Lena Pope
Former Fort Worth City Councilman Brian Byrd with children of Lena Pope.
Fort Worth’s eminent nonprofit Lena Pope was recently notified that it was the beneficiary of almost $50,000 raised from an annual poinsettia sale put on each year by two leading plant nurseries.
Calloway's Nursery, based in North Richland Hills, and Cornelius Nursery of Houston and Galveston donated 10% of their locally grown poinsettia sales across all 28 nurseries from Nov. 6 through Dec. 25 to support Lena Pope's mission to provide children, families, caregivers and communities with a strong foundation through counseling, education and behavior interventions.
The total was $48,000, according to a press release. The total over the years has reached more than $500,000.
“Years ago, Calloway's Nursery had the desire to partner with a local organization that supports the community in a very meaningful way and then concentrate our available resources to that organization to make a real, measurable difference within our community," said Marce Ward, president and CEO of Calloway’s, in a statement.
“Numerous community members and their families have been positively affected by the tremendous work of Lena Pope, and thanks to the support of our loyal customers, we've been able to donate more than $500,000 over the years.”
Lena Pope's mission is to equip children, families, caregivers, and community with a strong foundation through counseling, education, and behavior interventions. It provides services in homes, in the community, and at schools to help youth and families gain the academic, behavioral, and social skills they need to be successful.
The nonprofit began in 1930 out of Lena Pope’s concern for 12 homeless children living in the basement of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Pope proposed that her Sunday school class do something about the plight of children living in the worst economic circumstances in American history during Great Depression.
Her suggestion: Open a small home to care for neighborhood children. The class pitched in $150. She began the home in a small building. Twenty-five children showed up on the first day. Untold thousands have benefited from its services over the past 90 years. Lena Pope was Fort Worth’s Most Outstanding Citizen in 1946.
“She was in every respect a remarkable woman,” said one mourner at the time of her death.
Since its inception, Lena Pope has identified the needs of local children and delivered services to meet those needs. Early on, residential homes were a necessary solution. But as the needs of children and the community changed, so did Lena Pope’s solutions. Over the last 20 years, the nonprofit has developed programming by focusing on prevention and early-intervention services that support child development and improve behavioral and mental health.
Services include individual counseling, family counseling, and substance-use services. Educational programs include two early learning centers for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years and a tuition-free public charter school, Chapel Hill Academy, serving pre-K through eighth grade.
“We are extremely grateful to Calloway's Nursery for their generous $48,000 gift through the annual Calloway’s Nursery Poinsettia sale,” said Cathy R. Sheffiled, chief advancement officer at Lena Pope, in a statement. “Our enduring partnership, spanning decades, fuels our mission to equip children and families in our community with a strong foundation through counseling, education, and behavior interventions. Generous philanthropic partners, like Calloway’s Nursery, help make our services affordable to all families. Their support for all these years has helped ensure any family who turns to Lena Pope can receive services at a rate they can afford."