• National news story highlights the difference Baylor’s Parents Network makes

    Baylor family

    Last week, the Associated Press ran a story on the demise of the care package, specifically those being sent by parents to their college-age children. The story cited stories of how parents from all across the country support their kids — but even the Ivy League-educated reporter noted there was something unique about Baylor parents:

    “Parents of kids at Baylor University, a Christian school in Texas, have different priorities: They hold parent meetings around the country to assemble care packages together, and they tuck Scripture verses in with the toothbrushes and snacks.”

    Those meetings are part of the Baylor Parents Network, which incorporates Baylor parents into the Baylor family. The Parents Network offers resources to help moms and dads adjust to their children leaving the nest, while at the same time bringing together Baylor parents to support one another and their students.

    More than three dozen chapters are scattered across Texas, and three dozen more outside the state connect Baylor parents from as farflung locations as Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. Regular events include Send Off Parties each summer, monthly prayer meetings throughout the year, and “Bear Care” packaging parties, in which parents meet to assemble care packages for their children and children’s friends.

    Perhaps the most telling statement about the community built within the Baylor Parents Network is this: Many of the network’s most active volunteers are parents whose kids have long since graduated — moms and dads, many of whom didn’t even attend Baylor, who remain active in the Parents Network because of the friends they’ve made and the good they see being done.

    Want to join them in helping support Baylor students (whether yours or others)? Click here to find a chapter near you.

    Sic ’em, Baylor Parents Network!