Gladney Blog

Just a quick post to say that we made it to Taiwan and our team is all together. Tomorrow we go to ChungYi.

Sunday morning runners, families, and friends will gather for the 47th NYC Marathon!  Gladney is honored to have 8 runners this year in the race!  Wendy Stanley and Beth Anne Pellegrino, a Gladney mom, gathered with Gladney family and friends to kick off an exciting marathon weekend!

Joe, a runner from Fort Worth, is pictured below in his first marathon. He and 7 other runners raised almost $30,000 for Gladney this year! This is Gladney's 3rd year as a charity participant in the NYC marathon. Thanks to Colleen Christi who helped initiate Gladney's inaugural year in 2015! 

It is go time!

Stuart is a precious baby boy who is only 11 months old. He is described as active and happy.

With only 2 days to departure for our Superkids trip to Taiwan it is time to be sure everyone knows where to follow and get the best updates while we are gone.

November is National Adoption Month – I don't actually know the legacy of how this came to be - but as a national movement, it raises adoption to a new level of awareness.

1. Construction of Gladney's current campus officially commenced with a groundbreaking ceremony on this day 17 years ago. The new campus complex includes offices, a visitors center, community center, a building for counseling services and a residence hall for expectant mothers. Gladney welcomes guests to walk through the visitors center and absorb the 130 years of adoption history. 
2. Much of the movie based on Edna Gladney’s life, Blossoms in the Dust, is fictitious. There may have been a Tony; Mrs. Gladney had no adopted sister who committed suicide; and she had no child herself who died at a young age. If you’d like to know more about Edna Gladney and her life, we recommend reading “Texas Adoption Activist Edna Gladney: A Life and Legacy of Love” by Sherrie McLeRoy. 
3. Mrs. Gladney was succeeded by Walter Delamarter as the Executive Director of Gladney, because in the words of Mrs. Ruby Lee Piester, "no woman could have followed her." Delamarter had a masters degree in social work from the University of Illinois and was on the boards of several welfare groups. 
4. By the early 1920s, the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society (nka the Gladney Center for Adoption) was the leading child placing organization in the state of Texas.
5. Mrs. Ruby Lee Piester began group-counseling sessions for young residents to get to know and better understand each other.  
6. Buildings were constructed on the 2300 Hemphill Street campus one at a time, as funds were raised for a particular building. Construction highlights included:

• Marks Hall, now The Graham Building, home to The Gladney Fund, 1954.
• Dining Room, 1964.
• Johnny Mitchell Maintenance Building, 1976.
• Horlock Auditorium, 1977.
• Fair Dormitory, 1977.
• Nina Reese Counseling Center, 1977.
• Blakemore Education Building, 1977.
• Ruby Lee Piester Dormitory, 1980.
• Sproesser Wynn Dormitory, 1984

• I.Z.T. Morris, 1887-1914;
• Belle Morris, 1914-1920;
• Roy Stockwell, 1920-1927;
• Edna Gladney 1927-1960;
• Walter Delamarter, 1960-1963;
• Ruby Lee Piester, 1963-1984;
• Eleanor Tuck, 1984-1988;
• Michael J. McMahon, 1988-2007; and
• Frank Garrott, 2007-2017.

8. The movie about Edna Gladney’s life, Blossoms In The Dust, generated so much publicity and attracted so many birth mothers that some babies slept in dresser drawers for lack of crib space. 
9. The Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society (nka the Gladney Center for Adoption) never intended to be an orphanage. Instead, it was a "handling home," where children were accepted for adoption placement and cared for until the right homes could be provided for them. If you’re interested in starting your adoption journey, please request Gladney’s free Adoption Information Packet. 
10. Mrs. Ruby Lee Piester joined the staff as director of social services in 1960. In 1963, she was named executive director, a position she would hold for more than 20 years. 

Note: Since we are going to be traveling in Taiwan and posting about our trip but we also have so many files of children from China that we want to continue sharing about I will be putting China and Taiwan in the post title to tell you where the child is from.

Sebastian is a sweet 2 year old boy who is described as active and outgoing. We met him in October of last year. He was very attached to his foster mom and had fun throwing a pen on the floor over and over. It reminded me of when my boys were 1 and would intentionally drop a toy just to watch me pick it up!

We leave for Taiwan this week! But before we talk about that we have some super duper exciting news!