Men’s Breakfast Speaker Hits It Out of the Ballpark!

Jimmy “The Rookie” Morris has lived a life of inspiration; which made him the perfect speakers for BCFS Health and Human Services’ annual Men’s Breakfast hosted in Kerrville.

The sky was dark and the air was crisp in Kerrville. The thoroughfares seemed empty, but the community turned out in a show of early morning support for BCFS Health and Human Services’ Kerrville Men’s Breakfast. The event, which raised funds to help complete the organization’s new Texas Hill Country Resource Center for children, youth and families, featured uplifting words from former Major League Baseball pitcher Jimmy Morris.
Morris was a high school baseball coach who preached to his team to always follow their dreams, and to be undeterred by naysayers.
“There are two types of people: those that want to see you fail, and those that want to see you succeed. The people at BCFS want you to succeed,” he said to nearly 200 community and business leaders, supporters and youth as day broke in the Texas Hill Country.
Morris coached baseball at Reagan County High School in the 1990s in Big Lake, Texas, a west-Texas oil drilling community. When his team challenged him to follow his own message of never giving up on your dreams, they made a friendly wager: If his team won district, he would try out for the majors again, reigniting a dream extinguished ten years prior due to injury.
Believing in his own hard work and his grandfather’s encouraging words, Coach Morris gave the big leagues another shot and, at age 35, made his rookie debut as a starting pitcher with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999. While his major league career only lasted a few years due to persistent tendonitis, , Morris became a living testament for having a can-do attitude and following your dreams. His memoir, The Oldest Rookie, led to yet another first – his Hollywood debut – inspiring the 2002 feature film “The Rookie,” starring Dennis Quaid.
Having fulfilled his dream of playing major league baseball, Morris returned to his passion of working with youth and inspiring others to live out their dreams. Thanks to Morris’ support, more than $31,000 was raised for the new BCFS center, which will impact the lives of thousands each year.

Guadalupe Street Coffee Receives $50,000 from Rapier Foundation

“Growing up in a rough neighborhood shouldn’t sentence any child to a life of crime, poverty, poor health or other struggles,” said Catarina Velasquez, BCFS HHS Program Director for Guadalupe Street Coffee. “Thanks to investments made by organizations like the Rapier Foundation, Guadalupe Street Coffee will continue be a force on the West Side that increases school retention and enhances teens’ likelihood of graduation and future success.”

The Rapier Foundation announced a $50,000 investment into BCFS Health and Human Services’ (BCFS HHS) West Side community development project, Guadalupe Street Coffee.

Located in the heart of San Antonio’s West Side, the coffee shop provides a safe environment that fosters continued learning and educational opportunities for local students. Most students who come into the coffee shop attend school in the San Antonio Independent School District (SA ISD), which only has a 4 year on-time graduation rate of 60.5 percent. Only 56 percent of local residents older than 25 years of age graduated from high school or achieved a higher level of schooling, and 57.7 percent do not have a high school diploma.

“Growing up in a rough neighborhood shouldn’t sentence any child to a life of crime, poverty, poor health or other struggles,” said Catarina Velasquez, BCFS HHS Program Director for Guadalupe Street Coffee. “Thanks to investments made by organizations like the Rapier Foundation, Guadalupe Street Coffee will continue be a force on the West Side that increases school retention and enhances teens’ likelihood of graduation and future success.”

Guadalupe Street Coffee provides job training to teens and leads educational activities that promote healthy – and affordable – nutrition and daily living for local families. According to SA ISD, per capita income on the West Side in 2007 was $9,925. Within a 2 mile radius of Guadalupe Street Coffee, more than 52 percent of residents live below the poverty level.

Guadalupe Street Coffee has also become a hot spot for the West Side’s cultural scene, hosting poetry nights, movies and dance shows that introduced students to the arts and encouraged positive outlets for self-expression.

In six years, the project has served 10,000 school-age children and provided close to 9,000 hours of free services to at-risk youth, such as homework and financial aid assistance, job training, and lessons on nutritional eating and healthy living.

“We understand the importance of education and see BCFS’ Guadalupe Street Coffee as a viable way to mold the young generation of today toward prosperous futures tomorrow,” said Dr. George and Kym Rapier.

The Rapier Family Foundation was founded in 2006. The Rapier Family Foundation donated more than $1 million annually to various causes, including stay-in-school and youth initiatives, animals in need, seniors and children’s health programs from 2006 until 2010. Beginning in 2011, the Rapier Family Foundation has pledged nearly $30 million to San Antonio-area non-profit organizations. The Trust is named after Dr. Rapier’s late son, Blake.