Sunny Glen Children's Home celebrates 75 years of helping lost, hurt kids

SAN BENITO — Gary Mabry and his twin brother moved to Sunny Glen Children’s Home in the spring of 1958 when they were 8 years old.

The transition was a big one for Mabry. And he was scared.

"The environment was totally different. I was learning new constraints and wanted to feel like I wasn’t to blame for being put at Sunny Glen," he said.

But eventually the transition stabilized for Mabry as he developed a routine that included making his bed, cleaning his room, doing chores, getting ready for school and working hard in school. He said he also played sports, which helped build his character.

However, it was one singular point that Sunny Glen taught and instilled in Mabry that made him into the man he is today.

"And the transition was made easier because I was introduced to God," he said. "It was here (Sunny Glen) that my faith was born. Understanding God’s love gave me a new perspective to living."

Many years later, Sunny Glen is still doing the same thing for lost and hurt children.

In 2011, Sunny Glen observed its 75th anniversary. And 2012 will represent a new era.

But it’s changed through the years and the Sunny Glen of 2012 will be a world away from the Sunny Glen of 1936, when it first began operation, or during the 1960s as the United States wrestled with civil rights and a war in Vietnam.

But its goal has remained much the same: taking care of and nurturing children who have faced great wrongs and challenges in their young lives.

Mabry said that Sunny Glen rendered the physical needs he required as a child of food, shelter and clothing, as well as providing for spiritual outreach.

"My spiritual formation and development began right there, which has made all the difference in the world," he said.

Sunny Glen is a quiet campus off of Expressway 77/83 in San Benito that has several modern, suburbanesque cottages, where children live with house parents who provide normalcy for children who have faced abuse, abandonment and neglect.

There is a large playground in the middle of the houses, which are situated in a cul-de-sac shape, as well as a learning center and other amenities.

But in Mabry’s time, Sunny Glen was much different. None of the new housing was there. Instead, the students lived in dormitories that were old and in need of repair.

When former executive director Jay Williams came on the scene, in 1998, Sunny Glen began a highly successful capital campaign that resulted in better housing and other upgrades to the campus, including the Williams Administration Building, named after Jay and his wife, Dee. And because of changes in federal law during the past century, Sunny Glen isn’t as agricultural as it used to be.

"We worked down there. I picked cotton," Mabry said. "I learned so much in Sunny Glen. I learned how to milk a cow, pick cotton, feed cows, clean my room, mop my room, drive a tractor, swim in a pool, ride a horse, go hiking, attend church and to give a tenth of my monthly allowance."

That was $12 a month.

"And that was for everything you wanted to do," he said. "There was only one car and back then, there were 125 children who had to share it."

After he graduated from high school in San Benito, Mabry went to Lubbock Christian. Eventually, he graduated from Abilene Christian, where he now serves as General Chemistry Adjunct.

In 1936, Sunny Glen began operations in a little two-story house in La Feria. It served six children when it started. Demand for Sunny Glen’s services quickly grew because of the need for a children’s home here in the Rio Grande Valley. So the home moved to San Juan where it could house 30 children.

Sunny Glen’s current campus in San Benito was established in 1945, when the residential-care agency bought 80 acres of land. By 1949, its campus was operational.

While the campus is much different now, with four cottages that house 32 children as well as house parents, instead of dormitories, it’s continued to serve the Rio Grande Valley’s forgotten children.

The cottages are fully furnished and each child has his or her own bedroom. And while residents attend local high schools, Sunny Glen also works on campus with their educational needs.

In 2006, the Joyce "Kimbro" Aycock Learning Center opened. It boasts a library, computer lab, classrooms and a counseling department. Aycock is a Sunny Glen alumna.

In 1998, Williams, the former executive director, came on the scene. His time at Sunny Glen transformed the campus into what it is today. But at the time, he wasn’t certain he wanted the job. He didn’t even know the Rio Grande Valley existed.

One day that year Williams received a call from a man with the Church of Christ who had two questions for him. Sunny Glen is a Church of Christ ministry.

The man wanted to know if he was a member of the Church of Christ and if he was licensed to work in administration in Texas at a children’s home. Williams answered yes to both questions. But he said he wasn’t that interested, initially.

But they convinced him to come down and visit Sunny Glen.

"They lied to me," he said with a laugh. "They said, ‘Oh, you just get off on that exit on 77 toward the Rio Grande Valley, and in a short distance you’ll come in to a little town called Harlingen — and San Benito is right next to it,’ Sheesh, it was a little ways farther than that."

Williams and his wife ended up 10 miles from the Free Trade Bridge into Mexico.

"We didn’t even know this part of the country existed," he said.

Eventually, the couple decided it was the right job and moved to the Valley. Williams is no longer executive director and is working with the new executive director, Ray Crowder.

"But I told them (initially) I wouldn’t stay more than 12 to 18 months," he said with a laugh. "And I’ll still be with them till 2012!"

When Williams took the reins, some of Sunny Glen’s buildings were 50 years old. There was an infrastructure problem. Money was tight. The future was uncertain.

"They (the buildings) were all flat roofs. They were leaking. The foundations were cracked. I mean, they were gradually falling apart," he said. "And then there was an uninhabitable building because a tornado tore the top off. It was not a very good situation.

"We had old buildings, very little staffing and no money," he said. "And so, I looked at it and met with the board. And I’ll be honest. I thought at that time that we were real close to closing the door. I might be the one who had to close the door. I mean it was really bad. We had no children, no staffing, no money and buildings were falling apart."

In about 2002, Sunny Glen was still hanging on.

"And we started talking about what we could do to keep things going," he said. "We owned 85 acres of land."

At some point, a man approached Williams about buying the corner lot from Sunny Glen.

"So I went to the board and I said, ‘You know, if we want to stay in existence we probably ought to sell, we’re not using but about 20 acres, sell about 50 acres of it to give us operating money.’"

So Sunny Glen sold about 50 acres for roughly $1 million.

"So we got operating money to get things rolling," he said. "And then in 2004, we took the leap of faith. We said, ‘We got to hire a consultant out of Abilene to come down and do a feasibility study and see if we can do a capital campaign.’"

Williams said the consultant found that people didn’t know about Sunny Glen or have any clue what the organization did or how it was funded. It is mostly funded through donations.

"It was a real eye-opener," he said. "But we decided that there was enough money in the Valley because we had people like Sam Sparks, Frank Boggus and many more. We knew enough people."

And so the capital campaign started in 2004.

"We built the whole campus. There are no old buildings left. All the money was given by various individuals," he said.

Sunny Glen’s administrative building, which was donated and built by Spaw Glass, was named the Williams Administration building in honor of Williams and his wife.

"Well that was the first time I was at a loss of words. I mean, you do what God calls you to do and you do the best that you can," he said. "I don’t think one individual can make a difference like no more than one football player can make a football team. I’ve always said, ‘The guy who cuts the yard out there is just as important as the guy at the top.’"

Seventy-five years later, Sunny Glen has served more than 7,000 children from the Rio Grande Valley.