Frances Hall
“Helping out at DePelchin is a way to give something back.”
As a nurse for more than 30 years, Frances Hall has been a caring advocate for her patients. It is a role that carries over to her service as an ArtBridge volunteer at DePelchin’s Isabel Elkins Residential Treatment Center (RTC).
ArtBridge is a nonprofit organization whose volunteers present weekly, hour-long sessions that allow children to discover their creative voices and experience the joy of making art. The program focuses on homeless children, including those living in shelters and treatment facilities across Houston. ArtBridge has a partnership with DePelchin’s RTC, which provides stabilization and intensive treatment for children with issues so severe that they are not able to function successfully in a home setting. Hall spends Thursday evenings engaging RTC residents in creative art projects that offer a safe, structured space free from judgment and expectation.
“I’m not an artist,” she humbly explained. “I’m a presence… someone to be there to give the kids encouragement and constancy. I don’t know their individual stories or even their last names, but they’re all going through very difficult challenges and seem to benefit from the structure, openness and selfexpression that the art sessions provide.”
Hall and her fellow volunteers are not teachers; rather, they participate in the projects alongside the children, praising and encouraging them every step of the way.
“It’s very typical for the kids to sometimes get frustrated and say things like, ‘I didn’t do this right’ or ‘I messed this up.’” Hall explained. “But that’s when I remind them that some of the biggest mistakes turn out to be prettiest pictures.”
For Hall, the joy of volunteering at DePelchin comes in watching the changes that occur in children over time. Many reside in the RTC for months before they are able to be placed in a home environment with a foster or adoptive family. This allows Hall to form a bond and to be a continuous presence in the child’s life. She has seen many enter the program withdrawn and defeated, only to see them leave happier and more self-assured.
While she loves art and has been an ArtBridge volunteer at DePelchin for three years, Hall does not consider herself an artist. She does, however, enjoy jewelry making and Chinese watercolor. She is a native Houstonian and a nurse at Annunciation Greek Orthodox School. She enjoys reading, gardening and taking classes at the Jung Educational Center. Hall and her husband, Greg, married 33 years, have three grown children and are looking forward to being grandparents soon.
“I’m very grateful for my wonderful life and upbringing,” she said.
