Below is our 2020 Wrapped Up In One Location:
If you're looking for more photos about a specific event, please go back to the main gallery.
Back In Blue!
Our Executive Director is back in BLUE because she's going back to school!!! Ms. HCOC Founding Mother is re-enrolled in Lubbock Christian University for the Masters of Human Services, Administration and Nonprofit Leadership!!!
Megan has always taken initiative to continue her learning after she graduated with her Bachelors Degree by obtaining multiple certifications. Some such as Community Health Worker (CHW) and Associate Prevention Specialist (APS).
We have such great role models here at Hub City Outreach Center!
Operation Winter Wishlist
Through our Adopt-A-Neighbor Program, each year we select a low-income housing area and work with their site representative to sponsor the children's Winter Wishlists in honor of whatever holiday they may celebrate in the winter months. Our goal is to provide developmental and intentional gifts for youth that match their interests and desires. This event alleviates stress from families so they can focus on the necessities without the pressure from society and other influences during the holiday season. This year we sponsored 21 youth over 10 families from two service locations. Thank you to all out sponsors who went above and beyond for these kids!
Annual Winter Coat Drive
Each year we host a winter coat drive from mid-September to mid-January. During this time we focus our donation requests on winter-wear for our youth. Our youth clothing closet is available year-round, by appointment. During covid, we are accepting requests and will gather items for the families, instead of having families come to our site- unless otherwise approved. We wanted to give a huge thank you to Pecan Ridge, Crunch Fitness, Monterrey High School National Honor Society, El Molino, Wolfforth Farmers Market and all the families who did a little early spring cleaning! Our rough 2020 Coat Drive numbers were: 30 coats from Pecan Ridge; 14 blankets from community member, countless winter wear from Hispanic Association of Women; 68 jackets, gloves, beanies from Monterrey High School and many more from other amazing community members.
Adopt-A-Family Program 2020
Our Adopt-A-Neighbor program has many aspects to it. One that we do each November is the Adopt-A-Family event. This event allows us to provide meal distribution to amazing families who may just need a helping hand for extra kids, family or just in general. Our first year we fed 4 families. This year our goal was 10 families. We were able to exceed this goal and we fed 20 families!!!!! We are so thankful to all who donated. We are blessed to have had the help from H-E-B in Lubbock, where we purchased all the meal boxes from. Our fantastic staff safety delivered these meals to the families the day before Thanksgiving.
The 2020 National Prevention Specialist Conference -
This year, the National Prevention Conference was held virtually due to Covid-19 concerns. Fear not! This conference still had some amazing presenters cover some fantastic topics. November 9th - 13th (M-F)
had 100+ participants from across 14 states! Though this event has ended, you can still read about the presenters, their topics, and about the National Prevention Training Services, here. Adam (left) and Jonathan (right) discussed Mental Health and Drug Use in the Lubbock Community. This sometimes isn't an easy thing to discuss and isn't always easy to ensure people really understand however, these guys broke it down in a digestible way. Their 60 minute ride was one for the books, yall!!!
Congrats again to Adam and Jonathan for being so awesome and for putting HCOC on the MAP!!
Lubbock Chamber of Commerce; Young Professionals of Lubbock:
Lubbock's Chamber of Commerce mission is: Strengthen, promote and serve the business community.
Young Professionals of Lubbock is a group of active, civic-minded professionals who see Lubbock as a great place to live, work & play.
Both of these, plus more, describe our Director/Founder to a T! Megan Estrada is a 2020 recipient of the Young Professionals of Lubbock Top 20 Under 40 Award! It was a beautiful evening surrounded by family, friends, co-founders, co-workers and other outstanding West Texas citizens who share the same vision we do.
Congratulations Megan! You deserve this award and all of us at Hub City Outreach Center are so proud of you and how your dreams are changing lives everyday!
November is here!
Do you know a family who could benefit greatly from a complete Thanksgiving meal, for freeeee?
In 2019 we fed just 4 families!
This 2020 Thanksgiving, we are hoping to feed 25 families a full meal for four! Depending on the family's diet, each meal will generally come with: Cooked Turkey/Ham,Two Sides,Bread/Rolls,Dessert,Beverages.
You can follow these links if you would like to:
Nominate a family
Learn more about this program
Donate to be able to feed more families
Giving Tuesday 2020:
Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. The Community Foundation of West Texas (CFWTX) annually hosts Giving Tuesday for West Texas.
If we meet our Giving Tuesday Fundraising Goal of $5,000, CFWTX will match it!!
We are thankful to be participating for the second year in a row and we invite you to donate to our organization so we can continue to go above and beyond for our fellow West Texans!
Text "GIVE2HCOC" to 44-321 to donate!
You can also donate online by clicking here!
