Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation
Foundation Board of Trustees, 2025–2026
President
Julie McCuen
Vice President
Heidi Binet
Secretary
Melissa Garlington
Treasurer
Mary French
Advisor
Jolyn Scheirman
Greggory Burk
Courtney Cook
Valerie Dieterich
Julie Grandt
Jennifer Hazelton
Dana Johnson
Nicole Katz
Georgia Piazza
Jill Smith
Eloise Taussig
On March 23, 1994, the Pi Beta Phi Houston Alumnae Club voted unanimously to create the Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation to receive and distribute funds for charitable literacy purposes in the greater Houston area. The Houston Foundation was incorporated in the State of Texas on March 29, 1994, and was approved as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
The mailing address of the Houston Foundation is:
1940 Fountain View #424
Houston, Texas 77057
The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation receives and disburses funds to:
PI BETA PHI PATIENT FAMILY LIBRARY AT TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER
In 1984, the Pi Beta Phi Houston Alumnae Club opened the first Pi Beta Phi patient family library in a refurbished linen closet at Texas Children’s Hospital. Since 1984, The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation has gifted over one million dollars to support the library. Today, the newly renovated library has a much larger space and offers something for everyone: books for all ages, computers, foreign language books, a family resource room, DVDs, games, and puzzles, plus special events and story times. Open Monday through Friday, the library serves over 2,700 patients and visitors.
PI BETA PHI BOOK NOOKS
In 1999 Pi Beta Phi Book Nooks were introduced for the reading enjoyment of those who visit all the numerous Texas Children’s Pediatric Associates, health centers, and on-campus clinics.
PI BETA PHI PATIENT FAMILY LIBRARY AT TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL WEST CAMPUS
Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus opened in 2011, and with the Pi Beta Phi Patient Family Library’s central location, it is a favorite spot for inpatients, outpatients, and their families. It is much like the main campus library, offering a broad array of resources, thus providing much needed diversion and enjoyment for patients and their families.
PI BETA PHI LITERACY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MD ANDERSON CHILDREN’S CANCER HOSPITAL
This program provides an opportunity to promote active-reading practices throughout the Children’s Cancer Hospital for patients and their families adjusting to life with cancer. Patients and their families have the active use of the Pi Beta Phi mobile library, Pi Beta Phi book fun shelves, and literacy through the arts. The program also supports reading programming and material for the children who are enrolled in the school program through the hospital.
BO’S PLACE PI BETA PHI LIBRARY
Bo’s Place provides children, families, and adults who have faced a significant loss a safe place where they can express their feelings openly with others in grief and begin the healing needed to continue their lives in a healthy and productive manner. Grief and bereavement books are selected to respond to varied readers, including children, teens, young adults, and parents. The Pi Beta Phi lending library is available to the children and family members who attend Bo’s Place grief support groups and in support of the therapy sessions.
CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF HOUSTON
The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation supports education and literacy through Children’s Museum Houston’s Thursday free family night story times program. Museum educators facilitate three story times every Thursday evening, facilitating them in English and Spanish and then encouraging every child to select a book to take home from a wide selection of popular English, Spanish, and bilingual titles. This program provides free books to children, enabling parents to continue the story time experience in their own homes.
FRATERNITY DAY OF SERVICE
The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation supports a yearly service program for all club members to participate in along with our local Houston based philanthropies. This service day allows members of our club to visit one or more of our philanthropy partner locations and participate in a chosen activity. Past activities have included handing out books to take home, helping with a book fair, and reading to children at a library or classroom story time.
LITERACY NOW
Literacy Now provides reading readiness and reading intervention programs, a mentorship program with trained volunteers, and an interactive parent engagement: elements that contribute to children’s long-term success. We support children and their families in public schools and community sites throughout Houston, increasing the likelihood that children will graduate from high school and be ready to pursue postsecondary goals. The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation provides critical funding for materials and supplies for Literacy Now’s reading intervention program, which provides 25 weeks of individualized small-group reading instruction for K through second graders with the goal of creating proficient readers by the end of third grade. The program is specifically designed to close the gap between students’ reading-grade level and their actual grade level.
NEHEMIAH CENTER PI BETA PHI LIBRARY
The Nehemiah Center is a unique initiative, offering a personal intimate private education to children living in poverty. The mission of Nehemiah Center is “Neighbors helping neighbors create a safe haven in which children are motivated, inspired, and equipped to realize their God-given potential.” The Nehemiah Center Pi Beta Phi Library provides books for early childhood, pre-kindergarten, and elementary levels, as well as textbooks and reading books for Nehemiah Middle School.
NEUHAUS CENTER PI BETA PHI LIBRARY
Neuhaus Education Center has provided teaches professional development in research-based methods of literacy instruction for more than 30 years. The center and the Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation are working together to further the development of an audio and video library, which will provide audio books, online learning resources and other programming for the adult literacy program.
PI BETA PHI BOOK CENTER AT DEPELCHIN CHILDREN’S CENTER
DePelchin Children Center serves Houston-area children annually through its foster care and residential treatment center programs. Additionally, thousands of at-risk children in our community receive mental health and family strengthening services, provided by an array of DePelchin programs. Pi Beta Phi provides funding for books selected by the children’s case managers and therapists. Books are available in English and Spanish; many are selected by DePelchin staff to help children to heal from past trauma.
SMALL STEPS NURTURING CENTER
Small Steps Nurturing Center’s comprehensive, high-quality early childhood education program prepares children living in poverty for success in elementary school and life. Small Steps’ nationally accredited program seeks to narrow the opportunity gap for their students and supports their holistic development, with the ultimate goal of changing the cycle of intergenerational poverty for their families and community. Small Steps lays the groundwork for student success by providing a high-quality education, social and emotional support, a nurturing Christian environment, nutritious meals, and transportation to children ages two through six. Through operating two preschools serving the Fifth Ward and Gulfton and Sharpstown areas, they create a community of learning and support for their students and families. The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation funds books and literacy resources for Small Steps Nurturing Center that promote literacy and help break the cycle of poverty.
IWRITE
Founded in 2009, the iWRITE non-profit organization builds student confidence through writing. iWRITE provides opportunities to students in the third through 12th grades that encourage creativity and success. Over 2,000 students have been professionally published through the annual publishing contest, thousands of students have utilized iWRITE’s curriculum through in-school and after-school writing programs, and aspiring writers participate in youth club and internships and become contributors to the iWRITER Magazine. The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation funds educational programs and materials utilized inside some of Houston’s most underserved elementary schools that increase a love for literacy and boosts writing confidence.
YELLOWSTONE ACADEMY
Yellowstone Academy was founded in 2001 to provide a high-quality faith-based education exclusively for children from very low-income families in Houston’s inner city. The school provides children living in poverty with the academic, social, and spiritual foundation they need to reach their full potential. Yellowstone currently serves more than 300 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The Houston Pi Beta Phi Foundation funds books and educational programs for Yellowstone that promote literacy and help break the cycle of poverty for at risk students.