explained. “According to the namesake of the award, Cecil Eager believes a community foundation encourages people to be generous and it provides a vehicle for people to place their money in a perpetual fund so that their assets outlive them. But their desires and goals will continue. This person will have exhibited generosity in their charitable giving, or aided in procuring donors, or been an example of paying it forward, or have worked to grow the Foundation, or been a leader in their work life and civic volunteerism, or worked to improve the Foundations effectiveness. Our recipient this year has ‘walked the walk’ and done all of these.”
Seals opened his first waterbed store when he was 21. He says he expanded his “empire” until folks chose to stop buying waterbeds. He worked for various furniture companies until he discovered, according to him now, he wasn’t a very good employee. In 2002, he opened his first Ashley Furniture Homestore in Pflugerville. In 2003, Michael Meek with the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce and the City of New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation enticed him to move his headquarters and warehouse to New Braunfels.
Seals and his family fell in love with New Braunfels. Over the next 17 years, he and his team would open 35 locations in four states with more than 1,200 associates. He founded “Furnishing Dreams” which delivered beds to kids who didn’t have one of their own. The business was sold in 2019, and he turned his attention to residential and commercial real estate, investing in downtown New Braunfels, and launching an art gallery in Austin with an “art for all” mission that supports several nonprofits.
That same year he met with Alice Jewell with McKenna Foundation to discuss opening a teen center for disadvantaged youth. A recent McKenna study identified a significant gap in services to our youth in after-school programs and activities. That meeting led to the founding of the New Braunfels Youth Collaborative that will help our middle and high school youth to become the best version of themselves.
Since moving here, Seals has served and supported a multitude of civic and nonprofit organizations. He serves as a board member with Connections, advisory board member with Chosen Care, and chair of the New Braunfels Youth Collaborative. He currently serves as the vice chair of the New Braunfels Community Foundation and will being serving as the chair in 2024.
“It’s an honor to serve on the board of the New Braunfels Community Foundation,” Seals said. “NBCF serves as a unifying force, pooling the financial resources of individuals, families, and businesses to bolster local nonprofits. By facilitating and supporting others in realizing their charitable aspirations, our foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in New Braunfels through philanthropy.”
“The New Braunfels Community Foundation created this award to not only provide deserved recognition for the recipient(s) but also increase awareness locally of the importance of philanthropy,” Studdard said.
Seals said working with the New Braunfels Community Foundation was important to him because of the legacy of giving that pays it forward.
“Donors find a partner in NBCF, assisting in crafting customized gift plans that reflect their philanthropic passions,” Seals said. “We work diligently to expand donations, ensuring sustained support for the community’s charitable needs for years to come.”
“It is in this spirit and with great gratitude that the New Braunfels Community Foundation awards the second The Cecil Eager Philanthropist of the Year Award in his honor to Gary Seals,” Studdard said. “We should all strive to be so ‘Eager!’”
For more on charitable giving, visit www.nbcommunityfoundation.org.
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It was in early 2020, a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, that the world Elizabeth Ramirez knew – filled with her three kids’ activities and a job as a human resource specialist – came to an abrupt halt.
A teacher had called from her son’s El Paso school. Her 13-year-old, Orlando, mentioned suicide during a virtual class, sending Ramirez into a desperate search for an in-patient mental health facility.
Ramirez’s son hadn’t been the same since his friend died in an ATV accident. Since then, he had met with mental health professionals, but more severe depressive behavior and suicidal ideation were causes for serious concern.
Ramirez had found counseling for her son when he was 5 years old and diagnosed with ADHD, so she thought it wouldn’t be hard. But it proved nearly impossible.
None of the four nearest in-patient psychiatric facilities had a bed for her son. She left her job with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to take care of her son full time, moving all three of her children onto Medicaid. That shrank her options even more, as providers told her they didn’t accept the federal and state health insurance program for the poor.
Ramirez even tried to reach out to university research trials for help, but she was told there were no spots.
“In every facility, every clinic, and even the main hospital in town, the answer was always the same. No availability and not enough providers,” she said.
What Ramirez discovered was that she was wading into a Texas mental health system that was confusing, lacking resources and sometimes inaccessible. It’s a system that doesn’t have enough trained professionals. A system where the local health centers set up by the state are so overwhelmed by needy patients that they can serve only a small portion of the communities they were designed to support. A system where even people with health insurance often can’t find the help they need — or can’t afford it because practitioners have resorted to only taking cash.
And for the 3,347,000 adults in Texas who have a mental health condition, there are few directional cues about how to navigate it: Do patients just go to a primary care doctor, or is this a medical specialty with direct contacts, like gynecology or orthopedics? Or should they head to an emergency room or straight to a private psychiatric hospital, if there is one in the area? Can anyone access the 39 regional community mental health centers in Texas, or are those only for patients without insurance? Why do so many counselors and psychologists refuse Medicaid? And why are there so many waitlists?
For people in a mental health crisis, these questions can’t be answered soon enough and they point to a growing unequal mental health care system where cash payments, not insurance coverage, is the quickest way to treatment if a provider can be found.
Elizabeth Ramirez’s son, Orlando, likes to draw to help de-stress. When he experienced a mental health crisis 3 years ago, Ramirez struggled to find resources through their Medicaid insurance. “And while you are waiting, you are seeing your child crumble in front of you,” she said. Credit: Emily Kinskey for The Texas Tribune
“When it comes down to meeting a psychiatrist or meeting a therapist or any kind of provider, it’s, ‘Come back tomorrow, or we will give you a call next week,’ and that phone call never comes,” Ramirez said. “And while you are waiting, you are seeing your child crumble in front of you.”
