McKINNEY — Five teenagers live at a home here for youth who have “aged-out” of foster care. The home and its yard is a lifeline to finishing high school and starting their adult path.
Recently, trees on the property began to crash to the ground one at a time, and a professional arborist determined all of the trees were diseased and needed to be felled.
Texans on Mission Disaster Relief teams stepped in to help, saving the ministry about $7,000, said Melissa Cromwell, director of business development for Direction 61:3.
“We appreciate it so much,” she said. “It's just a huge blessing for us for you guys to come in and help us out.”
The ministry, which takes its name from Isaiah 61:3, “works, supports and gives direction … to youth that are aging out of foster care in Texas, and we are a Christ-centered organization,” Cromwell said.
The Christ-centered emphasis is “kind of what separates us and puts us apart from other organizations in Texas,” she said. “We like to give the youth a purpose and direction in life, and so we do all sorts of things with them to help them thrive.”
And all of the work is centered around the home where they live.
TXM’s Collin County and Denton units worked Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 1-2, to cut down the remaining trees. “They were huge trees, six or seven of them, and every one of them was diseased,” said Wendell Romans, TXM’s state chainsaw coordinator.
The trees towered 50-70 feet high, and “the biggest one was probably 60 inches across,” he said. It required “three or four dump trailers” for the debris to be hauled away.
Cromwell said one tree “fell on the air conditioning unit, so we had to get all that replaced and repaired. But then we've had multiple trees just fall on the fences.” They “kept falling on everything.”
The home, including the yard, serves a critical purpose in helping the foster youth transition to adulthood. Teens typically depart the foster system at age 18, but many are still in high school and may no longer be able to remain in a traditional foster placement.
Direction 61:3 gives those youth a safe place to live while they finish school and begin their next steps in life.
The youth in the McKinney house are ages 16-18. By coming to the ministry’s home before their final year of high school, the youth can finish in the same school where they started their senior year.
She said it's helpful for Direction 61:3 to take the youth before their 18th birthday “so we can have a plan for them, and so when they turn 18 they don't have to move out” of a traditional foster home.
“They will live with us while they finish out high school, and then once they graduate they can still stay with us,” Cromwell said. “They can live with us as long as they need to.”
TXM volunteers came to Direction 61:3’s aid in cutting down the trees, and Cromwell said others can get involved by connecting via the ministry’s website. “But, at the end of the day, just pray for us and keep us at the top of mind all year long for these kids. Just pray for them.”