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We are pleased to announce that RadioShack, the 2009 Title Sponsor for Joe’s Run, has once again offered to take on the same role in the 2010 event. Thank you, RadioShack, for your generous support! |
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In April six Samaritan House staff members helped stuff several thousand gift bags in preparation for the annual fundraiser for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). The DIFFA Dallas chapter provides financial support to AIDS service organizations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, including Samaritan House. |
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Rebecca Tamez, of the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Worth, and three members of her staff at the Federal Bureau of Prisons visited Samaritan House on June 2. The group listened to residents (including ex-offenders) describe the difference Samaritan House has made as they work at rebuilding their lives. Various possibilities for collaboration were discussed to afford greater accommodation for ex-offenders. |
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Join our Facebook Group and share our message of hope. If you are already a member of Facebook, click on the Groups link at the lower left-hand corner of the page. Search for “Friends of Samaritan House” on the upper right-hand side; just below the picture, you can “join the group.” Once you have joined, you can share this group with friends, using the same menu.
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By reducing homelessness, substance abuse, crime, new HIV infections, and the demand for publicly funded medical care, Samaritan House makes Fort Worth a better place for everyone! |
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Samaritan House News July 2009 |
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| Letter from the President
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Steve Dutton |
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We’ve all heard the phrase, “Think globally; act locally.” Generally, this refers to environmental conservation, but it also applies to the work going on at Samaritan House. Read below about our efforts to continue reaching out to our neighbors in Swaziland, while also engaging adult and child residents of Samaritan House to connect in meaningful ways with their local community. |
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| HIV/AIDS affects every global community differently, but it’s important to remember that no one is free from the challenges this disease presents. Though we are relatively fortunate when compared with our African counterparts, HIV/AIDS is still very much a reality, right here at home. And as long as there are lives affected by the disease, we plan to be here to help change those lives for the better. Thanks to supporters like you, everyone has the chance to have their lives and dreams restored! |
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| Angels to Africa |
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More Life, a collaboration of Fort Worth AIDS Service Organizations, has joined together with the Fort Worth Rotary Club to reach out a hand of compassion to our Sister City residents in Swaziland. Rotary is shipping 2800 copies of Angels at My Door, a children’s book produced in conjunction with the 2008 More Life festival, to Africa for use in Swazi classrooms.
Carlo Capua, co-owner of Z’s Café and creator of an instruction guide to accompany the book, will travel to Mbabane, the Swazi |
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| capital, later this year to train educators in how to use the books in their classes. He and a delegation of Sister Cities members will be celebrating the five-year anniversary of the Fort Worth-Swaziland connection. |
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The Fort Worth Library Foundation funded a book project called Angels at My Door during the 2008 More Life festival. Kids Who Care founder and director Deborah Jung worked with kids of AIDS Service Organization clients to help them write about how their lives have been affected by AIDS. Many of those children were under Samaritan House’s care. |
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Deborah Jung |
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“The book is filled with touching -- sometimes wrenching -- first-hand statements about the way children's lives have been affected by AIDS,” says Sarah Deats, Samaritan House’s Director of Communications. “One girl wrote about her mother, who died of AIDS, and about how much she misses her. And the beautiful children's artwork (created by Fort Worth public school students) blends well with the text.” |
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| As someone who is familiar with the city of Mbabane, Swaziland, and who is an experienced teacher, Capua is a natural choice for the trip. “It gives us an opportunity to work with Swazi students in a small group setting and learn and share with them,” says Capua. |
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| The need for AIDS education in Swaziland is acute: a Swazi delegation visiting Samaritan House in 2006 was impressed by our facility but remarked that their main focus is preparing burial for so many who are dying. |
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| “I hope that with the world’s help,” says Dutton, “they will eventually be successful in lowering the rate of death from AIDS in Swaziland.” Though the book project is only one small gesture, those involved recognize that it is through such modest efforts that stronger, longer-term bonds are forged, opening up the possibility for more help to come to this nation ravaged by AIDS. |
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| “What better way to create a bridge of hope between our cities and between our nations?” Dutton adds. |
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| A Dream at Work |
