Texana Center received a $7,000 grant from the Exchange Club of Sugar Land from funds raised during their Annual Spaghetti Cook Off. Kate Johnson-Patagoc, Director, Specialized Children’s Services was invited to attend the Sugar Land Exchange Club’s breakfast meeting as the guest speaker and for the check presentation.

Carlos Perez, President presented the donation which will be applied to the purchase of new playground equipment for the Texana Children’s Center for Autism. The playground structure will replace existing old and rusting equipment, and will offer many opportunities for learning. Play often does not come naturally to children with autism and they have to be specifically taught play skills that seem to come easily to most typically developing children. For most children, the playground is usually the first place where they engage with other children and with the world at large. Play is important for developing language, appropriate emotional responses, problem solving and creative skills in children as well as the social skills that are the foundation for all relationships. The Texana Children’s Center for Autism uses applied behavior analysis to carefully assess each child’s individual skills and then develop a program to specifically teach these important activities. “We are delighted to be able to replace our old playground with an attractive play structure and playhouse for our children ages 2 to 5 years. We are very grateful to the Exchange Club of Sugar Land for their continued support of our autism program and for this donation”. said Kate Johnson-Patagoc.

The Exchange Club of Sugar Land has been serving the community and improving the quality of life through donations to various non-profit organizations in Fort Bend County for many years.