Follow this link to learn more about Giving Tuesday.
Baby Assistance!
On some occasions, we are able to assist with baby item assistance.
We will post available items when we have them.
If you need any baby items we have listed, please complete the form that can be found here.
Baby item assistance is not guaranteed.
We will assist if we can.
Red Ribbon Week 2020 Featuring: At'l Do Farms & Bean Elementary!
This year we teamed up with At'l Do Farms to bring you all an awesome Corn Maize experience you'll remember forever!
With additional collaboration with the PRC1, you could participate in our questions to make it through the maize in honor of Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is Oct. 24th - 31st.
Update: our questions are no longer available on-site, however you can still try your knowledge by viewing the questions here!
Each question will be tailored to Prevention. Try your knowledge over Health, Human Development, Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs, and Local Resources!!
We had the honor of being able to sponsor Bean Elementary School for Red Ribbon Week! Some of our local favorites donated Family Game Night packages for prizes during #RRW! The City Health Department; PRC1, Tova Coffeehouse +more!
Red Ribbon Week Themes:
Monday: Wear RED! [Kick-Off Day!]
Tuesday: Peace Out To Drugs [Wear Tye-Dye]
Wednesday: Let’s Taco ‘Bout Being Drug Free [Fiesta Themed]
Thursday: Drugs Have No Character [Superhero Themed]
Friday: Drugs Are A Nightmare!! [Halloween Costume]
See more Red Ribbon Week 2020 photos here!
A Special Thank You,
To Brooklyn S:
For doing an amazing job making Red Ribbon Week happen at Bean Elementary School while juggling the stress and inconvenience of the first big cold front that cancelled school for two days due to snow and dangerous conditions! Your Team is so proud of you!!!
To The PRC Region 1, Tova Coffeehouse and South Plains Mall:
We appreciate you all so much for putting together Family Game Night Packages for the families at Bean. We are thankful for your dedication to this West Texas community!
More photos from Bean's RRW can be found here.
Hub City Outreach Center's 3rd Annual Halloween Bash:
We hope that everyone has a SAFE Halloween in 2020. We are saddened to announce we will not host our Annual Halloween Event this year. However, come by At'l Do Farms on Saturday, October 31st from 11a-2p and find our booth to see what fun you can have at the Corn Maize!
Please keep in mind, extra precautions need to be taken due to Coronavirus.
Please please please respect everyone during this difficult time.
Check out some tips for a fun, safe Halloween by clicking here!
With Kindest Regards,
The Hub City Outreach Center Team is deeply saddened by the loss of sweet Rory Thomas. We lost a great woman who LOVED her community and giving back to it was her driving motivation. No matter what, Lubbock Impact came first and each person in/around that building as well. You did some amazing things for that organizations.
HCOC is honored to have been a part of your story, Rory. We are forever grateful you agreed to listen to our pitch to allow us to begin to provide services to the families of Lubbock Impact. You helped us as a pilot site and we learned so much together. Outstanding growth came out of those Wednesday evenings. The strength you poured into the lives who encompass LI from workers to volunteers, to service recipients will never be forgotten.
HCOC is keeping the Lubbock Impact Team & The Thomas Family in our thoughts.
Thank you, Rory, for believing in us.
Nurture Your Health!
Our team worked diligently to collect school supplies, prizes and monetary donations for our Third Annual Back-to-School Event! This year, it looked different due to Coronavirus. We held an virtual scavenger hunt. The virtual scavenger hunt consisted of "vendors" from our community that covered all 8 Dimensions of Wellness: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Social, Spiritual, Occupational, Financial, Environmental. Students solved clues and found items hidden in throughout website to uncover vendor's websites. Additionally, each solved clue provided a letter, which was used to decode a final message. With your help, we were able to provide 150+ backpacks to students for the 2020-2021 academic school year! About 45 hygiene bags were given to larger families. Over $600.00 in prizes were given at random. "Nurture Your Health" was the secret message! If you are still needing school supplies, please click here or visit the Education Assistance under Services for more information on how we can help.
Thank you again to our vendors, donors, supporters and participants!
Here is a list of dedicated vendors and donors from our event, show them some love:
Community Foundation of West Texas, Children’s Advocacy Center of the South Plains (CACSP), Contact Lubbock, Communities In Schools (CIS), Methodist Children’s Home (MCH), Catholic Charities, Bucker FYi, Bucker FHC, Texas Tech University’s Risk Intervention and Safety Education (RISE), Superior, Poison Control (Local Entity), National Institute of Health (NIH, for kids!), Swyft Filings, Walmart, El Molino, Amerigroup, Hartman Roofing Lubbock, YoungScholarUSA, South Plains Mall, Journeys Counseling Center, FirstCare, OWL Logistics, Galvan Auto and Truck Electric, TTUHSC Office of Institutional Health, Blue Sky Lubbock, Sugar + Six Soap Company, Dr. Al Kharrat Houssam MD Office, T. Katey, M. Salazar, D. Flores, M. Wishnia, E. Salazar, H. Delgado, L. Powers, B. Reitmeyer and R. Gideon.
