By John McGreevy, TJJD Communications
As a “foodie at heart,” Sarah Wall loves working on the menus at TJJD. 
 
Spotlight On SarahWall smlr“It’s kind of like working on a puzzle, doing it for the kids specifically. There’s got to be a balance of meeting nutritional goals and national standards. There’s meeting all the requirements for the National School Lunch Program and we’re always trying to update our menu to be more kid-friendly,” explained Wall, manager of Nutrition for the agency.
  
“When I started here in 2019, a lot of things on the menu were very dated – things like Salisbury Steak and Sloppy Joes,” she said. “We needed things that were more kid-friendly for today. Things like a Buffalo Chicken sandwich or mini turkey corndogs but also providing exposure to new foods. But we want to keep more familiar foods too and we try to honor the cultural backgrounds of a lot of these kids.”
 
As with anyone trying to help oversee the meals for so many different people, there are bound to be a few ideas that don’t pass muster.
 
“We tried something called a ‘Rockin’ Moroccan Chickpea Stew’,” she said. “Except for one facility, it was not a hit, but we tried it.”
 
“Being a dietician before I was a mom, I know the way it’s supposed to be ideally, but it’s a struggle to get kids to try new things,” she said.
 
She’s always trying to introduce new foods at her own home. “I know what my son’s favorites are, but I’m not going to give them to him all the time. I’m going to expose him to new foods, but it’s exposure over time. I think a lot of parents give up. ‘My kid doesn’t eat broccoli so I’m not going to put it on their plate.’ Whereas I’m going to keep putting broccoli on the plate. They might not like it the first couple of times, but let’s keep trying.”
 
She’s also always out sampling foods herself. “It’s almost always Tex-Mex. I like going to food truck parks so I can try different foods. I love finding taco trucks or little hole-in-the-wall places.”
 
Wall has been with TJJD since April, 2019, and says her ever-changing daily schedule is one of the many things that keep her energized and excited about her job.
 
“A typical day at work for me varies throughout the year,” she said. “Right now, we’re still working on rolling out new menus. This means finding new food items, going over the food wellness survey that the kids complete, testing out new recipes at the facilities, coordinating with the food service managers at these sites, doing nutritional analysis.”
 
“Meanwhile, we’re also always getting questions about special diets like diabetic carb counts, we’re always addressing food grievances and tracking those. I try to make sure the kids are getting what they need.”
 
One of the best parts of the job is working with our food service managers, she said.
 
“Some of them have been here for 25 years. I love the expertise that they have, I love the camaraderie I have with them. Speaking with them always brightens my day and it connects me to what’s going on at the facilities “
 
A challenge Wall enjoys is finding an effective approach that works for TJJD youths’ special needs.
 
“What we know from nutrition research is that high levels of stress and anxiety, certain medications, significant adversity in life, especially in early life, impact nutritional needs. Negative nutrition can impact anxiety regulation and brain development and function. It can make mental behavioral disorders worse. What we want to do is provide a diet that’s rich in anti-inflammatory compounds, that is whole foods based, rich in antioxidants – all of this helps regulate neurological systems.”
 
“There is such a thing as a trauma-informed approach to eating, there’s a way to make our diet therapeutic. We can make it more anti-inflammatory, whole foods-based. We’ve tried to provide more omega 3-rich foods on a regular basis like walnuts or guacamole. We’re adding a lot more antioxidants into the menu – colorful fruits and vegetables.”
 
“We also ask for feedback every year with our food wellness surveys, so it’s not just me over here coming up with this stuff. We always get requests for hot sauce, so we work that in with something at lunch and dinner we call a “Flavor Station” in the cafeteria. It’s essentially a salt-free, sugar-free seasoning blend station. After they get their tray of food, they can add things like lemon pepper or crushed red pepper flakes to their food.
 
“At dinner we can offer hot sauces like Tabasco as an option. We don’t offer those at lunch due to (exceeding) sodium requirements but we have a little more flexibility for dinner. It gives the kids more choices, more autonomy over their food. Hopefully it gets them to eat more vegetables.”

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.

