Introduction
If you asked a child what makes them feel loved, the answer probably wouldn’t surprise you. It’s not fancy gifts or big gestures. It’s someone showing up. It’s a warm meal on a hard day. It’s an adult who notices them and means it.
For 90 years, Sunny Glen Children’s Home in San Benito has been learning what makes a child feel loved, one child at a time. We’ve welcomed more than 25,000 children through our doors since 1936, and the lessons they’ve taught us are the same ones that guide us today: love has to be patient, love has to be consistent, and love has to be real. As we celebrate nine decades of caring for children in South Texas, we want to share some of what we’ve learned.
It Started With Six Children and a Simple Promise
Our story didn’t begin with a grand plan. It began with six children who had lost their parents during the Great Depression. Elders from local congregations in the Lower Rio Grande Valley saw a need and responded with the only thing they had: faith and a willingness to act. Those first children were welcomed into a small home in La Feria, Texas, and from that moment, a mission was born.
Within the first year, we moved to San Juan to make room for more kids. By 1945, an 80-acre tract outside San Benito became available, and by 1949, that campus became home. The 1950s and 1960s brought new dorms and expanded programming in education, athletics, and career training. It wasn’t a perfect start. Resources were thin, the Valley was still growing, and no one could have predicted the thousands of children who would follow. But the promise was simple: every child who comes here will know they matter.
What 25,000 Children Have Taught Us About Love
You’d think after 90 years we’d have all the answers. We don’t. But the children who’ve lived here have taught us more than any textbook could. They’ve taught us that love isn’t a feeling you talk about. It’s clean sheets on a bed. It’s a staff member sitting beside you during a meltdown instead of walking away. It’s someone remembering your birthday and making a big deal out of it.
We’ve also learned that love doesn’t rush. Many of the children who come to us have been hurt deeply. They don’t trust easily, and they shouldn’t have to. Healing happens in its own time, through hundreds of small, faithful moments. A predictable morning routine. A patient conversation after a rough day. A prayer before bed when the world feels too heavy.
How Our Campus Became a Neighborhood
In the early days, our children lived in dormitories. It worked, but it didn’t feel like home. In the 1990s and 2000s, our Board of Directors made a decision that changed everything: they replaced every campus building with suburban-style residences. For the first time, children had their own rooms. The campus began to look and feel like a real neighborhood.
That shift wasn’t just cosmetic. It reflected something we’d been learning from the kids themselves. Children heal faster when their surroundings feel normal. When you can sit at a kitchen table for dinner instead of a cafeteria line, something shifts inside you. You start to believe that maybe, just maybe, this is what a home could be.
What Makes a Child Feel Loved Enough to Start Healing
The answer we’ve found, after nine decades, is surprisingly consistent. Children feel loved when they feel safe. Safety comes first. Once a child knows they won’t be hurt, that the door is secure, that the adults around them are steady and kind, something inside them begins to soften.
We use Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), a trauma-informed approach developed at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU. TBRI teaches us to look beneath behavior. Instead of focusing on what a child did wrong, we focus on what they’ve been through. We calm before we correct. We connect before we redirect. It’s not always easy, but it works, because it mirrors what love actually looks like: patience that outlasts a child’s fear.
The Role Faith Plays in a Child’s Healing
From our very first day, faith has been at the heart of everything we do. We believe every child is created by God and carries a worth that no amount of hurt can erase. That belief shapes how we speak to children, how we respond when they’re struggling, and how we celebrate when they take a step forward.
Our children have the opportunity to attend weekly worship services and Bible studies right here on campus. They’re invited to ask hard questions about God, about pain, about why life hasn’t been fair. We don’t offer easy answers. We offer honest ones, and we sit with them in the questions. When a child begins to understand that God’s love for them isn’t conditional on their behavior or their past, something powerful happens. Hope takes root.
A Day That Says “You Belong Here”
Every day on our campus follows a purposeful rhythm. Mornings are calm and predictable. Staff greet each child warmly. Breakfast is shared together. Children head to local public schools with backpacks ready and encouraging words in their ears.
After school, the campus comes alive. Homework gets done, sometimes with a little extra help from our team. Kids play outside, practice music, draw, or learn to cook. Each child has daily responsibilities, too, not because we need the help, but because contributing to a household builds self-worth. Evenings bring shared meals, quiet conversation, and bedtime prayers. It’s ordinary on purpose. For children who’ve lived through chaos, ordinary is extraordinary.
