Quitman community activist and volunteer Sam Scroggins was named Texas Council of Child Welfare Board’s (TCCWB) “Volunteer of the Year Award” for Region IV.

The past president of the Wood County Child Welfare Board has been involved in many service and volunteer efforts along with his wife, Martha. Since joining the board six years ago, Scroggins has been an enthusiastic advocate for Wood County’s foster, neglected and abused children as well as an ambassador of the Rainbow Room.

In December 2020 the board faced a physical challenge, due to the pandemic, of holding their annual Christmas party for the children. Scroggins proposed the idea and concept of “Drive-Thru-Christmas.” 

Scroggins secured a safe location with plenty of space for cars and gift pick-up and set up Christmas music, a Christmas tree and arranged for Santa and Mrs. Claus to greet children and for elves to hand out cookies in a socially-distanced manner. There were 27 locally placed children who were recipients of about $200 worth of presents, while an additional 32 children who were out-of-area placements received $200 checks. COVID-19 was not able to stop Santa or Scroggins last year.

Early in 2021 COVID-19 presented challenges for Child Abuse and Awareness and Prevention Month in April. When faced with the prospect of having to cancel the annual community event at Jim Hogg City Park, Scroggins proposed the idea of a virtual candlelight event. 

Scroggins went to work and devoted over 60 hours to the project. He taped segments with each participant, and the creation was a 45-minute video and live-stream on Facebook. The video included guest speaker Wood County District Attorney Angela Albers, Wood County Judge Lucy Hebron, local law enforcement, mayors, pastors, elementary school choirs and partner agencies. Several hundred people have viewed the video.

Wood County Child Protection Board President Sally Attaway said, “Sam has a deep understanding that our mission cannot be accomplished without the support of our community and local government. His prior work was creating a brochure and presentation for our publicity and fundraising committee to use at speaking engagements and he prepared our first-ever annual report. This extensive report detailed the demographics of the children we serve, our budgetary needs and our major child-focused events. The report was presented to commissioners court, and this information increased their understanding regarding Wood County’s foster children and our role supporting them.”

Also from Wood County, Amanda McKinney, was nominated for “Volunteer of the Year.” McKinney is one of the Child Protective Service (CPS) senior workers. In one assignment, McKinney had to work on a highly confidential case which required she manage the placement of two girls. This required her to leave her home at 4 a.m., drive to the airport, catch a plane for a short flight, take care of business for the children and return back to her responsibilities at home. She did this once a month. She has served as CPS liaison to the local welfare board, attending monthly meetings of two to three hours.  

McKinney has been responsible for providing accurate information to be used by the board to send allowances to each child or foster parent, researched and advocated for special funding requests, encouraged and supported the board’s CPS activities and participated in the annual Christmas party and Tips for Tots fundraiser.

“No matter what the need or how extensive her current load is, Amanda always brings a smile and an ultra can-do-attitude to requests made of her,” Attaway added. “She shares her knowledge to enhance the board’s learning, and together great successes have been achieved.”