Building Healthier Futures for Texas Children One Child at a Time

Through its Care Van® Program, Caring for Children Foundation of Texas provides improved access to immunizations for medically uninsured and underserved children in Texas. In this post, Craig Jeffery, Executive Director at Caring for Children Foundation of Texas, shares his role in helping the organization achieve its mission.

Q&A With Craig Jeffery:

What attracted you to this job & particular cause?

The original Caring for Children Program in 1991, a package of health benefits for uninsured Texas children funded through community based donations, was an opportunity for the private sector to respond to a common need throughout the state of Texas in the early 1990s where 1 in 4 children belonged to working families without health insurance.  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas stepped up and donated 100% of the administrative expenses to the Caring Foundation enabling donations from individuals, churches, civic clubs and businesses to go directly to pay for health care benefits to improve the lives of these children – a true win-win situation.  In 2015, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas continues to be the foundation’s statewide sponsor donating 100% of its administrative expenses.  

How are you making an impact through your work?

Since we launched the Texas Caring Foundation in 1991, we have been dedicated to improving the lives of uninsured and medically uninsured Texas children by improving access to health and dental care around Texas.  To date, more than 770,000 Texas children have been screened/immunized at no cost to their families, and over 192,000 kindergarten and early elementary school age children have received basic dental exams and sealants – again at no charge.   

What advice would you give to anyone with a similar position, or to someone interested in working for a nonprofit like yours?

Find a cause you really believe in and give it your full energy.  You will never work a day in your life after that.

What excites you most about your organization’s work right now?

We are building healthier futures for Texas children one child at a time, and we have the pleasure of seeing and meeting many of these children on a daily basis at our events.

Our thanks to Craig Jeffery for sharing his time and expertise with us!  To learn more about the impact Mr. Jeffery’s organization is making, visit their website at www.carevan.org and connect with them on Twitter @carevantexas. 

The primary goal for any nonprofit is to get people to support that nonprofit’s cause so they can make an impact. But, behind each of those causes are hard-working individuals, actively involved in making that impact happen. Through our Making Impact Blog Series, we’re going behind the scenes with America’s Charities member organizations to learn how they’re making impact happen and share insights and advice from the staff and volunteers supporting these initiatives.