Our Charities

Our Purpose is Helping Children

Since inception, Pin Oak has followed the mission set out by its founding members, a mission that has importance far beyond the show ring - that mission is ‘Helping Children’. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston's Ronald McDonald House Family Rooms and Candlelighters Childhood Cancer and Family Alliance are our chosen charity partners. Each one does an amazing job of supporting the child and their family throughout the treatment and recovery process.

Along with visits from Spirit, our pony ambassador, and various riders, the children have a further opportunity to be involved with the show via the Horsey Art Project. Each year, children of Houston's Ronald McDonald House^® and Texas Children’s Hospital offer their artistic talents to Pin Oak by creating colorful horse images that are used in show promotions and souvenirs.

Lynn Walsh, president of Pin Oak Charity Horse Show, presents a
check for $125,000 to Dr. Charles T. Hankins, Chief Medical Officer
for Texas Children's Hospital West Campus. Also pictured are
Ketrese White, Roxanne Cook, Mary Jones and Rachael Walker.

In recent years, Pin Oak has helped to fund the Family Room/Expansion program that is a joint project between Houston's Ronald McDonald House^® and The Texas Children’s Hospital. Located inside Texas Children’s Hospital, moms and dads, and sometimes grandparents too, can stay overnight to remain close to their child in intensive care or their premature baby in neonatal intensive care. Fear and fatigue are the constant companions of parents struggling to make sense of their child’s life-threatening illness.

Inside the warmth of the House, they find a kitchen where home baked cookies are always available, a lounge area where families can retreat to discuss the events of the day and private bedrooms and baths. These bedrooms are used by day from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm for naps, and by night for sleeping. This flexible arrangement allows the Houston's Ronald McDonald House Family Rooms to serve 40 families in a 24-hour time frame.

In Houston, across the nation and around the world, families know they can rely on Texas Children’s Hospital for exceptional medical care. They know they can turn to Texas Children's Hospital for innovations in research and pioneering discoveries in childhood diseases. And they know that the best pediatric physicians to safeguard the health of their children are those trained at Texas Children's Hospital.

Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, with the third youngest population. As the city continues to grow, its epicenter is moving westward. The pediatric population in this area has been growing rapidly since 2000 and is expected to have increased 51 percent - exceeding 400,000 children - by 2015.

Texas Children's Hospital is anticipating the needs such growth will create and is responding with the creation of one of the most comprehensive suburban children’s hospitals in the nation. The Pin Oak Charity Horse show is dedicated to supporting this new construction for the next several years.

This new hospital campus, located on 55 acres near Barker Cypress Road at Interstate 10, will include a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services. The project will expand in phases over the next several years. Phase 1, opened in the spring of 2010, and included a 190,000 square-foot outpatient building with physician offices and will offer services in 15 pediatric speciality areas. Phase II, scheduled to open in the fall of 2010, will offer a 280,000 square-foot inpatient facility with 48 intermediate and acute care patient beds, surgical suites, advanced imaging and disgnostic services and the David and Mary Wolff Emergency Center. Eventually, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus facilities will include up to 500,000 square feet and 96 liscensed beds.

Candlelighters Childhood Cancer and Family Alliance provides emotional, educational and practical support to children with cancer and their families. Not everyone is prepared for the thousands of dollars that a family will spend on parking, meals, and groceries while their child is undergoing treatment and how Candlelighters is there to ease that burden. Individuals, corporations, and many groups come together with Candlelighters each year to provide a special holiday for hundreds of children and their families. No family has to face childhood cancer alone.