For those in Ramirez’s position, it’s not surprising to learn Texas ranks last when it comes to access to mental health care, according to the advocacy group Mental Health America. For child mental health care, it’s not much better: 41st.
Today, 251 of Texas’ 254 counties are wholly or partially designated by the federal government as “mental health professional shortage areas,” and that’s in a state where roughly 5 million people do not have health insurance.
A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 36.8% of adults in Texas reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder. Among adults in Texas who reported experiencing these symptoms, 30% reported needing counseling or therapy but not receiving it.
“Texas is supposed to be this great state, but this great state has a mental health crisis, and they don’t see that,” Ramirez said. “We’re worried about other things like border issues and other things that aren’t as important as the rate of kids and adults killing themselves because they can’t find hope.”
State-funded centers are strained
Mental health treatment in Texas wasn’t supposed to be this threadbare and challenging.
Nearly 60 years ago, Texas officials — encouraged by President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 Community Mental Health Act — envisioned an extensive mental health care system at the local level that would offer services to everyone.
“First-rate psychiatric care and comprehensive mental health services should be available to all Texas citizens,” proclaimed the writers of the Texas Plan for Mental Health in 1964. The 250-page document provided an optimistic blueprint for what would become the state’s community mental health districts.
As originally imagined, those districts were supposed to reduce the need for repeated appointments because they would offer a single entry point for services and then smoothly move a patient from intake to appropriate treatment. The 1964 plan leaned heavily on the idea of multi-agency collaboration and “non-psychiatric” counseling services offered by school teachers, ministers, and others.
Today, there are 39 local mental health authorities, but their mission has changed dramatically. Demand has so outpaced the staffing at these centers, funded primarily by the state through performance contracts, that they almost exclusively cater to the uninsured. It’s these 39 districts that many residents turn to first to locate counseling services, yet all report having a wait list that is weeks or months long.
In downtown Fort Worth, a steady stream of people walk in and out of one of four outpatient clinics operated by My Health My Resources of Tarrant County. This one clinic provides treatment to over 1,300 people a month with only three licensed mental health providers.
Those providers each see about 10 to 15 patients a day. The patients come for substance abuse assistance, therapy programs or to fill a prescription from the onsite pharmacy. They can receive counseling services, pre-admission screening for nursing homes, housing and employment help, substance abuse assistance, and case management, among other services.
“We are the safety net for the state,” said Susan Garnett, the center’s CEO. “We fill in the gaps.”
The state says that anyone in the community should be able to get help there. But Garnett said her center, like most facilities across the state, only has the resources to serve the neediest people.
“Our number one obligation is to the uninsured and those on Medicaid,” Garnett said. “Until we can say that we got all those people nailed down, then we won’t branch out to others.”
Sharon Forbes, a nurse at My Health My Resources of Tarrant County, one of 39 local mental health authorities in Texas. The center provides treatment to over 1,300 people a month with only three licensed mental health providers. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
Even then, some community mental health centers are forced to turn away recipients of Medicaid, the health insurance for low-income Americans, due to staffing issues.
Limited funding means pay is low. When Garnett found out this summer that the local Taco Bell was offering to pay their employees’ college tuition, she cringed. The mental health center was given only enough funds to pay their intellectual or developmental disability direct care employees $10.06 per hour compared with the $12 per hour the average Taco Bell employee can make, and now fast food restaurants have benefits they couldn’t match.
“I was just sitting thinking, ‘Oh no, I can’t compete with that,’” she said.
Through fundraising, My Health My Resources of Tarrant County hopes to pay their direct care employees an additional $5 an hour. It’s the only hope the center has to hire more employees, Garnett said.
Because they work for nonprofits that are contracted by the state, local health authorities employees did not get pay raises that state-employed health workers received in the budget approved by lawmakers this year, frustrating some center leaders.
“We are contractors. They took care of state employees,” Garnett said. “I applaud them for that, but I hope they think that through a little better next session.”
“Since fiscal year 2012, the number of adults served by local mental health authorities has increased,” the Legislative Budget Board, which prepares policy recommendations for state lawmakers, reported in 2019. “However, the challenge remains to serve individuals that attempt to access services adequately.”
Since the pandemic began, the need has grown.
The stress of isolating for months at a time, navigating constant school and work interruptions not to mention income and job losses, took an enormous emotional toll on people in Texas and nationwide.
The World Health Organization reported last year that the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% following the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The information we have now about the impact of COVID-19 on the world’s mental health is just the tip of the iceberg. This is a wake-up call to all countries to pay more attention to mental health and do a better job of supporting their populations’ mental health,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general for the World Health Organization in a 2022 news release.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2022 that since the pandemic started, mental health-related visits to hospital emergency rooms rose 24% for children ages 5-11 and 31% for children ages 12-17 compared with data from 2019.
There are not nearly enough practitioners to serve that growing need. Experts have been raising the alarm for more than a decade about mental health workforce shortages being at crisis levels.
“Texas has historically underinvested in mental health and substance abuse services, leading to gaps in communities accessing needed care,” said Alison Mohr Boleware, policy director for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. “Community-focused care has received less investments, and at the same time, Texas population has incrementally been increasing each year.”
The Statewide Health Coordinating Council in 2022 reported in their State Health Plan that 173 counties in Texas had no psychiatrists, and the workforce shortage is only expected to worsen.