Growing to Meet New Needs in New Seasons
Ninety years is a long time, and the needs of children have changed. We’ve grown with them. Today, our ministries and services include our San Benito campus, the Monte & Amy Allen House Supervised Independent Living Center in Harlingen, and the Poenisch Counseling Center. We also serve refugee children who arrive in our community carrying stories most of us can’t imagine.
Our counseling services have expanded because we’ve learned that love alone isn’t always enough. Some wounds need professional care. Our staff receive ongoing training in TBRI and trauma-informed care practices, so they’re equipped to respond wisely. When caregivers are cared for, children receive better care, too.
The Volunteers and Partners Who Make It Possible
We haven’t done this alone. Not for a single one of these 90 years. Faithful churches, individual supporters, community partners, and volunteers have sustained this work from the beginning. People have shown up to build dorms, cook meals, mentor teenagers, donate clothes, and pray over children they’ve never met.
That kind of faithfulness is its own lesson in love. Our children watch it happen. They see strangers give their time and resources for no other reason than because they care. And slowly, that changes how they see the world. It changes how they see themselves. If you feel called to be part of this, we’d love for you to get involved or make a donation.
Ninety Years Is Just the Beginning
As we look back on nine decades, we’re grateful. Grateful for the six children who started it all. Grateful for the 25,000 who followed. Grateful for every staff member, donor, and volunteer who said yes when the work was hard.
But we’re not looking backward for long. The children coming through our doors today need the same things children have always needed: safety, stability, patience, and the steady love of God shown through caring adults. We’re rooted in Christian faith, and that foundation hasn’t shifted. Our prayer is that for the next 90 years, every child who calls Sunny Glen home will know the answer to the question we started with. What makes a child feel loved? Someone who shows up and stays. If you’d like to learn more about who we are or how to support our mission, we invite you to contact the team. Every child deserves to know they are loved.
How Has Sunny Glen Children’s Home Served Children for 90 Years?
Since 1936, we’ve provided safe housing, trauma-informed care, counseling, spiritual development, and life-skills training to more than 25,000 children in South Texas. Our campus has grown from a small home in La Feria to a full suburban-style residential community in San Benito with multiple programs serving children and young adults across the Rio Grande Valley.
What Is TBRI and How Does It Help Children Heal?
Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is a trauma-informed, attachment-based approach developed at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU. At Sunny Glen, every staff member is trained in TBRI. It teaches us to look beneath a child’s behavior to understand the pain driving it, and to respond with empathy, connection, and patience rather than punishment.
How Can I Support Sunny Glen Children’s Home?
There are many ways to get involved. You can volunteer your time on campus, give a one-time or monthly financial gift, pray for our children and staff, or simply share our story with others. Visit our volunteer page to learn about opportunities or make a donation to help keep our doors open.
What Makes Sunny Glen Different From Other Children’s Homes?
Our care is built on a foundation of faith, guided by values of respect, trust, empathy, and love. We combine professional, trauma-informed practices with the belief that every child is created by God with purpose and worth. We don’t just meet physical needs. We invest in the emotional and spiritual growth of every child, creating an environment where healing is possible and hope is renewed.
Why Do Children End Up in Foster Care?
Children enter foster care when their home environment is no longer safe. This can happen because of neglect, abuse, abandonment, or a family crisis that leaves parents unable to provide basic care. At Sunny Glen, many of the children we serve have experienced deep trauma before ever arriving on our campus. Our role is to provide stability, safety, and consistent love so that healing can begin. Every child’s story is different, and every child deserves a place where they can feel secure.
How Does Volunteering at a Children’s Home Make a Difference?
Volunteers bring something that no program or curriculum can replace: the presence of caring adults who choose to show up. At Sunny Glen, volunteers visit campus, share meals, lead activities, mentor teenagers, and simply spend time with kids who need to know the world has good people in it. When a child sees someone give their time freely, it reshapes how they understand their own worth. If you’re interested in learning how to serve, visit our volunteer page to get started.
What Are the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma?
Childhood trauma can affect how a person thinks, feels, and relates to others well into adulthood. Without intervention, it can lead to difficulties with trust, emotional regulation, academic performance, and physical health. That is why early, consistent, trauma-informed care matters so much. At Sunny Glen, we use TBRI and professional counseling to help children process their experiences in a safe environment, giving them the tools and support they need to build healthier futures.