Posted by Bruce Wood on Jun 07, 2023


There’s a new non-profit currently organizing in Kingwood with a heart to help foster children suffering from severe emotional trauma. It’s called “J’s House”. The new charity’s board chair, Adam Pieknik, (right) was introduced by the club president, Eric Gomez. Mr. Pieknik spoke to Lake Houston Rotarians about J's House's goals to serve foster children in a new 24/7 residential treatment center (RTC). The charity is actively seeking a location for their center.
 
There’s a new non-profit currently organizing in Kingwood with a heart to help foster children suffering from severe emotional trauma. It’s called “J’s House”.

The new charity’s board chair, Adam Pieknik, spoke to Lake Houston Rotarians about their goals to serve foster children in a 24/7 residential treatment center (RTC), otherwise known as a “group home” during their
regular weekly luncheon meeting at the Lake Houston Family YMCA on Wednesday, June 7th.

The founding group has been helping foster children since at least 2019. It started as a partnership between Kingwood Methodist Church’s Foster Care Ministry and OneLove Collaborative, a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting children in foster care. They are currently operating an emergency shelter with the church.

Mr. Pieknik explained there are 10,000 to 20,000 foster care children in Texas. Of these, over 1,300 foster children are in need of treatment for intense emotional trauma.


J’s House will provide transitional housing and therapeutic care to foster boys aged 8-12 years old. Their plans call for the facility to resemble a real home as much as possible. The goal is to prepare these boys for a foster family in six months.

The average time spent in care for these boys is over three years. Many of them age out of the system before receiving the treatment they need.

J’s House is determined to find a new way to help the physical and emotional needs of these boys, reduce their time in the system, and prepare them for a “forever family”.

To accomplish this, J’s House will offer the boys high-quality therapeutic services, food, housing, schooling, activities, and more.

 J’s House’s treatment programs will meet or exceed industry best practices, explained Mr. Pieknik. To provide the correct environment for treatment, it’s their goal to raise $2 million to purchase and renovate a home and fund the hiring of initial staff.



He said the 8 to 12 boys initially selected for their home will be by the state or a provider based on the services they need.

Mr. Pieknik said you can help J’s House by praying for their children; making a donation; becoming a volunteer; spreading the word on social media and/or ordering a J”s House t-shirt for $25 and wearing it. Visit them on their website for more information at https://jshouse.org/get-involved/swag/
The Rotary Club of Lake Houston Area is a community service organization serving the greater Lake Houston area since 1967 (formerly known as Humble Rotary). Rotarians are neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem solvers who see a world where people can unite and take action to make our communities and the world a better place to live and work.

Our members live and/or work in the greater Lake Houston area. Guests interested in learning more about Rotary are welcome to attend one of our regular meetings in Kingwood and/or Summer Creek.

Meetings are held weekly from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., most Wednesdays at the Lake Houston Family YMCA, 2420 West Lake Houston Pkwy. in Kingwood.

 
The Summer Creek Satellite Club meets the 2nd and 4th most Tuesdays of the month from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., at Generation Park's 3rd floor Nimble Office Suite, 250 Assay St., Houston.
 
Additional information about Rotary and membership is available here: https://lharotary.com/page/who-we-are-what-we-do .