A waiting room in the My Health My Resources of Tarrant County Youth Center in Fort Worth. Mental health-related visits to hospital emergency rooms rose for children since 2019. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
“Given the nationwide mental health workforce shortage, it is unlikely that Texas can meet its staffing needs by recruiting providers from other states,” the report stated.
The Texas Department of State Health Services projects a shortage of 1,043 psychiatrists by 2032.
Providers’ struggles
The shortages aren’t just being felt by the community health centers; the private sector is struggling to keep up just as much, resulting in lopsided coverage because Texans, even those with insurance coverage, struggle to find a provider taking on new patients. In the Rio Grande Valley city of Alamo, home to around 20,000 people, Angela Salinas is the only in-person mental health provider. She has been forced to give out sporadic free sessions for the past few months just to address the dire need in her town.
“I try to give as many free sessions as I can. But I get to the point where it’s like how can I continue to survive and support my family if I continue to give away free sessions,” she said. “I work from nine in the morning to sometimes nine at night, with each session being 45 minutes. I work on Saturdays too, just to be able to help people out because there is nobody else.”
Salinas has been waiting for one of the largest insurers in the state to credential her since January because it takes 90 to 120 days to complete the process, and any mistake means the entire thing starts over again. This has left Salinas, like a majority of private providers, contemplating if taking insurance is even worth it.
Ana Y. looks through jewelry and drawings at My Health My Resources of Tarrant County. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
“That is why you have providers saying they are done taking insurance; they can’t wait that long without payments,” she said. “On top of that, insurance [providers] can always come back and reverse what they gave you based on any little thing. It’s just too much of a hassle to take for some people.”
Federal and state lawmakers have been trying to figure out how to put mental health coverage on the same footing as physical health for decades.
In 1996, Congress passed the Mental Health Parity Act, which prohibited large,group health plans from placing dollar limits on mental health benefits that were lower than those for medical and surgical benefits.
By law, if your health plan covers mental health or substance use services, those services must be provided at the same level as other medical services. Parity laws, however, do not require insurance companies to cover mental health or substance abuse services, and insurance companies have found it easier to question the necessity of treatment when it involves mental health inpatient care.
A national study published in 2013 found that only 55% of psychiatrists accepted private insurance compared with 89% of other medical professionals. Providers say the situation has only gotten worse since then, as the National Alliance on Mental Illness reported last year that Texans are over five times more likely to be forced out of network for mental health care than for primary health care.
“I believe people don’t want to take it because it’s like $30 to $45 a session for a session that is normally $110 or $120, and providers are saying I can’t live off of that,” Salinas said.
This has led to a significant gap in services for the majority of Texans who don’t qualify for the low-income or uninsured services found at local health authorities but don’t have the cash on hand to pay for mental health services.
Even fewer mental health providers deal with Medicaid because it’s not even viewed as worth the paperwork due to the low amount Texas provides for treatment.
About 15% of Texans are covered by health plans the Texas Department of Insurance solely regulates, explained the Hogg Foundation’s Boleware. About 50% of Texans are actually covered by their employer, and then about 20 to 25% are on a Medicaid-type plan.
No matter the payment method, right now, most places are either completely full and not taking new clients, or they don’t take insurance. “That is the huge challenge,” Boleware said.
This is a specific problem in rural communities that are usually older and low-income and might only have one private mental health provider in their region.
“I say in my heart, I want to cry. I get so emotional. When I know of all these people that need help, but we can’t help them because you can only do so much,” Salinas said.
ERs and jails become a last resort
The result for many patients is a desperate search for help.
Jennifer Antwine’s daughters had been seeing a family therapist in Fort Worth for several years after their father left them on Christmas Day almost four years ago. But when the family therapist told Antwine that her 13-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, had told her sisters she was thinking about suicide, it caught her off guard.
“I reached back out to the therapist and was like, ‘OK, what do we do now? Where do we go? How do we get her the help that she needs?’” Antwine recalled. “The first thing she told me was to go to our primary care doctor because that is the fastest option.”
This response surprised Antwine. She thought she should take her daughter to a psychologist or some type of mental health professional. But the therapist assured Antwine the quickest way to help her daughter was to go through primary care instead of dealing with the lingering mental health provider waitlists across the state.
Ashlyn Mosley, 13, “bedazzles” her stuffed animals with her mother, Jennifer Antwine, in Fort Worth. Antwine found it difficult to locate intensive mental health care for Ashlyn, facing the lingering mental health provider waitlist. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
For two weeks, all Antwine could do was watch her daughter almost every moment of the day because there was no place to take her at the time.
“We were watching her like a hawk,” Antwine said. The mother of three lived in one of the largest cities in Texas, had Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance through her job, and her child was already seeing a family therapist. None of it seemed to help.
It took a chance health scare, a drop in Ashlyn’s blood sugar, that inadvertently helped the family locate intensive mental health care. The low blood sugar triggered a seizure and Antwine’s daughter was rushed to Cook’s Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. There, the nurses told Antwine about a telehealth intensive outpatient program for adolescents run by a virtual mental health clinic called Charlie Health. This program allowed Ashlyn to stay with her sisters and mom while receiving much-needed treatment.
“It wasn’t ideal to have to go to the ER for such a situation, but without it, we would have never learned about the telehealth program, and she wouldn’t have gotten the help she needed,” Antwine said. “I think that is what is so frustrating and irritating. There was such a long wait to get her to see somebody, and I knew she needed something, but I couldn’t help her. I feel like the main problem is nobody seems aware of what resources are available.”
