Operation Kindness does not play favorites, however, Binx stole the hearts of OPK’s staff with her rambunctious personality. Binx’s amazing transformation showcased her resilient spirit.

Binx was found by a Good Samaritan. OPK staff discovered Binx was suffering from severely infected eyes. The medical team made the difficult, but necessary, decision to perform the surgery Binx needed to alleviate her pain.

Binx has since healed and now enjoys life with her new family as a playful, spunky kitten - who just happens to be blind!

Mother’s Day came early for sweet Tiger Lily. She came to Operation Kindness in September of 2019 from Hood County Animal Control, a small rural shelter in Granbury. Tiger Lily was very pregnant and tested positive for heartworm.

On October 7, Tiger Lily gracefully delivered nine puppies in the nursery at OPK. Tiger Lily fulfilled her motherly duties from a foster home. She was in perfect health after being successfully treated for heartworm.

All of her puppies were quickly adopted once old enough, and Tiger Lily, now known as Ginger, was adopted on December 8.

The Growing as Parents program at The Family Compass is a fee, home-mentoring, parent education program that provides guidance on building positive parent-child relationships and promotes early development, learning, and healthy children. The program begins with developmental screenings for children and a thorough intake interview followed by weekly parenting education sessions in-home. Parent Educators also connect parents to various resources for additional support.

Sienna, a 20-year-old mother, entered the Growing As Parents program a little over four years ago when her daughter Shilah was two years old.

Sienna’s Parent Educator noticed that Shilah had
developmental delays, so she referred Shilah to Early Childhood Intervention services among other resources to ensure that Shilah remained on track to enter kindergarten when the time came.

With the help of her Parent Educator, Sienna learned that academic success for Shilah was critical for a stable future. Sienna even set academic goals for herself.

Sienna, who dropped out of school to have Shilah, has since graduated high school and now works at the front desk in a small dental office while she takes courses to become a dental hygienist.

When the COVID pandemic hit, Sienna felt increasingly overwhelmed. With Shilah home all day, Sienna felt it was difficult to juggle everything on her plate. The depression that Sienna experienced while pregnant (but subsequently has managed), re-emerged. When Sienna’s boyfriend lost his job, Sienna started to isolate and shut down.

Sienna attempted suicide while staying overnight at a friend’s house, who found Sienna in time and got her to a hospital.

Because of their long-term, trusting relationship,
Sienna’s Parent Educator became a lifeline for her.
Sienna’s Parent Educator helped her recover from the episode and get back on her medication. The two worked together to set small, attainable goals so Sienna could experience success and visualize a path forward.

Sienna has since stabilized. She returned to work and continues to support Shilah. Despite not having many outside resources for the summer, Sienna now has a creative, solid plan in place to navigate the summer months with her daughter and prepare for the school year in the fall.

Big Thought’s Creative Solutions is an arts-as-workforce intervention program for adjudicated youth, ages 10-17. Creative Solutions uses visual, performing and digital arts to help young people tap into their inherent greatness by improving job skills, promoting a positive self image, and increasing social and emotional development.

Implemented in partnership with Dallas County Juvenile Department, SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and master teaching artist mentors, Creative Solutions uses an innovative, results-driven model to promote lasting, positive change in the youth served.

Creative Solutions has worked with some 14,000 Dallas youth over 25 years.

In Texas, more than 60 percent of juvenile offenders end up in trouble again within three years of probation or release. For Creative Solutions, the eight-year recidivism rate is just 10 percent - one of the lowest in the state.

Zy’Corey is a Creative Solutions participant at Big Thought.

“In the real world I’m not really accepted, but at Big Thought it’s like a family,” said Zy’Corey. “I feel like I can be myself. And that I can express myself through creative thinking, creative ways. I can dance and act. I can sing. Do poetry. I’ve took dance before, but when I came to Creative Solutions it just brought it out more, because it was like a family.”

“People that have been through the same thing - we’ve all been through the same thing. We’ve all been on probation and everything,” said Zy’Corey. “So I felt more comfortable around them. We could relate.”

In the summer of 2019 Zy’Corey was elevated to Peer Leader. He was also one of the few students who shared his story with Presidents Bush and Clinton during a visit last summer.

