FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2009
TMC Receives Support for Safe Haven Program
Laredo, TX – TMC held a golf tournament at Casa Blanca Municipal Golf Course on April 2, 2008. The tournament was held to assist TMC’s programs especially the Laredo-Webb County Safe Haven program. Funds from the tournament will help continue the Safe Haven program during the 2009 – 2010 fiscal year. The budget for the program is more than $230,000 and is totally funded by the support of the community.
Javier Santos, Trustee for the Fernando “Chito’ Salinas Trust announced that the Trust would match up to $35,000 of the funds raised during the tournament. Also, Trustee Santos challenged other Trusts and Foundations to support the work of Safe Haven. Final dollar amounts have not been tabulated since donations to the tournament are still being received. If you would like to donate or assist with a fundraiser for this worthwhile cause please contact Mary Capello at (956) 722-5174.
The Laredo-Webb County Safe Haven is a program that provides a child with the opportunity for a safe exchange and/or supervised visitations with his/her parents when the child – or one of the parents – is subject to situations involving domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, stalking, substance abuse, mental health problems, unsuitable visitation standards or uncooperative parents. This program provides the child with a safe place where he/she can interact with his/her non-custodial parent without the fear of being subject of aggression and/or violence, usually emanating from divorce or custody disputes. The program also serves as the stage for a safe exchange of children from one parent to the other when a parent’s previous actions demonstrated that both parents cannot meet safely to transfer the custody of the child. In addition, the program targets modified behavior on the part of the parent so as to make the child-parent relationship a more meaningful and positive one – and free of fear and anger. By targeting such behavior, the Laredo-Webb County Safe Haven hopes to end the cycle of abuse in the lives of the children it protects.
“The Laredo-Webb County Safe Haven program has been a tremendous success since TMC began to manage the program, we began by serving 15 families and in less than 6 months, the program has grown to 140 families”, stated Mary Capello – TMC CEO. "This program truly benefits our community. It provides services to the families who need them the most; this golf tournament helps us help them," explained Blas Castaneda, tournament chairman.
Background
In operation for over 35 years, TMC provides family strengthening services with a focus on early childhood development to Migrant families in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, Nevada and Iowa. In South Texas, TMC's homebase, it provides programs such as Migrant Seasonal Head Start, Early Head Start, the Healthy Marriage Development Program and the TEEM Program, Safe Haven, Lee y Seras Program, and the Twogether in Texas program.
