In 1989, i found myself a 15 year old pregnant teen. My pastor direxted me to the Methodist Mission Home. I lived there from May 1989 to Auguat 1989 when my beautiful baby girl was born. I was given adequate medical care, a home school teacher, adequate nutrition, and access to counseling.. although I feel counseling could have been a little better for me at that time. Regardless, counselinwas provided and there was no part of what i was about to experience and go thru that was a shock or not previously discussed. It is such an extremely hard decision, to place a chikd up for adoption... especially when i was still a child myself. However, i never felt discounted or "shamed" or anything other than deeply appreciated and respected for the major choice i was about to make for myself and my child. I was given dozens and dozens of prospective adoptive parents essays to read thru to pick my babys new parents from. Although had i not wanted to participate in that, it wasnt a requirement. But i can say, i was pregnant with a lot of women during those months and not ine of them did not want a hand in where their baby went to. I wanted an open adoption, because i wanted to be able to watch, if only through pictures, my little girl grow up. So i was given only essays from adoptive parents who were open to that. I was given so much more. I was allowed to see het many times as a young child, atend birthdays, she was even in my wedding party when i finally got married. As she got older, we formed a beautidul friendship and i was able to answer any question she had for me. She is now married and a mother herself. Sadly, we arwnt as close as we had been. She tells me its because she doesnt know what, if anything she wants her son to know. But i am very grateful for the time and opportunity i have had watching her grow up. And even still today, through the wonders of facebook and othernaocial media.. she allows me to continue to watxh her grow as a woman, wife and mother. All of this was afforded to me by the grace of God and the Methodist Mission Home.
I was adopted from Methodist mission Home as a infant in November of 1977. I just wanted to say thank you to my biological mother for loving me enough to place me up for adoption. If you have ever wondered about the baby girl you had in October of 1977. I'm wonderful and couldn't have asked for a more loving family. I plan to adopt one day, because I was so blessed.
I was introduced to Methodist Mission Home by a friend who was member of the board. She was also an adoptee from MMH. It was her story of her youth and the parents who adopted her that greatly impressed me. When I first visited the campus, I was amazed at the hard work and diligence of the SCHI students. The camaraderie that exists among those students and their willingness to assist and support each other was truly wonderful. During our board meetings, one of the highlights is to witness the accomplishments of the students and their milestone achievement of graduation. What a difference MMH makes in the lives of these young people. It is transformational.
I am currently past Chair of the Board and am the 3rd generation board member in my family. However, I was also a birth mother who chose to place my child in a loving , nurturing home when that was something I could provide at that time. The Home has a history of over 100 years of service and experience helping people with life challenges including a program for young people with disabilities who are not college bound , but can still achieve their personal best. With a dedicated staff , generous donors and supporters , MMH has maintained a rich history of " Giving God's Children a Faith, a Family, a Future.
We received an infant daughter from the Methodist Mission Home in 1983. The education provided for us was excellent, especially being helped to understand that the first priority was the well being of the child, the second was the birth parents, and we were third even though we were paying the bill. The followup program bringing adopted children together for a support group was helpful, too.
I was adopted from the Methodist Mission Home as a baby in 1969. I was so happy about how they helped my start my life and was impressed by all of the wonderful things they do for both Adoptive and Adopting Families, as well as for the Special Needs young adults, that I decided to become a Board Member several years ago. I love helping support the organization that helped bring me into the world.
The Lord directed us towards Methodist Mission Home through friends of ours at our church in San Antonio, Texas. We chose adoption as our way to grow our family. We felt very welcomed by MMH and filled out their easy pre-application form and was accepted into the domestic adoption program. The payment plan was easy and affordable compared to other agencies. Everyone at Methodist Mission Home worked tirelessly to find a perfect match between our family and the birth family. We were introduced to many birth mothers and was chosen by several but the Lord had different plans for our family. I was called to serve by putting our dreams of a baby on hold to take care of my ill father. MMH allowed us to be put on hold until we were ready. My father is in heaven with God now and just a few days after his passing I prayed to God and told him that I was ready for a baby now. Two days later MMH called us. Our baby finally found us!!! We are now blessed with a beautiful little girl named Savannah Grace. MMH was so good to us. They highly respect the goals of the birth mothers as well as the goals of the adoptive parents. I would highly recommend Methodist Mission Home to anyone who chooses domestic adoption as their way to their forever family. Thank you MMH!!!
The staff at the MMH guided my husband and me through the adoption process from start to finish. All team members we encountered were professional, helpful, caring, and more than exceeded our expectations in what we wanted to achieve in our adoption experience. As a result of the wonderful team at MMH, we have been parents of a beautiful baby girl for almost a year! If we adopt again, we will without a doubt go through the Methodist Mission Home!
