Arms wide open

Chea Kelly and Justine Klinke (pictured, from left) chaired the 11th annual Fulfilling Families luncheon benefiting Arms Wide. The afternoon lunch-and-cocktails event held at The Briar Club raised $200,000 to support Arms Wide’s efforts to connect children with permanent families through foster care, adoption, and kinship care. Host of Houston Public Media’s Hello Houston and event host, Frank Billingsley, began the event by talking about his own experience being adopted. He then turned the program over to keynote speaker, foster care activist Jamerika Haynes-Lewis, a former USA Ambassador Ms. who used her platform to advocate for foster care. Arms Wide Board Chair Whitney Cox and President and CEO DeJuana S. Jernigan wrapped up the program with a discussion of shifting trends in the Texas foster care system and the efforts Arms Wide is making to support children in Texas. 

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