News You Can Use, from TLC

TLC's Case for Support

Saturday, October 26, 2019 - by Stephen S. Mabry, CAE

Texas Lions Camp is blessed with many tremendous resources, but among her greatest treasures, are the people that are involved with our noble project, known by most simply as "TLC". Few organizations have both the quantity and quality of people involved that TLC enjoys, and this is why we have been able to accomplish what would otherwise have been impossible.

Together, we have been speaking a simple message for over 70 years now…a message that has been spoken and heard by over 79,000 children…a simple message that “YOU CAN” and we are here to help you do it. Children have heard this message…and many now speak it in their own voice…I CAN!

TLC has recently approved a Master Plan to further develop TLC’s real estate the thesis of which is “Four Camps, One Campus”. Our effort to implement this plan is the second most audacious act in our history and is among the most important and ambitious tasks we have ever undertaken. Not since our founding, has such a monumental task been suggested. As we embark upon this CAMPaign (known as Vision 2020 and Beyond) to rebuild our campus, I am reminded that we did not arrive where we are as a result of one person’s initiative, but a collective response to a challenge. It is now that same collective response--that is born of each member doing their share--that suggests that our goal can be achieved. Together we can do this…we must do this.

Our Case for Support is simply this…Children should not have to face their challenges in life alone. Our very act of coming together is in fact a declaration to them that they are not alone, and that as a result they can dare to explore their potential, in an environment that is determined to see them succeed.

The magic of Camp is that children often speak our message that “YOU CAN” to each other long before they learn to speak it to themselves. You see this in action at the ropes course when the only reason a child decides to attempt a climb is because a bunk-mate says, “come on…you can do it!” Or at the horse barn, when a horse seems too scary to climb on top of, until other campers are seen doing it. Think a child would enthusiastically run down in front of 500 people to accept an award if the crowd was stone silent instead of yelling YOU CAN? Think again…they believe it because we believe it.

Thank you for joining this noble effort and being willing to give of your time and talents. It is together, and by those that we will invite to join us, that we will succeed, and thus pave the way for the success of children who have even yet to be born.

To be continued...



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Stephen is President and CEO of Texas Lions Camp, Inc. and recently celebrated 30 years of service to this 70 year-old, 501(c)(3) charitable, organization in August of 2019. TLC, Inc. has a large Board of Directors consisting of 94 voting members and over 300 volunteer members that serve on one of 10 standing committees. As a corporation, TLC has more than 200 full-time and seasonal employees (who are organized into 7 departments) and over 2,000 volunteers per year that are responsible for creating an atmosphere of success for more than 1,500 children with physical disabilities per summer. Stephen is a Certified Association Executive with the American Society of Association Executives, a past Certified Fund-Raising Executive with the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Stephen is a father of three and resides on TLC’s Kerrville campus together with his wife Shawn, who as luck would have it, is a professional editor.
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