ARF & Austin’s The Settlement Home

In addition to working with several organizations in South Florida, The Andy Roddick Foundation’s impact expands to Austin, Texas where ARF partnered with The Settlement Home last year. Below Linda Kokemor, Executive Director of the Settlement Home, shares the history and the inspirational partnership with The Andy Roddick Foundation.

The Settlement Home was first founded in 1916, how has the home grown in the past 90 years?

The twelve women who began the Home started it as a day care nursery but found themselves in 24 hour care within the year when parents did not come to pick up their children at the end of the day. Over the years The Home has always served children but has changed many times in response to the needs of the community. Today, we serve primarily children who have been removed from their home due to severe abuse and neglect by The State of Texas Child Protective Services.

Can you elaborate on the slogan “changing lives for good.”

At The Settlement Home for Children, we provide a continuum of care where a girl can move through our programs from Residential Treatment into therapeutic group homes into a foster family home and perhaps a foster-adopt home. We also serve children who are placed directly into a group home or foster home. Our goal is to help the court system determine the best discharge plan for the child whether it be returning home, moving to a relative placement or moving into a foster or adoptive home, and then working with the child therapeutically to prepare them. If the discharge is back to their family or a relative, we work with the family to facilitate a smooth return. We take very seriously our work with children as it will impact whether or not they will be a productive member of our society. Since the reimbursement rate paid by the State of Texas is only 80% of our actual costs, we fundraise from and depend on the Central Texas Community to assist us with the remainder.

When did the Settlement Home first partner with The Andy Roddick Foundation?

Last year was our first. April, 2005

How does your relationship with The Andy Roddick Foundation assist in your cause, what are some of the areas the donations impact?

In two primary ways: The Andy Roddick Foundation supports us directly as well as many secondary ways. The publicity is so important for us. Being involved in this fundraiser has increased awareness about The Settlement Home in our community. And, of course, the donation has a huge impact on our budget in helping us recruit additional foster families, providing additional support for our on-campus school and helping us care for our 82 children. Secondary benefits is the pride our children and staff have in knowing that a “young tennis star” is supporting them as well as others who attend the Foundation’s Austin event and then become involved with us on their own.

Are there any interactions with Andy or members of the Foundation you would like to share?

Andy has come to visit our campus and the girls were so excited. Many of them do not really understand who Andy Roddick is or what “tennis” is other than a sport. But they do know that he is “famous” and see the adults around them becoming so excited. It’s really cute to see the way they interact with him. One of the little girls who was “touring” Andy introduced him to a classroom of kids as “hey everybody it’s the famous tennis star!” She was so excited that she forgot his name. Very cute!

Andy and crew will take over Austin, Texas this weekend for the Second Annual Andy Roddick Foundation Charity Gala where the festivities include an intimate concert by musical legend Lionel Richie.