Energy Homes breathes new life into center for abused, neglected girls
Jan. 14, 2005

CANYON LAKE - The New Life Children’s Center for abused girls at Canyon Lake is the recipient of a newly modified, energy-efficient house from Energy Homes in New Braunfels. Energy Homes is using the house as a prototype for an innovative line of cost-effective, hurricane-resistant homes designed to be built from start to finish in three days. The new technology will be used to provide immediate assistance to countries affected by natural disaster, in need of housing.

The three bedroom house will be located on New Life’s 20-acre campus and will be used for admissions and visitations.

“The new building will provide a quiet, homelike environment for the girls,” said Phyllis Turner, clinic director for New Life. “The privacy will make the admissions process more intimate and the visitations more relaxed. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to improve the quality of life for the girls.”

“Energy Homes shares our commitment to providing help, healing and hope to those in need,” said Bob Slocum, interim executive director of New Life. “We take in clients who are at their most vulnerable, when their lives have been shattered by abuse and neglect, and do our best to rebuild their future. We are blessed to be a part of this project.”

“The whole project is designed to help others,” said Jim Hafer, project manager for Energy Homes. “We were overjoyed to be able to start in our own community by donating the first home to New Life.”

Construction will begin on Wednesday, Jan 19, at New Life Children’s Center, 650 Scarborough Rd. For more information, contact Alma Ahrens, Energy Homes public relations specialist, at (512) 659-4286.

New Life Children’s Center, a ministry of Lutheran Social Services, provides treatment for girls, ages 11 to 17, who suffer from behavioral and emotional problems, usually the result of past abuse and neglect.

With four residential treatment centers serving more than 230 children everyday, and an award-winning foster care program that has more than 900 children, LSS is the largest provider of residential services to abused and neglected children in Texas.

Lutheran Social Services of the South is the social service arm of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The nonprofit agency annually serves more than 25,000 children, elderly and poor in Texas and Louisiana regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, gender or age. It’s ministry includes children’s residential treatment centers, adoption, therapeutic foster care, adult day care, health care and retirement centers, disaster response and emergency assistance.