Did you have fun participating in our scavenger hunt?
It was a little harder than you might have expected. That is because it was a learning activity. If you did not read all the directions, you might not have had all the information to complete the activity. We apologize if it was hard. We have put to answers on the event page. You may still participate and try these out with your family. (click on the scavenger hunt flier to go to the page!)
WHY A SCAVENGER HUNT?
- Introduction to Intellectual Humor. Laughter is just good for the soul and when you are learning something new laughter helps motivate you a little bit more. It helps relieve stress and also helps fight boredom. So when kids learn riddles it breaks up standard learning, but yet allows the brain to continue to work in a whole new way.
- Teaches Problem Solving Skills. Problem solving is one of the most important things we can teach our kids and riddles help improve kid’s problem-solving skills in a challenging, yet fun way.
- Critical Thinking Skills. Critical thinking is a key component kids use while solving riddles. As kids solve riddles, they learn how to critically think more in-depth which improves comprehension and creativity.
- Expands Vocabulary. As kids read and solve riddles, they are constantly expanding their vocabulary. They are learning new words and multiple meanings and ways to use words. Riddles for kids help kids understand words by using words in a variety of different contexts to help expand your child’s vocabulary.
- Share Their Knowledge. As kids learn riddles, they have the opportunity to learn new skills and words and then share them with others. They can share these riddles with siblings, friends, teachers, and even parents. As your child shares this knowledge it not only reinforces the skills, they are learning through riddles but learns socialization skills as well.
- Creates Bonds. By sharing the love of riddles with your kids you are helping them create bonds with you as well as their peers. If your child is shy sometimes it just takes one riddle to get them interacting and laughing with peers. This interaction creates lifelong bonds with their peers.
- Establish a Love for Learning. When kids first begin telling and trying to solve riddles it is fun! They love it because it makes them laugh and they enjoy figuring out the riddle. They don’t realize they are “learning” while they are doing it. Riddles help establish a lifelong love of reading.
Community Covid-19 Relief Fund Project-
We raised funds to be able to provide a quick, 3-month relief project in Lubbock County. In May, June and July we raised $10,650.00. We spoke with 451 families* and serviced 349 of those families. 146 Food Vouchers from the SPFB were administered. We paid 35 different family bills with a max of $150.00!
*Due to proximity limitations, we were not able to serve all applicants, mainly for funding restriction requirements to service only Lubbock CO and also a few other reasons outside of our control, such as applicants applying and never following through.
Interested in making a difference with no effort?! Host a Drive-Thru Pill Disposal Pouch Event!
Click here to Contact us!
Drive-Thru Medicine Disposal Pouches
In 2017, more than 6 million Americans misused prescription drugs, and 2,500 American kids abuse prescription drugs for the first time every day.
Each year, the Drug Enforcement Agency hosts a Take Back Day, and in 2019 they recovered 882,919 pounds of unused prescription medication. This year, that event has been indefinitely delayed, and these pouch giveaway days seek to meet that need.
Absorb some information about Prescription Drug Misuse/Abuse below:
Don't Mess With Beautiful Texas!!
Hub City Outreach Center has officially ADOPTED A HIGHWAY! What does this mean? Well 4x a year we will set out to clean the US 62/82, Beginning at FM 1729, Continuing East for 2 miles section of the highway! If you want to join for some community service or volunteer work, please reach out to us! Keep an eye out for the updates. We will announce ~30 days from each clean up. We will provide all trash bags AND safety wear that is required for everyone's safety.
If you are an employer looking for community service or volunteer work for your students, youth or adults, reach out to us and we can arrange something that can accommodate both parties!
May 10-16 is National Prevention Week!
Below you read all about how Prevention can go a long way! Practicing good health hygiene can prevent a world-wide pandemic, imagine what a little education about substances can do to prevent overdose, addiction and death...
Each year, National Prevention Week includes daily themes to focus on major substance use and mental health topics. Click any link below to LEARN more! The 2020 daily themes are:
Monday, May 11: Preventing Prescription Drug and Opioid Misuse
Tuesday, May 12: Preventing Underage Drinking and Alcohol Misuse
Wednesday, May 13: Preventing Illicit Drug Use and Youth Marijuana Use
Thursday, May 14: Preventing Youth Tobacco Use (E-Cigarettes and Vaping)
Friday, May 15: Preventing Suicide
WANT TO GET INVOLVED AND WIN FREE STUFF?!