The number of children showing up in emergency rooms with mental health problems is rising. Cook Children’s Medical Center reported this year that an average of 330 children with mental health complaints show up in their emergency rooms every month — a 36% increase from three years ago.
It’s part of a trend across the state as Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston reported in 2022 that 400 to 450 children a month are going through a behavioral health crisis. This was a significant leap from the 50 kids per month the hospital was seeing in their emergency rooms in 2019.
Ashlyn Mosley peeks through a window in her grandmother’s home. A trip to the emergency room inadvertently helped Antwine find a telehealth intensive outpatient program for Ashlyn. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
Hillary Wylie, director of clinical outreach for Charlie Health in Texas, said their organization works closely with emergency rooms across Texas for this very reason.
“Texans and young people all across the nation are increasingly seeking behavioral health support, and local health care services stand as the front line for so many of these folks,” she said.
But ERs are a costly last resort.
“Many emergency departments lack sufficient personnel, capacity, and infrastructure to triage and treat patients with mental and behavioral emergencies,” wrote Mohsen Saidinejad, an emergency room pediatrician, researcher and lead author of a policy statement issued by American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the Emergency Nurses Association. In it, the groups called for communities to step up and increase access to mental health services to prevent them from reaching the emergency room.
Relying on ER for urgent mental health care only “increases the likelihood of lengthy wait times, crowded facilities, and other challenges that compromise patient care,” the statement reads before conceding: “In many cases, an inadequate mental health infrastructure gives families nowhere else to turn but the emergency department. It’s a dilemma we’re experiencing more often since the COVID pandemic began.”
Of that, $24 million is earmarked for additional mental health services to the Uvalde region in response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, $158 million to increase salaries for the state’s mental health workers, and $195 million for locally driven grant programs to encourage health care providers and nonprofit groups to offer mental health treatment.
“The state doesn’t always have to do this. There are great nonprofits doing wonderful work out there. We have local mental health providers doing wonderful work,” said state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, when her bill that created a $30 million “Innovation Grant” program received approval from lawmakers. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to help and direct our community in a time that we really do need it — and post-pandemic, we need it more than ever.”
Kolkhorst’s bill also requires the state to audit local mental health authorities once every 10 years and publish online data related to mental health care. It will also create a discharge and transition program to help people in state hospitals gradually make their way into the community.
The program by mental health providers has been universally praised as a potential solution to all the confusion surrounding the Texas mental health system.
“We have long maintained that the state should be collecting data about the extent to which individuals are in a lower level of care than what they are clinically recommended for,” Greg Hansch, executive director of the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness of Texas, said. “Getting the right services at the right time matters.”
The Pottsboro library in Pottsboro, a little lake town of about 2,700 people near the Oklahoma border. Rural parts of the state are usually left with a limited number of mental health providers. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
Rural mental health care challenges and one solution
The problems will not be easily fixed.
There are overwhelmed state mental health hospitals and county jails forced to house a large number of those with mental illness. Substance abuse treatment centers, particularly those that provide residential services, are closing their doors due to a lack of funding.
The unequal distribution of mental health providers in Texas exacerbates the workforce shortage issues as the limited number of providers tend to stay in metro areas, leaving entire counties in the rural parts of the state without providers. In fact, a state report in 2014 found no clinical psychologists in rural border counties, and more than two-thirds of the state’s licensed psychologists practice in five counties: Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar and Travis.
In some places, local officials are getting creative in their search for solutions.
About 80 miles north of Dallas, teeming skyscrapers give way to farm fields and hay bales. It’s here in Pottsboro, a little lake town of about 2,700 people near the Oklahoma border, where both mental health care and even high-speed internet is a challenge.
“We have an urgent care [facility]. We have a couple of dentists, and that’s it,” said Kacie Galyon, Pottsboro city manager. “I would love for some sort of mental health, whether it be even like, you know, a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist in one of the existing offices. That’d be great. But unfortunately, we have nothing in the city.”
Pottsboro city manager Kacie Galyon says the small rural town has been rejected to receive a mental health facility. “We are just too small,” she said. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
Most patients have to travel elsewhere in Grayson County, to Denison or Sherman for specialized care.
Galyon said Pottsboro has made multiple attempts over the years to get a mental health facility, but each time, they are rejected for being a small rural town.
“They look at us on paper, and they say, ‘Oh, that’s all you got? Then it’s not worth it financially for us to be there.’ That is the hurdle that we can’t seem to get over. We are just too small,” she said. “It indirectly ends up translating to my people that live in my town aren’t worth it. But I understand from a business model it doesn’t make sense.”
Some people have decided to stop waiting for help to come to them. Instead, they’re finding better ways to connect the town to providers elsewhere.
Pottsboro librarian Dianne Connery turned a storage room into the home of an innovative telemedicine program. She used a $20,000 COVID-19 grant that she received from the National Library of Medicine’s South Central Region to equip her storage room with a reliable internet connection, web cameras, blood pressure readers, better ventilation, and even an iPad for patient check-ins.
Pottsboro librarian Dianne Connery used COVID-19 grant money to convert a storage room to a place where patrons can login for telemedicine appointments. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
The room is equipped with reliable internet connection, web cameras, blood pressure readers, better ventilation, and even an iPad for patient check-ins. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune
From this tiny room, the Pottsboro Area Library provides mental health services from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
“It was a situation of if I wasn’t going to do it, then nobody was going to,” Connery said. She says the people who use it often don’t have a good internet connection in their home.
