by Patricia Elaine Francis Good

One day, during my career with the Easter Seal Society I found myself in the worst possible situation that I had ever been in or ever would be again in my career. 

It started one day when my boss called from Dallas to tell me that Easters Seals had decided to buy a run down children’s rehabilitation center in Austin, where I was working. She told me to go down there and pick out where I would like to set up my office.  So, I drove over to the Rehab Center and found something that was beyond my wildest imagination.  

First, the staff seemed depressed and downtrodden…without hope and without a smile on their faces.  The center was run down and so were the people working there.  I asked them to take me on a tour so I could figure out where I would set up my office.  As we toured the facility, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone seemed withdrawn and quiet. The place was in ruin and nobody seemed to care.  I came to a door and reached for the handle but was told by the staff that I shouldn’t open that door.  I asked why. 

They said it leads to the Dungeon where the worst of the disabled children were kept.  I said I was going down there anyway.  When I opened the door the smell hit me first.  It was awful.  I walked down the stairs to a nightmare.  I could hear the dripping of an old ice box that contained the medications for the children and it was leaking down a drain in the center of the room.  Food had been thrown and was caked on all the walls.  Children were in gowns that smelled of urine and vomit and many of them were crying. It was dark. All the windows had been boarded up. I looked into the faces of the staff and the children in the Dungeon and wondered how in the world did this happen.  I felt the bile in the back of my throat and the anger building in my heart.  

I came up from the Dungeon with all the anger and resolve that I had to announce that I would be taking the Dungeon as my office space.  At first the staff laughed until they looked into my face and saw I meant business and then asked me “But what are we going to do with the children down there?”  I said “You leave that to me. I’ll find a way to get them out of there” And then I walked out, got in my car and drove home to my parents in San Antonio, crying the whole way.

When I arrived at my parents’ home, my mother immediately saw how upset I was and asked what had happened.  I told her.  She was shocked and could hardly believe the situation I had found in the Dungeon.  And then, my mother said this … “I know you and you’re going to find a way to solve this problem! Go back to Austin. You can’t turn away from what you’ve seen. You will and you must find a way to take care of those children.”  I got into my car, again crying all the way back to Austin, On the way I remembered the union men and women who had manned our Telethon phone bank that year. And I thought just maybe they could help.  So I drove to the AFL-CIO Union office in downtown Austin. The union men listened as I told them what I had found and that I had no money! But, I had to find a way to get these children out of the Dungeon and soon.  One union man said he had a friend who owned and sold mobile homes.  He took me there and we asked the man if we could use one of his mobile homes for the children to use temporarily until the Center could be restored to make room for them upstairs.  He said YES!  

Most of the union men, who were carpenters, plumbers, painters and tradesmen, went with me down to the Center and assessed the situation and came up with a plan that could transform that Dungeon into a workable office for my staff and I.  We had one weekend to get it all done, but with all these committed union men, my staff and some of my friends, I knew we could get it done.  

We tore the boards off those covered windows and that let fresh air and sunshine into the Dungeon. Then my friends got to work sewing curtains for the windows and brought live plants to decorate the space.  The union carpenters built a wall to make a conference room where the windows were located and on the other side of the wall they built an office space for my staff and I.  They fixed the toilet, the leaking refrigerator, and helped me scrap the food off the walls. Painters arrived to cover the walls with fresh paint.  I bought a coffee pot and someone donated cups to put into the new conference room.  I made a sign-up sheet to hang on the wall so that any staff who had a meeting with a parent or their department could use it as well.  We worked non-stop all weekend. 

The paint was barely dry when we opened the door to the new “Dungeon” Development Department on Monday morning at 9:00 o’clock. One of my friends had purchased donuts and coffee and the place smelled like “hope” had arrived. The staff slowly arrived from upstairs and they could hardly believe what they saw.  And when I explained that they could use the conference room as well by using the sign up sheet on the wall, I saw smiles on their faces for the first time.  

Later, my boss was informed of what I had done.  She called to tell me how proud she was of me and the union men and that I was going to be given a budget to re-model the entire rehabilitation center.  And we did.  My mother was right … I had found a way!

Many times after the whole rehab center had been restored, my staff and I would find inspiration by going upstairs to watch the children in a bright, beautiful space doing their rehab exercises and remembering what a different place it was before we arrived.  And one special day one of the children was well enough to go to public school for the first time. We threw a big party to celebrate this one in a million day … where one child was going to have a chance at a normal life!

Later that year the rodeo came to Austin. I noticed that many of the children were struggling with painful therapies.  I figured many of those cowboys went through painful rehab as well so I called and asked if some of them could come to our rehab center and encourage these children with their rehabilitation struggles.  

Well, about 10 cowboys showed up!  Each of them took a child and put them on their lap and began to tell them what they had to go through in painful therapy for their many injuries they incurred just to be a cowboy.  The children loved them! They all wanted to grow up to be cowboys and I can’t say I blame them!  These cowboys became their role models and the children began to dream about the possibilities of overcoming their own health challenges, too. 

That night at the rodeo, we were invited to bring the children and their parents and had prime seats to watch the cowboys ride bulls and bucking horses! What a thrill!  Each of the cowboys who had come to the Rehab Center wore a white arm band with the child’s name on it that he had held in his arms earlier that day.  And, after their ride was over, each of the cowboys took off his white arm band and walked over to where we had lined up the children’s wheelchairs in the arena, and gave it to the child they had held.  The look on each of those children’s faces was priceless! I’m sure they never forgot that night when these cowboys identified with their pain, and showed them that the therapy they would endure was worth it.

Without a mother who believed in me I daresay I could have accomplished what many thought was impossible that year.  I had many more opportunities in my career when someone would tell me that something couldn’t be done and I would just say, “Oh yes it can, because I will find a way!”   

So, if nobody has ever said this to you, let me say this now … “Go find a way to help somebody today!   It was one of the best pieces of advice my mother ever gave me! That was the inspiration I needed to believe that I could make a difference by just believing there had to be a way to change what I found that day in the Dungeon of a run down rehab center.  You are more powerful than you think, especially if you can find people who share your passion and can help.  I believed with all my heart that I could find a way to bring those children up from the dungeon. Their cowboy heroes inspired them to believe in themselves.  And when one of those children finally made it to public school, I thought to myself it was all so worth it.

           

Cowboy Meatballs from Night in Old San Antonio

Ingredients:

• 1-¼ cups dry batter mix (Golden Dip Fry Easy All-Purpose Batter fry mix)
• 1-½ cups water, or as needed
• ½ cup pureed jalapenos (drain jalapenos and puree in blender or food
  processor)
• 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 pound charbroiled (1/2-ounce) meatballs (defrosted), or other fully
  cooked meatballs
• Vegetable oil, for deep fat frying

Directions:
Combine dry batter mix, water, pureed jalapenos and cheese together in a
large mixing bowl; mix with your hands.

Add meatballs and mix well, if batter seems too thick, add a tablespoon or
more water as needed. Make sure all dry batter is absorbed and all
meatballs are coated well.

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet, saucepan or deep fryer to 350 degrees.

Add meatballs, taking care not to crowd the pan, and fry until golden
brown.

Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Makes 32 meatballs.

INSPIRATION:

You are never given a wish without being given the power to make it true.

You may have to work for it, however.

Richard Back