Children’s Advocacy Center in San Angelo Receives $633,000 Donation

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Children’s Advocacy Center of Greater West Texas received a $633,000 donation Thursday from Reagan County’s Friends for Hope Coalition.

Reagan County Sheriff Jeff Garner spoke during the check presentation about how much the CAC has meant to the community in and around Big Lake during the 28 years he has been with the Reagan County Sheriff’s Office.

“Every victim that we have had in Reagan County since 1997 when I started has come through the CAC for their forensic interview,” Garner said. “We make that drive and come here, because we know the folks here are going to take care of those families and those people, and we are going to get where we need to get for prosecution. So the partnership has been amazing. We couldn’t have done our jobs if it weren’t for them, and I’m just glad to pass this legacy on from the Friends for Hope family.”

Garner said the Friends for Hope began in Reagan County in 1999 when some determined community members decided the county needed more services for people in need, especially children.

After 17 years, the organization ended, but when its properties were sold, the coalition decided to disperse those funds to other child-advocacy groups.

“Our local child welfare board was a beneficiary, and my office was a beneficiary for the victims’ services portion of this,” Garner said. “And then we as a group thought that the CAC — because of the work they do in the Concho Valley and they’ve done in Reagan County in particular with our child victims — we felt like the bulk of the funds should come here to assist them moving forward.”

The Children’s Advocacy Center of Greater West Texas was established in Tom Green County in 1991 to reduce re-traumatization of children during child abuse investigations. A few years later, they expanded to some surrounding counties, with Reagan County among the first they served.

The CAC is located at 3418 Town and Country Drive. For more information about its services, call 325-653-4673.