The Pottsboro Library receives no funds from people using the telehealth service, and the entire thing is built on grant money Connery can dig up for herself.
“I love to do innovative stuff. But at the same time, we don’t want this to be an unfunded mandate that five years from now libraries are expected to do this without any additional funds,” Connery said. “We have to look at the sustainable funding.”
The Texas Tribune is part of the Mental Health Parity Collaborative, a group of newsrooms that are covering stories on mental health care access and inequities in the U.S. The partners on this project include The Carter Center, The Center for Public Integrity (CPI), and newsrooms in select states across the country.”
Disclosure: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
December 28, 2023: NB Housing Partners’ First Footing program is near completion of a years-long journey to provide a permanent community space to serve New Braunfels residents experiencing homelessness.
The organization hosted a recent open house to let guests get a first look at the new facility, a renovated former fire station at Loop 337 in New Braunfels that will act as a crisis housing and outreach center containing a comprehensive intake process connecting individuals to community resources and housing opportunities.
Officials with NB Housing Partners said the 1970s-era building requires some installations, such as a fire suppression system, before participants can occupy the facility. Still, they remain hopeful for a January move-in date.
“Anytime there is a change, even if it’s something that you are looking forward to, it still has its own unexpected things and adjustments,” said Kellie Stallings, executive director of NB Housing Partners. “Our team and our participants know that and are starting to plan ahead for that. We’ve been asking participants what they want to see and what they think are reasonable expectations for participants who seek help on their journey toward housing. They’ve been giving us some good ideas of things they think they should be responsible for and ways we can help them more effectively.”
In early 2023, NB Housing Partners entered a 25-year agreement with the City of New Braunfels to lease the former fire station. The site will provide case management, basic needs, meals, medical care, behavioral healthcare, budgeting, employment/job assistance, benefit application assistance, housing navigation and planning, and congregate crisis housing (shelter).
First Footing staffers develop a housing plan with each participant. Housing navigation and housing startup costs are provided in partnership with the Crisis Center of Comal County. Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers will offer mental health services, counseling and life skills assistance.
Since its establishment in February 2021, the First Footing program has been leasing local motel space to provide services to community members at risk for or experiencing homelessness. The program serves an average of about 30 individuals daily. The demand increases to nearly 50 individuals on cold weather nights.
The Salvation Army of New Braunfels will provide meals at the new facility with additional support from New Braunfels Church of Christ, Elks Lodge, New Braunfels Food Bank, SOS Food Bank and Peace Lutheran Church.
The facility’s medical exam room will be utilized for wellness checkups and healthcare visits. The goals are to improve preventive healthcare, address medical needs that accompany prolonged exposure to weather elements, detect and address acute or chronic health issues and reduce the overuse of emergency healthcare services.
Healthcare is provided weekly through Acadia Medical Mission, with offsite appointments offered through Volunteers in Medicine, America’s Best Eyecare and local dentistry practices.
The congregate sleeping space will provide rest for about 40 individuals at a time, with more served to preserve life safety when the outdoor temperature drops to 45 degrees or below.
An onsite skilled daytime and overnight team is alert and ready to provide a listening ear and offer suggestions to improve sleep for participants as needed.
The team also welcomes those returning from work. Participants show proof of their work times before entering the building after 10 p.m.
The facility also includes a bathroom/shower area, a television and computer room and a laundry room.
Although NB Housing Partners has established partnerships with nonprofits, businesses, faith leaders and housing developers, the organization also needs the public’s help.
The program urgently seeks donations of personal care items, such as brushes and combs, sleep masks, shower scrunchies, bath towels, deodorant and shower shoes.
Food items, such as coffee, dry cereal, and snack items, are welcome, as well as cleaning and household supplies, toilet paper, and transportation items, such as adult skateboards, adult bicycles, and ride-sharing gift cards.
Program participants also welcome H-E-B, McDonald’s, Walmart and Walgreens gift cards. For a complete list, click here.
Donors can leave items at the McKenna Events Center at 801 W. San Antonio St.
Tax-deductible donations can be made to NB Housing Partners and mailed or dropped off at 801 W. San Antonio Street, New Braunfels, TX 78130. Individuals can volunteer for the program through the Serve Spot website at servespot.org. For additional information regarding donations or the program, email admin@nbhousingpartners.org or call 830-272-5020 ext 6.
December 21, 2023: The North American Aerospace Defense Command is ready to track Santa on Dec. 24, for the program’s 68th year. NORAD monitors and defends North American airspace 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. On Dec. 24, NORAD has one additional mission: tracking Santa Claus as he makes his way across the globe, delivering presents to children.
The NORAD Tracks Santa website (www.noradsanta.org) launched on Dec. 1. It features Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, movie theater, holiday music, web store, and more. The website is available in nine languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and new this year, Korean.
The official NORAD Tracks Santa app is also in the Apple App and Google Play stores, to count down the days until Santa’s journey on mobile devices. NORAD Tracks Santa will also be available on digital media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, and on contributor platforms, Amazon Alexa, Bing, SiriusXM, and OnStar.
Trackers worldwide can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask our live operators about Santa’s location from 7 a.m. CST on Dec. 24 to 1 a.m. CST on Dec. 25. Also, website visitors will see Santa’s flight from 5 a.m. CST Dec. 24 to 1 a.m. CST Dec. 25.
The modern tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955 when a young child accidentally dialed the unlisted phone number of the CONAD Operations Center upon seeing an newspaper advertisement telling kids to call Santa. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone and instructed his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.
