Michael Murray, Director of Family Services, has implemented a guitar
program for our children. The foundation for this program came from the
generous donation of several guitars and gear from members of The Unofficial
Martin Guitar Forum (www.umgf.com), an internet group of Martin guitar enthusiasts.

Lessons are taught by Rick Dugger. Rick is a retired veteran of Vietnam and
Desert Storm. He and his wife Debbie retired to Cherokee to raise horses,
and are active members of the Cherokee Church of Christ. Children attend one
hour group lessons each week, and have a guitar checked out to them to play
at their homes.

Cherokee Home for Children is still accepting donations of strings or any
other guitar gear, new or used instruments, and instructional material.
Inquiries may be directed to Michael Murray.

Cherokee Home for Children is preparing to expand our foster care program.
Social Services team members Esther Cox and Michael Murray recently attended a "train the trainer" course for teaching PRIDE (Parent Resource for
Information, Development, Education) pre-service training program. Both
received certification from Texas DFPS as trainers. This is an instrumental
step in building a quality foster care program. We will also implement
portions of the PRIDE material in our campus program.

More recently, Michael Murray passed the exam for Licensed Child Placing
Agency Administrator. The LCPAA license is heavily regulated and is
required by DFPS in order to run a foster care program.

Look for more news of our progress in the coming months!