My family has participated in a domestic newborn adoption through Methodist Mission Home. The people at Methodist Mission Home helped us every step of the way and were wonderful. The process of adoption can be bumpy at times so it was nice to have so many caring individuals to help us navigate the process. It was important to us to find an adoption agency that would provide us with personalized attention and provide a loving, positive environment for birthmothers. We considered several agency and felt that Methodist Mission Home was the only one that met our criteria.
The thing we loved about MMH was the personal attention we received from our adoption counselor. We were never made to feel bad for calling with a question or a concern. Many times we had an issue we didnt know how to deal with and we would call our counselor and just like that she was out to find a solution. Great experience, and great staff. Highly recommended!
We adopted our son through Methodist Mission Home 18 months ago. The Mission Home guided us through the paperwork, and supported us through the waiting process. They also helped us at the hospital and with all of the legal issues surrounding adoption. They are professional, and, more impotantly, kind.
I am an adoptee from this Wonderful Home. Many years ago I was placed with the most incredible parents that the world has ever known. My life has been exceptional and very very happy. I owe so much to Methodist Mission Home for the Fabulous life I have been fortunate enough to live.
3rd Generation Board member who has been invilved since the 1920's watching lives being made better by adoption through the Family Services...giving loving couples who could NOT have children provide rich , full lives to children and provide the birth mother to make a better life with maturity and opportunity to further her education.
SCHI ( Southwest Center for Higher Independence ) tailors a program for young adults with learning, hearing and or physical disabilities fulfill their individual best life skills. The goals range from teh client better function in their home environment to those who can achieve skills and independence to hold entry level jobs and reside in their own housing. The Genesis Cooperative offers accomadations on our 25 acre campus for other ministeries including the San Antonio Food Bank, the Light program for transitionong women back into society after drug addiction, etc.
I'm proud to be a volunteer and give back to an organization that made a huge difference in my life. I'm so very pleased with the professionalism and integrity of Methodist Mission Home, and I'm glad to be able to contribute to its success.
I was adopted from the MMH in 1977. The home provided great care for my birthmother, and was great counsel to my parents. My parents were able to give back to the home by serving as mentors to other parents going through the process.
Methodist Mission Home has ministeries to meet the needs of clients looking for the opportunity to achieve their personal best in the SCHI program build loving families with the services for infant, older and international adoption. All " Giving God's Children a Faith, a FAmily , a Future".
I was adopted from the Methodist Mission Home in 1969. I am very appreciative for what the Methodist Mission Home did for my Birth Mother during her challenging times as a Mother who was too young to properly care for me at the time. I was blessed with wonderful Adoptive parents who raised me from birth. I was re-acquainted with my Birth Parents when I was 27 years and have also had a wonderful relationship with them for the past 14 years. I joined the Methodist Mission Home Board about 3 years ago with the ambition to give back my time and talents to the organization that helped bring me into the world.
I have know of the work of MMH for over 35 years. However, I became directly involved as a member of the Board of Directors about 5 years ago.
This place has a wonderful ministry. First, to the students in the SCHI as they experience the love and acceptance while training for life skills that help them live independantly and fruitfully.
Second, to the birth mothers who come to the MMH to give birth and consider giving their children up for adoption. They are well cared for physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Third, to the adopted children, who are given the opportunity for a loving home that provides a positive outlook for their future.
And finally, to the adoptive families who have the joy of receiving a new child to love and raise.
This place creates hope and give life in many, many ways.
Our first contact with The Methodist Mission Home was in 1983 when we adopted our son. We returned two years later to adopt our daughter. Over the years we have stayed in contact with the MMH, providing each other with updates about our kids. We have been very impressed with their supportive, caring and professional staff and particularly appreciate the personal attention that we have received.
My relationship with Methodist Mission Home began in 1967 when we adopted our son. I've watched the organization grow through good and hard times. When societal changes lessened the need for the cloistered maternity care, the Mission Home adapted. They were pioneers in the movement toward open adoption. Now an adoptive mother has the comfort of choosing and building a realtionship with the parents who will raise her child. when it became clear that the maternity center did not need the full campus again the Mission Home adapted, They went looking for a need and found that Deaf young adults with secondary disabilities were not being well served ad the Southwest Center for the Hearing Impaired was instituted. Yet another change came when it was decided to accept students with multiple disabilities not necessarily including deafness. Now known as the Southwest Center for Higher Independence, this program of the Methodist Mission Home helps oung adults with disabilities to learn independent living skills and job readiness. One aspect of the training the students receive is a course in food safety and culinary skills. Methodist Mission Home partners with the San Antonio Food Bank to prepares the student not only to cook for themselves safely, but also prepares them to work in a commercial kitchen if that is thier interest. SCHI prepares students for a well rounded, independent life. I was privileged to serve as chaplain at Methodist Mission home for sveral years (retiring in June of '09) One event which we developed to help students deepen their spiritual life and develop leadership skills is the annual three day retreat called "A Walk With Jesus". The job coaches help students find job and then mentor them through the first three months. Extra curricular activities in sports, art and music are also offered to enrich the lives of the students. All in all I think the Mission Home is a outstanding non-profit organization worthy of generous support.