Thus a tradition was born, and continued when NORAD was formed in 1958. Each year since, NORAD has dutifully reported Santa’s location on Dec. 24 to millions of children and families across the globe.
December 21, 2023: Community members, partners and friends gathered earlier this month to join the McKenna Foundation in celebrating a milestone – 15 years of grantmaking to nonprofit organizations in Comal County.
The Foundation began making grants to community nonprofits in 2009 and has since awarded more than 500 grants to 85 nonprofit organizations serving residents. Over 15 years, more than $28 million in grant funding has resulted in strengthened and new programs and nonprofit assets that bolster the strained social infrastructure of this growing community.
Broken down, the Foundation has gifted $726,630 for community development programs, $1.14 million for capacity building programs, $2.75 million for education programs, $2.97 million for family relationship programs, $3.58 million for physical health programs, $4.6 million for mental health programs, $5.89 million for capital funding programs and $6.96 million for basic needs programs.
“We are in the people business, the best kind of business there is,” said McKenna Foundation CEO Alice Jewell, addressing celebration attendees. “We have the ability to impact the entire community — from those in the most vulnerable situations to the people with the resources to care for them.”
In 2023, the Foundation gifted more than $2.1 million in grants to 42 nonprofit organizations in Comal County, serving 72,133 people.
Some have asked what this celebration tonight is all about – the answer is easy, Jewell said
“This celebration is about people,” Jewell said. “The people who built McKenna Memorial Hospital over its 54-year history as patients, staff and leadership. The people with the vision to negotiate the sale of a premiere hospital system and create an entity whose sole mission is to improve the lives of people. The people who took that Hospital and expanded and enriched its offerings for a more holistic opportunity for health care right here in New Braunfels. The people who, this very day, are committed to carrying on a legacy that is passionate and intentional. Those people are you. Physicians, clinicians, social workers, board members, volunteers, leaders, friends.”
The Foundation also oversees the McKenna Events Center and the Children’s Museum, which opened on April 1, 2006. Since then, those offerings remained a community need through which McKenna has served thousands of residents as a community partner.
“The grantmaking, Children’s Museum and Events Center are executed every day by an incredible staff team here at McKenna, who make this operation possible and impactful,” Jewell said. “Our culture here is one of caring for people first, and I am so grateful for their dedication to each other and our mission.”
The Children’s Museum has seen nearly 1.2 million visitors and the Events Center has hosted about 9,000 events.
Jewell also recognized Bill Morton, who was the Chair of the McKenna System Board of Directors, as well as prior Foundation chiefs Tim Brierty and Jerry Major.
The beginning of what would become the McKenna Foundation goes back about 70 years to when population growth prompted the need for a full-service hospital to serve the New Braunfels area.
Although two attempts in the late 1940s to establish a county-funded hospital in New Braunfels failed, a group of business and civic leaders led by Howard McKenna kept pursuing that vision.
The group set out to privately secure the funds to build a new hospital. Along with a host of peers, Mr. McKenna persuaded the city in 1951 to support health care for its residents by providing a site for the proposed Hospital. The city leaders and other individuals organized a fundraising effort in 1952, often going door to door to ask residents for their support.
Mr. McKenna’s vision became a reality when New Braunfels residents donated more than $500,000 for the project, equivalent to nearly $5.9 million in today’s dollars, augmented by a $280,000 Hill-Burton grant.
Construction began in October 1952, and a grand opening celebration for the new 40-bed New Braunfels Hospital occurred about a year later. The original structure, which still stands as the central core of the Hospital, opened its doors to patients in November 1953.
In 1973, New Braunfels Hospital changed its name to McKenna Memorial Hospital in honor of Howard McKenna, who served as president of the Hospital’s board of trustees for over 20 years.
Tremendous growth came to the Hospital during the following decades, including several multimillion-dollar facilities and equipment expansions. What began as a small community hospital became a nationally recognized regional healthcare provider. The McKenna Health System found its place as a vital part of New Braunfels and Comal County, providing effective programs, services, and resources that benefit the health and well-being of the community.
The Hospital operated as an independent facility until 2008 when the board opted to sell McKenna Memorial Hospital to a system with resources that could expand the service line to the growing area. The sale to Christus Santa Rosa Health Care occurred on Jan. 31.
Genifer Rucker began her 30-year healthcare career as a transporter for the radiology department at McKenna Hospital, now Christus Santa Rosa Hospital. She currently serves as the Hospital’s president.
“McKenna is my family’s hospital,” Rucker said. “I feel so proud now that I’ve been asked to come back and lead and preserve the legacy that McKenna and all of you have participated in. I feel very obligated and very proud to preserve the culture, compassion and quality of care we provide for this community.”
The hospital sale brought two significant benefits to the New Braunfels community: the assurance of quality health care by Christus and the funding to create the McKenna Foundation, whose mission is to advance the well-being of the greater New Braunfels community.
“The McKenna family is one that is expanding every day, with one of my favorite branches of the tree being our nonprofit partners,” Jewell said. “Over 15 years, we have met some real characters. We fell in love with you and the work that you do serving people in this community. You all know that we are here for you — to support you from the front or the back or walk alongside.”
December 18, 2023: In a joyful announcement for children and animal lovers alike, the American Veterinary Medical Association has declared that Santa’s reindeer are healthy and all clear for their magical Christmas Eve journey.
