June 23, 2004

KERRVILLE— The Cailloux Foundation announced that $752,000 in grants have been awarded during the second quarter of 2004. The awards range in size from $4,000 to $400,000.

K’STAR in Kerrville, Texas was awarded a recoverable $400,000 grant to purchase and renovate a larger property as a youth shelter combining their services under one roof. K’STAR was established in 1990 to provide a safe haven for children in need of shelter. Today the organization provides a 24-hour hotline, support groups, parenting classes, a reading program, and professional counseling services in addition to short term shelter for abused and neglected children. K’STAR serves more than 190 children annually in 14 counties surrounding Kerrville. The Foundation will recover $150,000 of the award from K’STAR after properties it currently owns are sold and those funds will then be awarded to another nonprofit organization for charitable purposes.

 The Admiral Nimitz Foundation was awarded a $250,000 grant to create an education center for youth within the National Museum for the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. The Museum has been expanded in recent years to include the George Bush Gallery and the Pacific Combat Zone. Tours that explain carrier operations, PT boat operations, and amphibious assaults are conducted amidst WWII relics. Symposiums, traveling exhibits, and patriotic observances are also sponsored by the Admiral Nimitz Foundation. Annual attendance for the Museum is more than 100,000 including 14,000 children. The new education center will allow for an expansion of programs for youth at the Museum.

 The Foundation provided a $50,000 grant to Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA) of Weslaco, Texas to support the Legal Assistance to Rural Shelters Project (LARS) strictly in Bandera, Gillespie, and Kerr Counties. TRLA provides direct civil legal representation, operates hotlines and other phone-based services, engages in community legal education, and provides transactional legal assistance to low-income entrepreneurs. Clients include battered women, disabled children, abused seniors, and others who would otherwise have no access to legal representation in civil matters. More than 80% of all cases involve domestic violence. LARS is the only project in Texas that links attorneys providing free civil legal aid for low-income rural victims of violence directly to rural shelters throughout Texas.  Enabling victims to apply for legal services at the shelters where they often first turn for help, and providing legal advice to them at the same site, greatly increases victim safety, autonomy and the establishment of a life free from violence. TRLA will be working with the Hill Country Crisis Council in their Kerrville and Bandera offices to assist domestic violence victims in this area.

 A grant of $20,000 was awarded to the Children’s Association for Maximum Potential (CAMP) in Center Point, Texas to pave a 1,600 foot section of roadway leading down to the Guadalupe River. The organization, established in 1979, provides camping experiences for severely disabled children. Volunteer professionals including physicians, nurses and therapists provide care for the campers. The summer camp utilizes a large corps of teen volunteers who help with daily care for the campers. This grant was part of a larger road improvement project to better control drainage and reduce excessive dust which was troublesome for children with respiratory issues. More than 1,400 disadvantaged children are served by CAMP annually.

 Art2Heart, established in 2002, received a $15,000 grant to help create a leadership program for youth development in Kerrville. The program includes a leadership academy for youth designed to develop personal growth, learning skills, communication, conflict management, work ethic, time management, and project design. A separate youth forum will be lead by the leadership academy participants to identify and execute a large scale community service project. A two-week art camp is held each summer including additional individuals. The organization will serve approximately 500 youth in 2004 with programs and assemblies.

 The Foundation awarded a $13,000 grant for operating funds to Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) in Kerrville. The organization was established as a satellite division of BBBS-San Antonio in 1997. BBBS matches adult volunteers to children from single parent homes to improve their school performance, relationships, and self-confidence. The organization also has a program for high school age youth to mentor younger children in a controlled setting. They currently have 37 children matched in various programs and several waiting for a mentor.

 A grant of $4,000 was awarded to Hill Country Special Olympics to provide T-shirts, medals, plaques, equipment, and refreshments for the Annual Invitational Track and Field Meet held in Bandera in April. More than 100 mentally retarded children and young adults as well as 100 adult and teenage volunteers participate in the event each year.

Floyd A. and Kathleen C. Cailloux created The Cailloux Foundation in 1994. The Foundation’s mission is to perpetuate their vision through the betterment of individual lives, with emphasis on the needs of disadvantaged children. Mr. Cailloux was co-founder of Keystone International and was instrumental in the company becoming a leader in the manufacturing and marketing of industrial valves for general industry. In 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Cailloux moved from Houston to Kerrville, Texas where they became very involved in charitable endeavors in the Texas Hill Country and around the state. The Foundation continues these endeavors by quietly awarding grants to eligible nonprofit organizations mainly in the Hill Country.

 The application process for the Foundation consists of an initial letter of inquiry from a nonprofit organization to help Foundation staff determine if a project fits within its guidelines. If a project does fit the guidelines, a full grant application is provided for the agency to complete. Please read the application process section on this site for more information regarding inquiries to the Foundation. n