This National Volunteer Month TJJD salutes the dozens of volunteers who share their time and skills with TJJD youth
By John McGreey, TJJD Communications
Martin Luther King, Jr. said “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” This especially comes to mind right now as April is National Volunteer Month.
TJJD’s core objectives are to help shape the lives of the youth in our care and thereby build safer communities. Defining this work is easy, but doing it can be hard. The dedicated staff at our secure facilities and halfway houses do this work every day, but more help is always welcome.
That’s where our Volunteer Services Program comes in. Our team reaches out their communities across Texas for volunteers to assist with special events and projects involving music, art, gardening, and more.
Faithful volunteers visit our secure facilities and halfway houses each week to lead religious activities and worship services, as requested by our youth.
Volunteers also serve as mentors, to counsel our youth in any number of matters. Still others work as tutors to help the students earn their high school diplomas or GEDs.
Here are some facts we’re pleased to share:
TJJD currently has over 400 volunteers and 20 interns lending their time and talents.
Our longest-serving volunteer, Leonel Rodriguez at our Evins facility, has been with us for 31 years.
In the year 2022, these volunteers pitched in with 14,825 hours.
That should provide some sense of the great people we have helping provide for the youth.
We also gratefully recognize the many TJJD employees who volunteer their free time for special events and football and basketball games. That level of commitment says a lot about the character of the people who work with our students.
Everyone who volunteers shows our youth that, in their own way, they matter. Building a connection to their community and seeing the value and personal satisfaction of service through volunteering.
We’re proud to salute the TJJD volunteers across Texas for their meaningful work, and we invite anyone else moved by the spirit of volunteerism to join them.
To learn more, please go to https://www.tjjd.texas.gov/index.php/volunteer-services
Giddings State School showcases student accomplishments at Open House and Family Day
Jennifer Brown embraces her mentoring role as assistant superintendent at Gainesville State School
Evins Campus Volunteers Faithfully Serve Youth and Their Families with Meals, Events and Donations
By Fidel Garcia, Community Volunteer Coordinator, Evins Regional Juvenile Center
Last month, the Volunteer Council serving the Evins campus, in Edinburg, sponsored an Easter family event and helped a family that was struggling financially so that they could attend the event and visit their young loved one.
The Council generously provided the family a gas card for $207, enabling them to drive some 500 miles to Evins Regional Juvenile Center.
“The family was very appreciative when she (the mom) called,” said Crystella Garza, who heads up Family Services at Evins.
The mother told Garza that when she found out about the donation she was overwhelmed and “moved to tears and had to rush to the bathroom to hide my tears of gratitude."
“It was a real financial struggle and miracle that we were all able to go on Saturday,” she told Garza. “Eight hours one way, two cars, five people! We had thought that we wouldn't be able to go. Then Tuesday before last, you kindly called to confirm that I was coming.”
Helping the families and youth in these practical ways has been the core mission of the nonprofit community volunteer councils that serve TJJD’s secure facilities and halfway houses. These groups have been dedicated for decades to helping TJJD/TYC youth with a variety of assistance and programs they develop and deliver, with the approval of the facility leadership.
At Evins Regional Juvenile Center, in the Rio Grande Valley, helping with gas cards and motel bills for families has been a focus of their good works. Not that it’s all the council does, not by a long shot.
Leonel Rodriguez, who’s been volunteering at ERJC for 32 years (you read that right), has helped with a variety of programs in which community members reach out. He works within the South Texas Youth Council (formerly Evins Volunteer Council), one of the most active community groups supporting Evins youth.
“I have always been community oriented and anything I can do to strengthen youth and family has always been my passion," Rodriguez said. "Also, all the wonderful volunteer partners that I have been able to work with throughout the years have kept me going. How can I not?”
Rodriguez chuckles now as he recalls that back in 1991, when then-Volunteer Coordinator Jane Parker asked him to help out, she told him, “Don’t worry it will only be for one year.” Or 32.
Over the years the Council has found a multitude of ways to pitch in. Members raised funds to start Evins’ horticulture program, which has sent many youth into the world with valuable work experiences. They also supported meals for youth and families for the one-time softball Diamond Rattlesnake team.
The Council regularly sponsors graduation receptions for families, students and staff to celebrate the youth receiving their GEDs or high school diplomas and they go into high gear at the holidays, providing Thanksgiving dinners for youth and families featuring a full meal of turkey with the trimmings.
At Christmas, the Council donates enough cash (last year it was more than $2,500) to put some $20 or so on every youth's phone card, allowing the young men to make additional phone calls home beyond their usual allotment.
And they don't forget New Year's Day, when the Council presents each youth with a goody bag with cookies, candy, chips, and a note of encouragement.
Outside of holidays, volunteers serve as role models and mentors, encouraging the youth to think positively and complete their programs so they can go home as early as possible. They check up on them and let them know someone in the community cares about them..
One thing that has remained steady over the years is the eager pool of volunteers that has engaged juveniles at the facility. These volunteers come from all walks of life and sectors of the community. They’ve undergone background checks and trained to work with the youth population.
