Mission San Marcos was birthed out of a desire to be a people for the city. Organizations of many kinds raise money and send resources literally all over the world to help those in need. While we participate in that and celebrate it, we couldn't help but notice a void of that same energy being spent on addressing significant needs in our own city. We are a group of local people deeply committed to engaging the needs of our community through relief, rehabilitation, and development. Our primary focus is on the next generation. As poverty is a cycle that repeats itself unless there is intervention, we believe that walking with the younger generation is the best opportunity for creating lasting change in our community.

We partner with many different organizations to direct families to the resources they need the most, but our focus is on mentoring, encouraging and equipping families, and building a network o relationships that allows the help that is most needed to be availble to those who need it.

While we are a faith-based organization, our partnerships represent a collaboration of like minds and hearts that work together to do the greatest good in our city.

After years of living in San Marcos and hearing about all the negative perceptions of SMCISD, we decided to learn more. After attending a presentation by the Superintendent of Schools, we were shocked to learn that there were more than 300 homeless children in San Marcos. No wonder some kids struggle with their test scores when they don't even have a place to live. After talking more with the schools, we explored the best ways to support our educators as they are dealing with much more than ABC's in the classroom.

That process first led us to the opportunity of provding food for kids that eat primarily at school. When school is not in session, breakfast, lunch, and dinner cannot be assumed for between 70-80% of SMCISD students. During Christmas break of 2011, we distributed groceries to about 20 families from a local elementary school. That blessing led to us providing an after-school program once a week for many of these same kids. We were also able to provide sack lunches for Saturday School students as the principal told us that some kids ask to come to Saturday School just so they can eat. Another way that we engaged was through tutoring. In that process we really learned the value of one on one relationships that are consistent over time. Finally, we have partnered with the Nutrition department of SMCISD to help get food to kids who can't get to where the food is. For 11 weeks this summer, our Summer Missionaries have providing programming in two mobile home communities to bring the kids to where the food is. In the process, we've made some really great friends and met some wonderful people.

As we processed through what our next step should be, we settled in on the idea that mentoring is a tremendous opportunity in our city. Through our friendships with families in our community, we have discovered a signfiicant popluation of students who are fatherless, motherless, have one or both parents encarcerated, live in a shelter, or live in temporary housing. As we focused on developing a mentoring program, some key partnerships developed.

For the 2012-2013 school year, we will be coordinating with The Mentoring Project and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America to faciliatate school based and community based mentoring in San Marcos. Additionally, we will be coming alongside the pre-K program the district has to assist in strenghening familes from the very beginning of their school experience.

Our work is continually expanding as partnerships and resources come available. It is exciting to be a part of serving our city.

Though our roles are constantly evolving and growing, our leadership team consists of the following:

John McGlothlin, Executive Director
Jason Bollinger, Director of Community Outreach
Ryan Damron, School Programming Director
Bethany Franz, Mentoring Director