I have been a board member at MMH for approximately 6 years. I have supported them financially as well as provided information to people I meet about MMH. A few months ago I was priviledged to talk with a birth mother at MMH who has decided that she will not be in position to provide for the unborn child. I was elated that this mother trusted MMH to find a family that will assist her in caring for her baby. I am also touched each time I see students who are challenged find employment, develop the skills to care for themselves and are basically independently living on their own.
The most gratifying experience I have had as a member of the board of trustees of Methodist Mission Home (MMH) has been to hear the pride and gratitude expressed by its yhoung-adult students when they gradute from MMH's program to give them skills they need to live independently. The students, who have hearing and/or learning disabilities, come to MMH unable to get or hold a job and often unable to communicate with or socialize with others. They leave with a job and with the ability to take instructions, perform work, and get along with peers and bosses. Their lives are forever changed in a positive way with the skills MMH has given them.
I have a unique perspective on the Methodist Mission Home. My grandmother and later my father served as board members for many years. It is now my priviledge to serve as board chair, however , my most personal association with the Home was as an 18 year old pregnant, unwed girl with no future to offer a new baby at that time. The Home gave me the opportunity to provide my son with loving parents/home that he deserved. It also enabled me to continue with my plans to attend college and make a life for myself before I chose when to marry and start a family. Later, in the 70's ,the Home added a ministry for persons with hearing and multiple disabilisies to realize their persoanal goals of independence. Families and friends have witnessed their loved ones blossom in a caring, faith-based environment.
As the Development Director for Methodist Mission Home for over 3 years I have personally witnessed the impact this ministry has made on hundreds of individuals who were lost and hopeless. Unlike many non-profit agencies, staff and residents are intertwined, accomplishments and successes as well as disappointments are heartfully shared and embraced. It is a humbling honor to work with young people with disabilities who have the courage and determination to take challenging steps towards independence and bith mothers who have the courage to make selfless and responsible decisions towards not only their future but that of their child. I travel all over the state presenting our ministry to churches and organizations and am approached nearly everytime by someone whose life has been touched through an adoption experience with MMH; either they were adopted and now have children of their own, or they adopted and now have grandchildren,...to see the continuation of life and love because of a life affirming decision made by one courageous young teen or young woman years ago is wonderful! One young man with muscular dystrophy who has graduated from our life and vocational skills training program comes to visit once in awhile to say hi and let me know how he is doing. He lives in an apartment now and has a job and is going to UTSA to pursue a career. With little mobility left in his arms and hands and confined to a wheelchair, he rides the bus to work, to school and to visit. Always smiling he shares his accomplishments at school and laughs at some of the obstacles he endures. He teaches me to enjoy the simple things in life. My life has been changed through my experience at MMH and I am a better person because of it.
the Methodist Mission Home located in San Antonio,Texas is an agency that dropa anchor and impacts in the lives of individuals with disabilities and those seeking adoptive services. The frame work is Christian, with access to many different worship opportunities if the residents so choose. MMH is making a difference in lives by helping the residents determine their strengths and build upon those to enable them to be the very best they can be... at work as well as using life skills.
As a Board member at Methodist Mission Home for over twelve years I have seen the difference it makes in young lives. Its Southwest Center for Higher Independence program has helped hundreds of young men and women with multiple disabilities to reach their potential. Through the assessment program, the job training classes and the dedicated work of the MMH staff these young people are able to overcome personal limitations and become productive citizens of their communities. At the annual graduation I have heard over and over the stories of the students who come to MMH in search of a better future..Many have never been away from home before, some have social behavior issues and attitude problems, all feel helpless to move ahead. But the joy that they feel having learned to live independently, to understand the responsibility of having a job and doing it well, and the special reward of making friends is awesome. Simple goals of a job caring for plants at Home Depot or having friends to have fun with bring endless joy to these students. One young man loved his job so much that he road the bus to work on Sat., his day off. It was so important to his life. These may seem like small accomplishments to most of us but believe me it changes the world for these young people. Of course like all non-profits it is a continual funding battle..MMH relies on it's donors and receives a portion of its fees from a state agency--which leaves us vulverable to the political state of affairs. I believe in this program and in the value it brings to the individuals it helps and to the communities in which they live and work.