At Evins, the volunteer program has revived after a couple years of restrained activities caused by COVID. But even during that time, with quarantines and limits on visitors, the volunteers found ways to keep up the connections, financially sponsoring various activities from behind the scenes. Some wrote letters of encouragement.
Rodriguez, an owner agent with State Farm Insurance in McAllen, joined just eight months after the Council incorporated in 1990. He’s held numerous positions on the board and has been nominated several times at the local and state level for various awards for his community involvement.
Many times, volunteer groups will work cooperatively and in conjunction with the Council. One such group, the Catholic Dioceses of Brownsville, has provided religious programing for Catholic youth through Bible studies, Sacrament classes, baptism, and weekend retreats.
However, when it comes to providing support for the youth, they treat all youth the same regardless of their religious affiliation.
At the Thanksgiving holiday, the Catholic Diocese volunteers complemented the Council’s turkey plate with drinks, pies and most importantly the manpower to serve and hand deliver each plate to the youth.
Other groups that have been outstanding supporters include members of the Apostolado de La Cruz and Our Lady of Sorrows which are parishes of the Catholic Diocese. Many of the members in this group belong to other civic organizations and spread the word out quickly when a need is identified for the youth at Evins. Through their efforts, weekend retreats have been organized and manpower recruited when needed.
These groups will network with the Council to help families to visit their loved ones. Usually the Council will provide a gift card for the round trip gas and they will step in and provide a one night stay for the family at a local hotel.
“When you are traveling for hours to get to Evins to visit their son we want to make sure that for those that can’t afford it we provide a comfortable place and snacks for them to rest and enjoy after a ten hour drive,” said Ignacio Estorga, a chaplain volunteer and Council member.
Also, during each Family Day they provide funding for a full meal and game prizes for a variety of games, which caseworkers and staff organize for the youth and visiting family members.
And when they hear from staff organizing Family Days that someone needs help getting there, they go into action -- as they did last month. Helping bring families together is something they strongly support, Rodriguez said.
“The family unit has been the glue that holds the family together,” he said, “and hopefully [is] the deterrent to the youth from continuing down the wrong road.”
(Photos: A family prays at a Thanksgiving dinner; volunteers pose at the Evins' entrance; a family celebrates together during an Easter egg hunt.)
Spotlight On: Monica Harrison, Manager of Operations, Giddings State School
By John McGreevy, TJJD Communications
Everyone who excels in their work has their own style, their own approach to how they go about it. What Monica Harrison brings to the job is her love of working with the youth in TJJD care.
“I enjoy working with them and helping change the lives of these young men,” said Harrison, Manager of Operations at Giddings State School.
With over 26 years of service, Harrison has plenty of experience from which to draw, and that can come in handy with her ample daily responsibilities.
“I supervise three different departments,” she said. “I supervise the Recreational Department, the Cafeteria, and the Regulation Safety Unit.”
Along with others, she also oversees operational aspects of the facility that ensure the safety of the youth and staff.
The mother of two children, ages 18 and 21, she says she’s grown and learned many things on the job that have helped her as a parent. “When I first started here, I was pretty young,” she said. “I had no patience and I had less understanding, but working here taught me patience and understanding to work with these kids and to work with my own kids.”
“And I talk to the kids here the same way I talk to my kids at home,” she added.
Harrison points out that the techniques developed at TJJD enable her and her colleagues at Giddings to reach the students and help them increase their chances of success in life.
“I wish the public really knew what we do here,” she said. “There’s always going to be negative stories that they see, but it’s not like that every day. We don’t have bad days every day, we don’t have issues all the time. I think the public thinks that this is a bad place for bad kids. Well, these are somebody’s kids. These are somebody’s kids that we are trying to help rehabilitate and get back into society and be productive citizens.”
For her, it all comes back to loving the work. “I love my Recreational Department because we have to come up with different games for the kids to play,” she said. “Just to see the kids out there enjoying themselves and playing games -- even though in my position I don’t work directly with the kids anymore -- it gives me the chance to supervise my staff and enjoy time with the kids.”
Twenty-six years is plenty of time to compile memories. Harrison says the ones that mean the most are the successes of some of the youth she’s worked with.
“Because of the rapport I’ve had with the youth (some) have called me here over the years and said they appreciate what I’ve done for them.”
Having a breakthrough and making meaningful connections with the youth is what motivates her to keep working at TJJD, she said. “I want to let these young men know that I understand what they’ve been through, and that they can overcome it.”
“When I’m training new hires, I always tell them they have to be firm, they have to be fair, they have to be consistent with these kids, but you also have to be empathetic,” she said.
To do the job, she listens to music and gets into a relaxed frame of mind during her 30-minute commute to and from work. For a more thorough sense of relaxation, Harrison takes brief cruises as often as she can. “My ideal vacation, my ideal goal, is to travel the whole Caribbean,” she said. “I’m about halfway there.”