This follows a thorough health examination by AVMA President Dr. Rena Carlson and Ashli Selke, RVT, CVT, immediate-past president of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians of America, who traveled to the North Pole earlier this month for an in-person exam of Santa’s team of nine reindeer.
“After a full examination and review of their medical records, I’m pleased to say that Santa’s reindeer are healthy, in great shape and ready to fly on Christmas Eve,” Dr. Carlson announced.
The reindeer’s annual exam includes a health check about a month prior to their Christmas Eve flight to make sure they’re healthy and not showing any signs of disease—such as brucellosis, tuberculosis or chronic wasting disease—that can affect their ability to fly, or threaten the health of other animals or people.
“While this may be an out-of-the-ordinary visit, ensuring that these magical and magnificent animals are fit for their important journey reflects the vital work veterinarians and their teams perform every day around the world to ensure the health and safety of animals and people,” Dr. Carlson said.
“It’s such an honor to be part of this special tradition,” Selke said. “Examining the reindeer, from their iconic antlers down to their cloven hooves, is a reminder of the diverse and fascinating work that veterinary health care teams are called on to provide.”
During their visit, Dr. Carlson and Selke conducted a series of comprehensive health checks. They closely inspected the reindeer’s fur for any signs of parasites or lesions and examined their eyes and noses, emphasizing the importance of these exams in maintaining animal health. “It’s fascinating how reindeer have adapted to the harsh North Pole climate, from their hollow fur, which allows them to trap and retain heat, to the mass of tiny veins in their noses that help circulate blood to keep them warm—and in some deer, give their noses a red glow,” noted Dr. Carlson.
The examination also included a thorough assessment of the reindeer’s legs and hooves, crucial for their extensive journey. “Reindeer are incredible travelers, and ensuring their legs and hooves are healthy is vital to make sure they’re up for the big flight ahead,” Selke said.
In addition to presents for children around the world, Santa is required to bring with him an official “North Pole Certificate of Animal Export” that allows him to freely cross borders and ensure health officials that his reindeer pose no threat to animal or public health.
Dr. Carlson and Selke will make a follow-up trip to the North Pole on Christmas Eve to provide a final pre-flight checkup and to inspect the reindeer upon their return on Christmas morning.
For kids who want to help the reindeer on their journey, Dr. Carlson recommends leaving a plate of graham cracker reindeer cookies, their favorite snack, for Santa to feed them between stops.
Dr. Carlson’s and Selke’s work is consistent with the role veterinary health care teams play every day to ensure the health of animals, people and the environment across the globe. Far from treating just dogs and cats, veterinary health care teams work with all kinds of species, in all types of environments, to make the world a healthier place for all forms of life.
While unavailable for comment due to his busy work schedule, Santa issued a statement, saying, “Without my reindeer there simply would be no Christmas. Proper veterinary care ensures that, year in and year out, my team and I are able to deliver presents to boys and girls around the world. Dr. Carlson and Ashli are definitely on the ‘nice list’ again this year.
Communities In Schools and RecoveryWerks! each received an unrestricted $10,000 Impact Grant from the McKenna Foundation, highlighting the end of a successful 2023 grant-gifting season.
The announcement of the awarding of the grants came during the annual Christmas Breakfast at the McKenna Events Center on Dec. 12.
The Foundation previously asked nonprofit partners to nominate one of their peers. This year, however, the Foundation invited the public to participate in selecting two deserving nonprofit organizations serving Comal County to receive grants. The Foundation received more than 3,300 nominations from members of the public.
In addition to nominating an agency, the Foundation asked participants to include a statement supporting their nominee.
RecoveryWerks! provides recovery support services for teenagers and young adults experiencing problems with substance use.
Through state-certified peer recovery support specialists, they provide counseling, peer coaching, support group meetings, sober social activities, role modeling and accountability to help young people discover the freedom of life without the effects of mind-changing chemicals.
“RecoveryWerks! stands out as an organization deserving special recognition due to its unwavering commitment to supporting individuals in their journey towards recovery from addiction and mental health challenges,” an individual wrote in their nomination statement. “Through their innovative programs and empathetic approach, they’ve created a nurturing environment that fosters health and empowerment. Their dedication to destigmatizing mental health issues and providing accessible resources reflects their profound impact on countless lives, making them a beacon of hope within the community.”
In addition to working with teens and young adults, RecoveryWerks! provides similar support to family members, ages nine and above, who have a loved one struggling with substance use disorder.
Staffers work with family members on how to enable recovery versus enabling addiction. The agency maintains a 12-step support group meeting for parents and grandparents, while other counselors have a 12-step support meeting for the teens.
The agency also offers a 12-step support group meeting for brothers and sisters who are not using between the ages of nine and 17. Everybody in the group gets tools on how to help enable recovery.
“When we started this, there was such a big stigma, and I didn’t know how things would work out in New Braunfels, said Program Director Joanne Daxon to breakfast attendees. “We did start up with such a small group, and I am just honored to be part of RecoveryWerks! I’m totally grateful.”
Communities In Schools of South Central Texas celebrated its 30th anniversary this year in its mission of supporting and changing the lives of area students.
What started as a program serving five schools with a $393,000 budget in 1993 has grown to 55 schools in three counties with a $5.6 million budget.
CIS places highly trained professional site coordinators inside the schools who have relationships with students and work hand-in-hand with the school to help identify students’ needs. Schools, businesses and community agencies work with site coordinators to support students and families.
Site coordinators provide specific resources: one-on-one mentoring with a caring adult, counseling and supportive guidance, food assistance, clothing and shoes, rent and utility assistance, behavioral and academic support, and linkages to community resources.
