Houston TV News Star Shares His Adoption Story — Frank Billingsley Opens Up in Powerful Luncheon
Helping Kids Find Families That Love Them
BY Shelby Hodge //Stephen Elison, Frank Billingsley at the Arms Wide Adoption Services luncheon. (Photo by Jenny Antill Clifton)
What: Arms Wide Adoption Services‘ seventh annual benefit luncheon
Where: The Briar Club
PC Moment: KPRC Channel 2’s chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley, an adoptee, shared his story and related how a supportive family can change the life of a child waiting to be adopted.
“Our families shape who we are. They love us unconditionally. They support us during our hardest moments. And they encourage us to be the best versions of ourselves,” Billingsley says. “Every child deserves a loving family.”
That spirit was shared by keynote speaker April Dinwoodie who talked of her experience as a Black/biracial child adopted into a white family and how she learned to navigate her own questions of identity, values and differences of race, culture and class. As part of her presentation, she invited Danielle Smith, a young woman who found a permanent home through Arms Wide Adoptions Services (then Spaulding for Children). The Prairie View A&M graduate talked about being adopted out of foster care and how that change and her adoptive parents allowed her to develop a resilient spirit.
Under the helm of chairs Jill George Bomar and Alison Powell, the event raised $155,000. The funds will assist Arms Wide Open with its no-fee foster care, adoption and post-adoption care services for vulnerable children in Greater Houston and South Texas.
Holiday Gift Guide
PC Seen: Arms Wide Adoption Services president and CEO DeJuana S. Jernigan, Allie Fields, Lindley Arnoldy, Mike Mahlstedt, Krystal Crane Thompson, Linsay Radcliffe, Christine Underwood, Luis Perez, Allison O’Neill, Sydney Eifler, Kelley Scofield, Stephanie Sanders, Jessica Wood, Kate Stukenberg, and Abbie Giraud.
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