Sometimes a benefit sneaks up on you. I didn’t now what to expect from the Champions for Children luncheon that supports Helping Hand Home. Other than the fact the child welfare group had been around since 1893 and it is favored by mainstream corporations and a certain slice of Old West Austin.
Karen Cooper and Claire English
The sixth floor of the Hilton Austin was brightly bannered in light blue and 100 or so tables nicely filled out the big banquet room. I was the guest of Suzanne McFayden Smith and all my table-mates had stories to share.
To my right was Leo Manzano, who won silver at the London Olympics in the 1500-meter race. Well mannered and well manicured, Manzano was gracious with all the other guests and told me a bit about his own foundation.
Suzanne McFayden Smith and Eliana Smith
We watched a video about a girl named Shelby who was fostered into adoption, then were introduced to Shelby and her new mother. Moving story. Later, honors were given to the Chaparral Foundation, community service champion Andrea Sparks, Austin Children’s Shelter leader Gina Reyes, Helping Hand volunteer Lizzie Pezoli and youthful supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Everett Wolf.
Jimmy Wayne and Leo Manzano
Yet all their stories paled in comparison to that of featured speaker Jimmy Wayne, told in a brisk, authentic and deeply touching manner. The Nashville country musician’s mother moved in and out of prison. His stepfather committed murder then took the little family on the lam. Just a kid, Wayne was abandoned at a bus station parking lot.
He lived in group homes or was homeless most of his teen years. One day, he spotted a workshop on a lonely road and asked the elderly couple there if they needed any help. They told him to come back and mow the lawn. He did so for several months before they invited him to take one of their rooms.
With their help, he finished high school and college, paying his own way, the worked as a prison guard, keeping tabs on his former foster brothers who were not so lucky. He went on to a bright career in music and was able finally able to thank Bea, the woman who saved him, fully the day before she died.
He now advocates for extended foster eligibility to age 21, which seems so logical, I can’t believe legislators oppose it. He’s been successful in California and Tennessee. Hopefully, that logic will spread to Texas.