Texas Tidbits: Buckner honors volunteers, donors

Buckner honors volunteers, donors. Buckner International honored a radio station, a Baptist fellowship of churches and a Christian foundation at its annual R.C. Buckner Founder’s Day dinner in Dallas. WMBW radio in Chattanooga, Tenn., a Moody Broadcasting Network affiliate, has collected more than 88,000 pairs of shoes and nearly 428,000 pairs of socks for orphans at 847 drop-off locations since 2001. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Texas CBF and Buckner work together on KidsHeart, a program to provide ministry to the most neglected children and families living in poverty along the United States/Mexico border. The Christ is our Salvation foundation, founded by Paul Piper Sr., established the Piper Family Fund for Christian Adoption, initially a loan program for adoptive families that eventually grew into grants. The foundation also has funded initiatives that have helped build a cottage at the Rio Grande Children’s Home and has helped Buckner expand the Immigration Services and Aid program, Kids Hope USA, Buckner Border Ministries, the Cool Kids program and after-school programs.  

Porterfield returns to Texas WMU as consultant. Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas has named Carolyn Porterfield multicultural consultant. Roughly 18 months after resigning as Texas WMU Executive Director, Porterfield will be helping develop WMU programs in ethnic churches across the state, helping Baptists understand God has a missions call for each of their lives. “Carolyn Porterfield has a gift for relating to multicultural audiences and a desire for them to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” Texas WMU Interim Executive Director Nelda Seal said. “She brings ex-perience of many years doing missions education and she loves WMU of Texas. She is a great communicator and will represent WMU of Texas in an excellent way.”

TBM volunteers respond to Zimbabwe crisis. Two Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief volunteers, Dick Talley of Lakeside Baptist Church in Dallas and Ron Mathis from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, were slated to leave May 1 for a two-week mission to Zimbabwe. A cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has claimed 4,000 lives, affected more than 97,000 people and has begun to spread beyond the nation’s borders. TBM is shipping 1,000 water filters, which the volunteers will distribute to rural communities most affected by cholera. TBM is responding to a request from the South African Baptist Union and will work in cooperation with the Zimbabwe Baptist Union.

Hillcrest finalizes partnership. Officials with Hillcrest Health System have signed a final partnership agreement with Scott & White Healthcare, creating a partnership between the two systems to operate Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco. Under the terms of the agreement, the hospital will retain the name “Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center” and all hospital employees will continue to be employees of Hillcrest. Hillcrest Health System includes Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, a fully accredited 236-bed acute care hospital on Interstate 35; its Herring Avenue post-acute care campus; and Hillcrest Family Health Center, a network of primary care clinics located in Bellmead, China Spring, Hewitt, Gatesville, Woodway and Waco.