The annual Mineola Civic Center meeting yielded some sweet, uplifting news. The Mineola Elementary School gave the civic center its playground, which was newer than the center’s; and volunteers brought the previous civic center’s playground to Rio Bravo Children’s Home, a Christian orphanage and school in Mexico.

Joe Moore, a volunteer who headed up the project, says that the Rio Bravo Children’s Home in Reynosa, Mexico, is in an area that is “not real safe.” According to him, the “third-world country” area’s police department has quit, leaving military or federal police to enforce the law.

However, the children’s home houses and feeds these Mexican orphans, and, during the day, they also accept neighborhood kids – 600 of them – to attend their safe, secure school.

“The schools (at Rio Bravo) are just as good as any school in the United States,” Moore said.

Taking apart the playground, loading it onto trailers, taking it across the border, and rebuilding it in Mexico was truly a community effort, says Moore: it took more than 10 volunteers and five local nonprofits (MISD, Mineola Civic Center, Meredith Foundation, Rio Bravo Ministries, and Compass Christian Church in Colleyville) to make it happen.

Each of the men, most of whom are associated with the church, paid $500 out of their pockets to make the trip, and one person paid the $1,000 additional fee to get the equipment across the border. That effort, of course, doesn’t even mention the days of deconstruction, driving and rebuilding that the volunteers did.

 “It was amazing – some amazing, God-given things (happened) in all of this,” said Moore. “It wasn’t what I did; it’s what a bunch of people did.”

According to Moore and the children’s home, the students really love the equipment.

“Because of your generosity and hard work, little feet will run, laughter will echo and childhood memories will be made right here every single day,” wrote Rio Bravo Ministries. “This is love in action. This is the body of Christ at its very best…. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

During their meeting, the civic center board also noted that outgoing president Mark Chamblee will be replaced by incoming officeholder and current Vice President Michael Gould. The new vice president will be Roy Shockey. Secretary will still be Ellen Brooke, and treasurer will  be Beth Shockey. Hope Brinkley and Beth Shockey are new board members.

The board’s investments, said Chamblee, are “doing very well.” Their $440,172 income includes a hefty annual grant from the Meredith Foundation and a big positive trend in the change of the fair market value of their securities. Expenses were $444,133, which included continued renovations.

Chamblee said the recent upgrades to the meeting rooms have helped increase rentals.

Board member Roy Shockey noted that the building has “seen a lot of changes” in 2025, including several remodels and updating the tennis and pickleball courts. The civic center is “faced with having to replace our roof in the very, very near future, which is not cheap,” he added.