Zy’Corey’s latest endeavor is preparing for an original musical production of The Forgotten Voice, which was developed by the Creative Solutions students. The musical centers around the journey teenagers go through to discover themselves and their voice.

“We want the world to see that we can tell [the story], because some of us have been in that situation. We go through high school, we know what happens in high school,” said Zy’Corey.

When asked to describe the program in one word, Zy’Corey said, “Extraordinary!”

Understanding and navigating the impact of having a developmental delay or disability is often an immense challenge for both the child and their family. Finding the right care can prove even more difficult when bilingual services are required. Fortunately, The Warren Center is amply prepared to help children and families through such challenges.

At eight months old, Elizabeth could not move around much, hold up her head, or focus when looking at faces and toys. Elizabeth’s mother felt very worried and reached out to The Warren Center for help.

The Warren Center acted immediately. Liz, a bilingual occupational therapist, began working with Elizabeth and her mother (who does not speak English). Liz helped Elizabeth through her physical delays and coached her mother on therapeutic techniques to practice at home every day. Liz also helped Elizabeth’s mother navigate numerous other medical issues that surfaced and suggested treatment plans.

Liz referred the family to multiple medical specialists to properly address Elizabeth’s ongoing visual, developmental, and feeding concerns.

Throughout the past two years - filled with many questions, doctors, and numerous medical appointments - Elizabeth’s mother says she relies on Liz as a sounding board. She trusts Liz to calm her fears and help her understand the treatment program.

After two years of services with The Warren Center, Elizabeth can now hold her head up, sit up by herself, and can even take some steps with the help of a gait trainer that Liz helped the family access. Elizabeth can now make vocalizations and sounds, and is eating soft foods. Through coaching via tele-therapy (due to COVID-19), Elizabeth has discovered a new talent: connecting and separating Lego blocks – a demonstration of how far she has come in her fine motor skills.

While the family still does not have an official diagnosis, the medical team is working on it and ruling things out. Elizabeth’s mother is keenly focused on her daughter’s success; learning how she can help her daughter, following through with the therapeutic suggestions given to her, and now using The Warren Center’s tele-therapy program to navigate through medical concerns.

Delphine Nduwimana didn’t have any money. No, it was all her husband’s.

Every day her husband came home from work with his wages kept safely in his pocket. Delphine knew it was there, but in her marriage, she had no right to decide how the money was spent.

Delphine felt invisible. Every day, her husband would walk right past her. Tired from work, he had no time to tell her about his day, and he certainly didn’t have time to ask about hers.

Delphine felt completely stripped of her voice. Powerless in her family.

But one day her voice was heard.

Through World Relief’s Families for Life program,
Delphine’s husband learned about the importance of family dialogue and sharing resources. He learned that women, just like men, are created in the image of God and that marriage is meant to be a partnership.

Today Delphine handles the money. She and her husband make decisions together as a family. The best part of the whole transformation, according to Delphine, is that when her husband comes home - even when he’s tired - he sits and talks to her.

Families for Life had changed Delphine’s life and
marriage. So much so that she and her husband now serve as a mentor couple for others in their church. That’s how change keeps growing and moving in families across Burundi.

When change this lasting and deep occurs, people can’t help but share what they’ve learned with others. Through the work of World Relief, long-lasting transformation is happening - one couple, one community and one country at a time.

VitalSign6 is an easy-to-use, comprehensive program for the identification and treatment of depression in primary care, pediatric, and specialty clinics developed by UT Southwestern’s Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care and offered at its Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinics.

VitalSign6 aims to provide medical providers with the means to efficiently and effectively diagnose and manage depression and improve care for patients. Patients complete the measures on an iPad during the triage process, thus making screening for depression the sixth vital sign after body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, and pain.

If patients test positive for depression or anxiety, they are provided with clinical intervention.

Sarah, a 15-year old girl, went to one of the Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinics in March of 2020. During her visit, Sarah was given a VitalSign6 screening. Her baseline score indicated signs of suicide ideation. Sarah began individual counseling to build coping skills. Sarah’s mother received parenting support to bring her attention to the stressors that were contributing to Sarah’s depression and anxiety.

Over the course of two months of treatment, Sarah’s scores improved significantly and she was discharged from short-term therapy.