CORPORATE CHAMPIONS WHO CARE AWARD
The 2009 Corporate recipient of this prestigious award is Benchmark Mortgage and their co-founders. Two years ago, they created what is known as the Benchmark Loving Cup Fund which assists families and their special needs individuals to remain at the Achievement Center during hard economic times. This fund is based on one dollar contributed for every successful Benchmark transaction nationwide. Former Dallas Cowboy great, and FOX sports announcer, Daryl Johnston presented the award. Johnston received the first individual Champions Who Care Award in 2007 and is a true supporter of the Achievement Center of Texas.
first published at http://achievementcenteroftexas.org/champions-who-care/
While we do a lot of work to support our nation’s veterans, we also give to other philanthropic causes.
We have a fund called the “Benchmark Loving Cup Fund” for the Achievement Center of Texas. Marilynne Serie, Executive Director of the Achievement Center of Texas, recently gave us an idea of the reach of our fund in a letter thanking Benchmark for our support. Below is a sampling of the letter to show what it is that the Achievement Center of Texas does, and how the Benchmark Loving Cup Fund helps to support their cause.
“We served 6 students with funds from the Loving Cup which greatly helped them to afford the services here at the Achievement Center. Among the programs that we offered are functional living skills, personal health and hygiene, gardening, sensory motor training, arts exploration (both visual and performing arts), robotics (utilizing our newly acquired robot “Milo” who teaches children with autism). Researchers have found children with autism relate better to the robot than to a human. Our community inclusion program is designed to get students out into their community to experience a world of adventure. As part of this program, students participated recently in World Habitat Day where hey planted seeds, played challenging games, and had lunch with the people of Habitat for Humanity. This year they will visit the Heard museum to see the animals, they will visit a ranch, visit Springcreek Forest Preserve, and will see many new things that they never dreamed of seeing or experiencing…
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..While we cannot give the names of the students due to strict confidentiality regulation, I am pleased to tell you that you have ben a godsend to these families. It is heart wrenching to tell a parent that we can’t take their child when they depend on us so heavily for our services which allows them to work to provide the high cost of care for their disabled family member. We hope that Benchmark will continue to help our families each year. It is a wonderful thing that you do.”
Marilynne Serie
Executive Director
To learn more about the Achievement Center of Texas, we have included a few snippets from their website, or you can visit their website by clicking the Achievement Center of Texas logo, or by clicking the URL below.
The Achievement Center of Texas is a licensed non-profit day care and day habilitation center for children and adults with special needs. Every effort is made to offer families their choices in services and to support those choices wherever possible. In providing a wide range of services in the least restrictive environment, students at the Achievement Center can grow and develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially working toward greater independence and more satisfying way of life.
Our goal is to teach individuals the skills they need to be able to participate in the life of the community and to enjoy the same opportunities available to their non-disabled peers and family members.
Q. Are scholarships available to low income families who do not have HCS or other agency support?
A. Yes. We have the Garland Community Development Block Grant Funds and Benchmark Loving Cup Fund. Each one has special restrictions and these funds are allocated quickly.