Friends Of The Farm (FOTF): Samuell Farm, Dallas, TX: Community

Community Outreach Services

New Hope Programs

In her book, Growing Up In Dallas, Hazael Beckett, niece of Dr. W.W. Samuell describes the influence of her childhood experiences at New Hope, Texas, near what is now Samuell Farm:

"When I look at the old snapshots of the farmhouse, the farm machinery, and especially, the Kissel, I wonder why these scenes once held magic for me. But The Country was magic, a place where one could be oneself. Not only was it a real place, but it was also a state of mind. We all came to look upon it as our physical as well as our spiritual refuge.

Fortunately, I remember nothing of the toil and tedium of the move to New Hope. I do remember waking up in the open-skyed place where I had met the bantam hen and being turned out to pasture like a colt. While the serious heavy work of "modernization" was going on, I was given the run of the five-acre paddock-fenced front yard. I explored this new and unbelievable territory with the gusto of my free-lancing ancestors, and I was enchanted with the newness of life. After the move to The Country, I was never bored again."

New Hope! More than the name of a small settlement on the Blackland prairie near Samuell Farm, it is a promise and a purpose to the supporters of FOTF. FOTF believes the activities that will take place at Samuell Farm will be a source of new hope for many – for children suffering from the pain of divorce, disease or despair, for individuals who lament the loss of open spaces, and for citizens who long to make a difference in their community. Through the New Hope Programs at Samuell Farm, FOTF will make the park available to organizations serving many special needs. On-site opportunities include educational and vocational training, community service assignments, and rehabilitation activities.

At Samuell Farm, children and their parents/guardians may share a variety of outdoor activities including fishing, camping, hiking, softball, volleyball, and hayrides. Children will learn about nature. Parents will learn about "quality" time. Together, they will see wildlife in a natural environment, learn camping and cooking skills, and develop new confidence on nature hikes and trail rides.

-{Boy Scout Bridge}-

The goals of the New Hope Program are not only to relieve present suffering, but to foster lasting relationships by providing common, memorable experiences involving parent and child. By its efforts to strengthen parent-child relationships, the organization further hopes to reduce the economic burden to society associated with abused and neglected children, foster care, child support collection, visitation issues, and juvenile crime.

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