About Us

Our Beginnings

In 1993, four women volunteers from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ recognized an opportunity to help young exhibitors facing hardships. They formed a group to reach out to students, and with generous donations from friends the organization grew, and these ladies were able to help students with financial hardships incurred while participating.   A new name, “Amigas Para Niños” was chosen and it became a 501(c)(3) organization in 1997, with the Taxpayer ID of 76-0512960.

Who We Are Now

We have 46 active members and 17 sustaining members guided by our founding mission which has grown to include even more charitable giving.  We enjoy a very rich “dotted line” relationship with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, as our members serve that organization in leadership and volunteer positions.  The youth we assist generally come from the youth auction exhibitor pool or rodeo source organizations such as 4-H or FFA.

We follow the traditional three-year cycle for Board leadership.  The current leadership team, with a term expiring May 2026, is as follows:

President	Funding VP	Treasurer Finance	Treasurer Gala	Secretary	Social Chair
Karen McLeod	Mary Raia	Sharleen Walkoviak	Angie Schwartz	Alicia B. Jimerson	Jennifer Van Matre

Our Annual Fundraiser

We support our work with the help of our loyal group of donors.  Each year we present our highly anticipated fundraiser – a fall favorite!  There are two members who manage the gala; the chair and co-chair serve for one year.  Then the major role of chair transfers to the co-chair and another co-chair is named.  All members work together to procure interesting, special items for our gala and invite potential new donors to support our mission.  It is a lovely event and we, as Amigas, wear many hats prior to and during the evening.  Thanks to our generous supporters, this event enables Amigas to enlarge our impact, helping more students.  Amigas pride soars high all evening long!

Our Members