Each day this week, Hub City Outreach Center CHALLENGES YOU to show us how you do Prevention! Tag us in your photos/videos AND use ALL 3 of the hashtags #HubCityOutreachCenter #NationalPreventionWeek #NPW2020 #PreventionHappensHere
OR send us your photos/videos to
Team@HubCityOutreachCenter.org
OR direct message us on social media!!
We are here to serve you and we would love to see you doing your thang!! Click the image to the right to enlarge and see our challenges!!!
We will select ONE LUCKY WINNER WHO PARTICIPATED TO RECEIVE AN AMAZING COVID-19 RELIEF PACKAGE!
;
Our winner of the Covid-19 Relief Package was Gracie and Kassidy. These ladies participated and showed amazing insight to what prevention in the home can look like! We were so glad to see so many submissions from them! We hope you both enjoy the amazing care package!
Did you miss us on KLBK TWICE!?!?
It's ok, both our interviews are found below:
Additionally, if you need Covid-19 Relief Assistance CLICK ME!
How is self-quarantine going?
We understand this is a stressful time that we are all trying to navigate in different circumstances.
With that being said, we are doing a COVID-19 Items Drive!!
Please read below for ALL details:
We are requesting male and female hygiene products, non-parishable/long shelf-life food items and basic needs items or monetary donations for these items to be purchased. Long story short, we know what toll this will have on the people we serve (youth and their families), and we need your help getting them items they need to survive. Though we cannot estimate the toll it will have on the community as a whole, all leftover donations and funds will go to assistance of the community at-large.
*all items quarantined for 4 days prior to delivery and are packaged and sanitized by our healthy staff members using protective gear*
Reminder that your donation is tax deductible whether it is tangible or monetary; just be sure to request the receipt from us.
*all items quarantined for 4 days prior to delivery and are packaged and sanitized by our healthy staff members using protective gear*
[Brief clarification on the photo used above: this photo was taken by our Founder, Megan, who is battling cancer and wears a mask every time she is at treatment and highly populated arenas. We wanted to clarify that we are not wasting supplies for a photo. This is her reality, amongst other peoples reality.]
In these COVID-19 times, we are making changes
because we want to ensure you can still receive our Prevention Services!
We have made our Resource page open to the public. Usually, we bring resources and referral information with us to our sites for our service recipients. However, in order to still serve you, we wanted to make sure you all still had access to assistance and growth opportunities.
Our Resource page is updated monthly. Please take advantage of the opportunity to educate yourselves, protect yourselves and strengthen your families with our resources. If you would like additional assistance, please contact us and we can refer your to one of our trusted experts in life.
If you: have a resource, are a resource, or know of a resource that you would like for us to put on our resource list, let us know!
Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month is APRIL!
We have gathered a few resources for our fellow Providers but also, for our families that may be experiencing feelings that could be detrimental for both the adult and the child. We want you to know that these feelings are only negative if you are not willing to get assistance with them.
If you see a child in trouble, you can report concerns at 1-800-252-5400
Call the Abuse Hotline toll-free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, nationwide, or report with our secure website and get a response within 24 hours.
( https://www.txabusehotline.org/Login/Default.aspx )
Childwelfare 101 , Children's Bureau Resources 1 , Children's Bureau Resources 2 , Help Guide , Protect Your Loved Ones
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!
Our Executive Director, Megan and our Program Director, Jonathan are shown in this photo the Addiction, Recovery and Families Conference hosted at Texas Tech University. The super cool Program Coordinator, Adam was also at the conference, he just didn't make the photo! Our entire team really enjoys getting new knowledge, learning about the community, networking with other organizations and being able to take knowledge and pass it on to others!
Curriculum Training!!
Our YPS staff had the pleasure of traveling to Dallas early March to get trained in Youth Connection - CBSG! Our staff had an intensive 1-day training to get all the knowledge pertaining to their primary Evidence-Based Curriculum for Selective Populations.
FIT & FUN FAIR!!!
You can come visit with us, play a game and get some Prevention knowledge, get a free hair cut, listen to some awesome speakers talk about things you need to hear to keep yourself and your family healthy, get your immunizations, screenings and check ups and enjoy a beautiful day at Buckner's Fit & Fun Health Fair on March 7th! Click the flier for more information!
We geared up and traveled down south...
To equip our staff with all the tools they need to go out in the community to deliver Prevention services, we took the whole team to Georgetown, TX!
Our staff enjoyed learning about ATOD, Ethics, Suicide Prevention, Supervising PS, Crisis Intervention, Special Populations, Culture and MORE! We spent 4 full days gaining great knowledge to spread throughout the Lubbock County!
January 27th, 2020, The Lubbock Chamber of Commerce hosted
a Ribbon Cutting for our NEW Prevention Services building!!