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In many ways, Carlo Capua is the consummate entrepreneur. A Fort Forth native, he studied Marketing and Japanese as an undergraduate at TCU. After graduating, he spent seven years teaching in Fort Worth’s sister cities of Nagaoka, Japan and Toluca, Mexico. Upon returning home, he opened Z’s Café with his mother, Janet Capua, in February 2009.Though worldly and armed with a sophisticated business sense, Capua knew relatively little about HIV/AIDS before visiting Swaziland in 2007 as part of the Sister Cities program. |
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| “The stigma I used to have about HIV and AIDS is gone,” says Capua. “I’ve learned to measure people not by their past or health status, but by their character, attitude, and inner potential.” |
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| Carlos’s growth in understanding was furthered after he returned home and toured Samaritan House for the first time with the Swazi delegation. “I was interested to learn more about HIV and AIDS in my community,” says Capua “and what was being done to help those who had been directly affected.” |
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| Before long, Capua and Samaritan House President and CEO Steve Dutton started conspiring to create Z’s Café, to be run by Janet and Carlo Capua and staffed by Samaritan House residents. With both a solid business plan and a heart for service to the HIV-affected community, Carlo brought a special combination of assets to the Samaritan House community. By the time the cafe opened its doors in the Fort Worth Community Arts Center this past February, a dream came to life for Samaritan House staff and residents. |
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| At any one time, ten Samaritan House residents are employed at Z’s, gaining valuable real-life work experience and job skills and building their resumes for the future. Plans are already afoot for expanding the staff. None of this would have been possible, however, without Capua’s expertise and commitment. |
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| “Carlo has the right skills for Z's Café,” says Dutton. “He's smart, compassionate and fun to be around. The residents tell me he's very supportive of them and he's teaching them the skills they need to succeed. Plus he's ambitious and committed to making his mom's business a great success for her and for the Samaritan House residents who work there.” |
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| Asked what his dreams are for the small café, Capua sees no limits to its reach. “I hope to feed Z’s Chicken Salad to every single person in Fort Worth!” he says. “I’d love to see this business grow and open up more opportunities for Samaritan House and its residents to discover that, with a lot of hard work and a little luck, anything is possible.” |
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| Saying Y.E.S. to Summer |
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For many of our children, summers bring to mind thoughts of playing in the pool, going on vacations or hanging around with friends and playing video games. But for many children of Samaritan House families, those kinds of activities live only in their imaginations without the help of Samaritan House staff and volunteers. That’s why Rick Isaminger, Family Health and Education Coordinator for Samaritan House, has worked tirelessly to provide our kids with some of the same opportunities that more privileged children may take for granted. |
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| Samaritan House’s summer programs are designed with education in mind, just like our year-round programs. Events include structured field trips that are both fun and educational, along with the more free-form “Kids’ Days” in the Youngman Family Room. “On these days,” says Isaminger, “kids are free to be themselves, watch a movie, play on the computer, or play games. It also gives our moms a break.” |
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| Kids’ Days start in July this year in partnership with the Girl Scouts of America and will include a two-week-long day camp based in the Youngman Family Room. The camp is named Y.E.S. (Youth Enjoying Summer), and there will be games, arts and crafts, and sports. Y.E.S. is for boys and girls, ages 5 to 17. |
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| Though the camp is primarily for Samaritan House children, families receiving services from AIDS Outreach Center have also been invited to include their children in the program. |
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| “I love working with kids,” says Isaminger. “It is really instant gratification for me when I see the smiles on their faces.” He described a conversation with a young girl after a recent trip to McDonalds and a movie, who shared that she had not been to a movie in two years or to McDonald’s in at least a year. |
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| “It is also really neat to see the kids grow,” says Isaminger, “not only in size but in (their) feelings and nature as well. I have seen a little boy go from not wanting to share, to sharing his lunch. He has also started asking to help me set up for activities. It is this kind of change that really makes my job great.” |
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| Though most of the trips are modest, Isaminger has more ambitious plans, provided someone will come through with the funding. “One of the things I would like to do is take the children to Fossil Rim for a special tour of the wild animal park (in Glen Rose),” he says. “Six Flags is another place I would like to take the kids if we had the money.” |
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| Anyone interested in underwriting youth events can contact Director of Development (info@samaritanhouse.org, or please call 817-332-6410, x179) for more information. Volunteers are also needed. To volunteer, contact at info@samaritanhouse.org, or please call 817-332-6410, x162. |
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Conclusion
Perhaps you have a group of restless young ones, looking for something to do this summer. Or maybe your company or church group has been thinking about doing some outreach projects around Fort Worth. We’d love to hear from you! Please contact info@samaritanhouse.org, or please call 817-332-6410 x 162 to learn about the many volunteer opportunities we have waiting for you today. |
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