June 7, 2016 | By LYNDA STRINGER

Contributed Photo|TITUS COUNTY CARES

Cares4kids is Judy Lee’s baby.

She launched the local child sponsorship program in the fall of 2011 through her organization Titus County Cares.

The program matched 140 adult sponsors from the local community with 168 elementary school kids from Mount Pleasant, Harts Bluff and Winfield school  districts. The  $20 per month sponsorships provide school clothes, school  supplies with a backpack and letters from their sponsors throughout the year, as well as gifts for their birthdays, Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day.

The kids in the program, who remain matched with the same sponsor each year  they are eligible, are also automatically enrolled in Titus County Cares’ Empty Stocking program, which provides Christmas gifts and the Food4kids program, which sends them home at the end of the school week with a sack full of food.

This past school year, the program was open for students in first through fifth  grades, so that initial class of first-graders graduated  from the program, which was a bittersweet moment for Lee and her staff.

“I have attended most of the birthday parties and seen them grow. These  children are special to me, but it isn’t about me. I just happened to start the  program that God gave me a vision for,” Lee said.

Lee said the program plays an important part in Titus County Cares’ outreach efforts, and while most of the children won’t meet their sponsors, the impact they have made in their lives is immeasurable.

“They have made a difference in these kids’ lives. They love their sponsors. Somebody in our community cares for them, loves them, prays for them and provides for them,” Lee said. “That is a relationship that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.”

The lessons the students take away from the program as they age out are also life-changing.

“The quotes that we got from the kids says it all. When we started this program, it didn’t cross my mind that the kids would learn the lesson of how important it is to give back. But, several of them said when they grow up they want to give back and care for other people,” Lee said.

“I started seeing this several years ago and I realized that this is making a bigger difference than I had anticipated.”

Cares4kids Program Director Kim Hedges, who took over administration of the program two years ago, said it makes an impact on the sponsors as well.

“Many of the sponsors have been with the same child from the beginning and they really get attached.

It’s a neat opportunity for the sponsors to pray for the kids and write encouraging letters,” she said.

To sponsor a child for the 2016-2017 school year, contact Kim Hedges at Titus County Cares at 903-575-9157.

Lynda Stringer is a Mount Pleasant-based freelance writer and the owner of Stringer Media. Contact her at Lynda.Stringer@outlook.com.