Editor's Note:  When I came to live at the Hill Country Youth Ranch in 1986, warm faces worn by many caring people welcomed me.  Each of these faces has stayed with me, but none as dear or as bright as my best friend then, and now, Cathy.  Last weekend, Cathy brought her own family for a visit, something we have alternately done since leaving the ranch 15 years ago.  The visit by my “sister” prompted me to share the story of her journey from heartbroken child to vibrant woman.

By Angela Moreno-Tijerina

Cathy was born in Houston, Texas, 31 years ago to a young couple just starting out.  She was joined a year later by brother Gary.  The two children were raised in an environment of uncertainty and unsafe conditions due to their father’s substance abuse, and when Cathy was three, her mother left the home.  As Cathy says, “Dad was always using drugs and alcohol — that’s why she left.  I guess she just forgot to take the kids”.

Left to fend for themselves while caring for a drug and alcohol addicted parent, Cathy and her brother lived in poverty, not knowing where the next meal would come from, or if there would be one at all.  She attended 14 different schools and never knew where they would be living next, bouncing between relatives and family friends.  Falling deeper and deeper into addiction, Cathy’s father became less involved or concerned with his children’s lives, even aware that his own best friend had molested his thirteen-year old daughter. 

When she was 15, Cathy’s father attempted suicide, prompting her to leave the house and move in with another family, falling victim to abuse once again.  “This is when the state became involved,” Cathy explains. 

She became a ward of the state and was sent to live in childcare facilities, three in less than a year.  “My caseworker would place me in one, then come to visit me and become alarmed by the conditions of the places and the treatment I was given.  I was then moved to a new place, and this went on for a while. 

“One day I was brought to the Hill Country Youth Ranch, to stay for a weekend and see what it was like.  My caseworker said she would be back the next Monday to check on me.  Right away, I knew this place was different.  I had been living in corrupt and unsafe places, even after becoming a ward of the state, but once I arrived at the Youth Ranch, I felt something I never had before: security and stability.  For once, I was not afraid to go to sleep. Before this, I had always been scared of what I might wake up to, what someone might be trying to do to me.” 

The next Monday, as promised, her caseworker came to check on the girl.  Just as Cathy told her how happy she was here, the caseworker told her she would have to leave.  There was not enough money available to pay for Cathy’s stay.  Unaware at the time, she later learned that the state of Texas had recently slashed funding for child placements, meaning that there was no money available to provide Cathy a roof over her head, and children all over the state were being pulled from out-of-home care.  

“I was crushed,” Cathy recalls.  “I had just found a place that I knew I would be safe in, the first of my life.  I knew that I would be given a warm meal every morning and that I would be taken care of.  And, the state was telling me that I could not stay.”

In the midst of being afraid, Cathy asked to see the Executive Director, Gary Priour.  When he walked into the room, Cathy stood up and offered her hand.  She introduced herself and got straight to the point.  “I know this is the place for me.  If you let me stay, I’ll make you proud, and I’ll help out around the Ranch.” 

Gary had just learned that week of the state’s shortfall in child placement fees, and that all state wards were to be picked up.  But to go where?  That was a question heavy on Gary’s mind when he met Cathy.  

He now recalls, “Cathy’s courage made a big difference, and not just for herself.  Of course, we could not turn her away.  And, we let all the state wards stay, without further state assistance.  Convinced that God would provide the funding needed to care for Cathy, and others like her, we began praying and welcomed her as the newest member of our family.”

Cathy’s life as a “Youth-Rancher” began in August of 1986.  She quickly became the spark of the campus, always grateful, smiling and happy to be among friends.  Just when she thought her once horrific life could not get any better, it did.  In April of 1987, a new boy came to live at the HCYR, Cathy’s 14 year-old brother, Gary.  

“We hadn’t seen each other in a year and a half.  I did not even know where he was.  The Ranch brought my brother and me back together and we have never separated again.”  To this day, Cathy speaks to her brother at least once a day on the phone and loves to visit with him and his one-year-old son Zachary. 

At the age of 17, Cathy left the Youth Ranch, returned to her hometown of Houston, and, after finishing high school, began a career in the secretarial field.  She worked at two different firms before finding herself at Foley’s in 1992.  

“I worked my way up through the ranks at Foley’s,” she proudly tells.  I started as secretary, then became divisional secretary and, finally, executive secretary.”  In July of 2000, after years of commendable service, Cathy was promoted to Central Shortage Control as a field representative.  She serves as a company Auditor, and her job includes occasional traveling, something she enjoys but keeps to a minimum, “because I miss my family so much when I’m away.” 

After knowing her mother through only “a handful of visits throughout my life,” Cathy became determined to be the best mother possible to her own children, knowing the heartache of abandonment and the fear of unstable home life.  Married to Rick, a “wonderful and loving husband and father,, Cathy is the mother of Nikolas, a seven-year old who is a gifted artist and an “A” Honor Roll student.  On Christmas Day 1999, the family was completed by the birth of Katie, a now two-year-old blue-eyed angel, the spitting image of her mom.  “I could have easily fallen into the pattern of being a bad parent — it was what I knew,” she says.  “But, the Ranch taught me the importance of providing my children a secure, stable and loving family environment.”  

To watch Cathy with her own children, kneeling to bathe Katie or give Nikolas a big bear hug, one would never imagine the peril in which she once lived.  

Cathy’s faith in God has grown through the years, and, grateful for the care she received as a child in crisis, she has carried with her a desire to serve Him through helping others in need.  In February of this year, she found a special calling.  

“After being saved, I felt an urgency to help others.  I prayed and asked God for guidance, and he kept leading me back to the Hospice Care Team.”  She underwent the training required to become a Hospice volunteer and, after realizing her enthusiasm and dedication to the cause, the organization invited her to attend a meeting of the elite Advisory Board of the Houston/North Channel Hospice group.  Her eyes light up as she shares the mission of her new cause. “I strongly believe that this is where God wants me to be, this is how I can help others.”

I tell Cathy that I am planning to write a story about her and I ask if there is anything she would like to say to those reading this piece, the supporters and friends of the Youth Ranch, and she replies, “I would like to say thank you, of course.  Also,” she adds with a sigh, “please do not give up on these kids.  Had the ranch not had the support when I lived there, my life could have turned out much differently, and I do not mean in a happy way.  We, the children living at the Hill Country Youth Ranch can turn around and do something wonderful if you don’t give up on us.”