Through individualized interventions and a family of support, students traverse a personal journey of hope, goal achievement and meaning in their lives.
In nominating CIS, one person wrote that the agency “continuously goes above and beyond to do whatever it takes to help students and families with all the challenges in their daily lives.”
“Additionally,” the individual went on, “the mental health crisis in our schools is not getting better, and with the assistance of CIS, the students are shown tools and coping skills to help them navigate the big emotions students need help with.”
Many of the youth CIS serves are from families experiencing poverty, substance abuse, and poor mental health – a home environment that is not conducive to healthy living and an excellent moral compass. All CIS services and programs support the goal of providing safe and healthy environments for students at school and home for our community’s good.
“What an opportunity to hear back from our constituents, then to also be recognized in front of my peers,” CEO Chris Douglas said to breakfast attendees. “I am blessed to be here – it will be 27 years. It’s just amazing work, right? Working in a nonprofit – there’s nothing like it…this money means a lot to us this year.”
During the 2021-2022 school year, CIS staff members, mentors and volunteers served more than 39,000 students in 55 schools in the New Braunfels, Marion, Comal, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City and Seguin school districts.
As part of its school-based programs, CIS provided 4,448 students with intensive ongoing services during the 2021-2022 academic year; 239 students received mentor services, and 186 students received clinical counseling.
McKenna began making grants to community nonprofits in 2009 and has since awarded nearly $30 million in grant funding to nonprofit organizations serving New Braunfels and Comal County residents.
This year, the Foundation gifted more than $2.1 million in grants to 42 nonprofit organizations in Comal County.
Visit the Foundation’s website at www.mckenna.org.
December 11, 2023: Many anticipate the joyous events that make up the holiday season. However, those affected by violent crime or the loss of a loved one, can find this time incredibly challenging.
Families and friends of victims of violent crime gathered at the McKenna Events Center on Dec. 6 for the Tree of Angels ceremony, a meaningful Christmas program held explicitly in memory and support of victims of violent crime. The New Braunfels Police Department and the local law enforcement and justice community organized the event.
The Tree of Angels allows communities to recognize that the holiday season is a difficult time for families and friends who have suffered the impact of a violent crime. It was the first time the New Braunfels community hosted a Tree of Angels ceremony.
“My heart is both heavy and hopeful,” said Delilah Reyes of the Thriving Heart Crisis Center, addressing attendees. “The holiday season is often filled with joy and celebration. It can also be a time of profound difficulties for families and friends of those who have lost their loved one to an act of violence.”
During the invocation, Bishop Michael Franklin, president of the MLK Association, cited the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The special event honored and supported surviving victims and victims’ families by making it possible for loved ones to bring an angel ornament to place on a Christmas tree.
“We would like to dedicate this tree tonight to victims who have lost their lives to violent crime or are missing,” said New Braunfels Police Department crime victim liaison Lisa Sargent. “Tonight, we honor them and recognize the void left behind and the impact that is left on the families, friends and our community,”
Members of the New Braunfels Police Department Honor Guard escorted each family to the tree to place their angel ornament.
Vanessa Paulini, a crime victim liaison with the Comal County Sheriff’s Office, read a proclamation issued by Comal County commissioners. The New Braunfels City Council also issued a proclamation recognizing the event.
The first program was established in December 1991 by Verna Lee, executive advisor of People Against Violent Crime in Austin. Since then, the Tree of Angels has become a tradition in many communities.
A candle-lighting ceremony also was part of the service, with New Braunfels Police Chief Keith Lane, District Attorney Jennifer Tharp and Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds lighting candles representing peace, hope and healing.
“These candles represent a journey we are all taking,” said NBPD crime victim liaison Priscilla Drozd, introducing the candle-lighting ceremony. “It’s not by choice, but of circumstances, and in the darkness, we can find light.”
In addition, event organizers set up a lighted display containing the names of violent crime victims and a table for those wishing to bring a photo of their loved ones.
Below the names of the crime victims, the lighted board states, “Your wings were ready, but our hearts were not.”
Performing on guitar, NBPD Lt. Joe Robles provided music for the event, leading attendees in singing “Silent Night” to end the service.
The Tree of Angels is on dislay at the New Braunfels Police Department headquarters on West San Antonio Street through the holiday season.
November 27, 2023: The McKenna Foundation plans to culminate a great year by gifting two nonprofit partners with unrestricted $10,000 Impact Grants. And the Foundation needs your help.
This year, the McKenna Foundation invites the public to participate by nominating a deserving nonprofit organization serving Comal County to receive a grant. Is there an organization that has gone above and beyond? Has an organization been a stellar partner with the community? Who deserves some extra appreciation?
Click here until Dec. 6 to nominate a nonprofit. Please include a couple of sentences supporting the organization you want the Foundation to recognize this year.
“For many years, we have recognized a nonprofit that has made an extra special impact,” said Kristen Fain, McKenna’s program officer. “In the past, we’ve asked our nonprofit partners to nominate one of their peers. However, this year, we’d like the community to share with us which nonprofit agencies they would like to receive the grants.”
The Foundation will announce the recipient during its annual Christmas Breakfast on Dec. 12 at the McKenna Center and on its website.
McKenna began making grants to community nonprofits in 2009 and has since awarded nearly $30 million in grant funding to nonprofit organizations serving New Braunfels and Comal County residents.
This year, the Foundation gifted nearly $2.1 million in grants to 42 nonprofit organizations in Comal County.