Patti Nanney & Branch Presbyterian Church Volunteers

On June 25, 1991 our church’s Session approved Mary Cole as an official representative of Spring Branch Presbyterian Church (SBPC) to the Presbyterian Children’s Home in Itasca, Texas. That was the beginning of SBPC supporting a group that gives Christ-centered care and hope to children and families. It was Mary Cole who first started our tradition of putting a new, crisp $1 bill in the birthday cards that we sent to the foster kids of Itasca. It was a simple way we could tell those kids that we were thinking about them, and we cared about them. We continue that tradition today; however, we now put a $2 bill in the birthday cards. A unique bill for a unique child. Our PCHAS Ambassador after Mary was Helen Hogg. 

When PCHAS opened an office in Houston, our church stepped up to support PCHAS even more. Probably our church’s favorite event of the year is the annual fundraiser luncheon. When I retired 15 years ago, I attended my first luncheon. I was shocked to see 58 SBPC people spread among 6 tables. As we get older and a little smaller in church size, we still have people at 4 tables. We even have a couple of members that so believe in the PCHAS program that they have been underwriters for the luncheon.

Our Ambassador Helen got us involved in the Christmas Angel Tree program. The problem was, we already had a similar program called Angel Tree for kids of prisoners, and it was confusing our congregation. So, Helen was the one that started our tradition of the PCHAS Ornament Tree at Christmas time. We put ornaments on a Christmas Tree, which is placed in the foyer by our Church Office. The individual gets an ornament off the tree and donates anywhere from $5 to $100 to PCHAS.

After Helen, Ferrell Thorpe took over as our PCHAS Ambassador. It was Ferrell who helped PCHAS’ Senior Development Officer, Jana Hobbs, to purchase the first sheets, towels, dishes, and pots and pans for the Single Parent Homes at St. John’s campus. The ladies at SBPC continue to periodically collect items for the Single Parent Homes including cleaning supplies, sheets and towels, pots and pans, and any other items they might need.

Ferrell also started the ladies of our church sending four times a year College Care Packages to Foster Care kids that graduated out of the program and moved on to college. We started with 3 kids, moved on to 26 kids, and now we are back to just a few PCHAS kids in this program. In recent years several of the ladies of our church have volunteered to pray for these college kids and periodically send them notes and cards.

After Ferrell, I, Patti Nanney, became the PCHAS Ambassador 14 years ago, and we are continuing all of the programs previously mentioned. Our church has a day care center with over 200 children, so I invited the parents of our day care kids to join in our church’s collection drives, too. Our collection drives include school supplies for foster children each June and July, plus a variety of other needs through the years such as Birthday Bags with all of the things for a birthday party, suitcases and backpacks for kids that may only have a bag to put their clothes, and an emergency diaper drive.

In addition to all of these activities, SBPC gives benevolence donations to PCHAS each year. Part of the process our church goes through before we give out benevolences is to verify their charity rating so we can give with confidence. PCHAS ranks among the highest. SBPC knows that when we give money or other support to PCHAS, they will use those resources wisely for housing, caring, educating and supporting children and their parents in a Christ-like manner. But none of that could happen without the caring and professional manner of the PCHAS staff.