VolunteerMonth 2023 smlTJJD’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

OPENHOUSE 1 sml

By TJJD Communications
 
The Giddings State School was proud to host an Open House and Family Day at the campus on Saturday, March 25.
 
Family and loved ones spent time with their youth while visiting the campus and touring the Lone Star High School Southeast, where the students attend classes.
 
They were able to see their student’s work and meet the educators who make a difference in their youth’s life every day. The families viewed audio-visual displays, artwork, essays and all types of projects the students put on display in the hallways.
 
More than 100 visitors -- parents, siblings, and guardians -- came to this event, a joint effort hosted by community services and school staff. They passed through in two shifts.
 
OpenHouse 2 sml“The sense of accomplishment was evident in the students as they led their family around the school and the pride was unmistakable in the eyes of their families,” said teacher Miki Jost.
 
The education staff has upgraded vocational and elective classes, adding Art, Animal Science, Creative Writing, and Money Matters classes, Jost said. The athletics teams, which participate in the TAPPS league, also are continuing to improve, she said.
 
More students are earning their NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) certifications and the number of GED recipients and High School graduates continues to increase.
 
"This involves offering a growing range of class choices for them and never losing our focus on the safety of our students and helping them making better choices when they return to their community," she said.OPENHOUSE6 sml
 
Families visiting for this event also played table games in the chapel and enjoyed a Frito pie lunch. Coordinators also took photo keepsakes for the families and youth.
 
Students helped with preparation for this large event and LSHS Student Council President A.G. chronicled it, taking the photos featured here. (And what a great job he did!)

By Barbara Kessler, TJJD Communications
Spotlight On smlJennifer Brown has always embraced challenges, both in her earlier career as a teacher and principal, and since coming to TJJD in 2020 where she worked in case management and now serves as Asst. Superintendent at Gainesville State School.
 
The challenges might come in the form of behaviorally challenged youth or a leadership conundrum. Either way, she applies the skills she’s honed – listening, mentoring, building rapport – to help others navigate toward solutions.
 
“My calling is to provide structure and set them (the youth) up to be successful. And in leadership, I do the same thing, setting up employees for success and providing support and guidance,” she said.
 
She is “an extremely driven individual” and a strong role model for everyone on campus, says Supt. Darryl Anderson, who worked with Brown initially at the Ron Jackson campus and then urged her to join him at Gainesville.
 
"Her work ethic is off the chart. I enjoy working with her for numerous reasons: We both have taken the attitude to learn from our staff while leading them at the same time and she sets the example by her actions. It is an honor to work with her.”
 
Says Brown, “We have a super strong administrative team, a good dynamic and complementary leadership styles. I enjoy coming to work every day and I learn something every day. We should never stop learning and maybe that’s the lifelong teacher in me. I encourage our youth to learn something new each day, even if it’s something simple.”
 
In her personal life, Brown keeps grounded by pursuing hobbies, such as fishing and archery hunting. She enjoys the challenges of these sports and during a recent trip near Cabo San Lucas succeeded in one test she set for herself: “trying to catch as many fish as the men on our boat.”
 
A native Texan from the small town of Lefors in the Panhandle, she considers her educator parents to be her real-life heroes. “I am privileged that I was raised in a two-parent home. My parents have been married for 54 years.”
 
Brown’s vigor and adaptability are obvious in her successful mid-career transition to juvenile corrections work after more than 20 years in secondary education as a principal, teacher, coach, and counselor at Breckenridge ISD and in the town of Pampa in the Panhandle.
 
You might say this bow-hunting educator turned juvenile corrections administrator has grit, perhaps a quality unsurprising in a daughter of the High Plains. But there’s more to that story.
 
Brown says the inner strength that allows her to support others coping with crises springs from her own battle surviving breast cancer 20 years ago. She’s currently helping her mom deal with the same diagnosis. And at work, she considers one of her superpowers as a supervisor to be intuiting when people are struggling and need someone to reach out.
 
“I’m able to ask them, ‘Are you OK?’”
 

By Fidel Garcia, Community Volunteer Coordinator, Evins Regional Juvenile Center

FamilyPraysEvinsT Giving2015smlr

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.

Volunteers Evins smlrOutside 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.

EasterEvins sml2These 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.)