After seven years at the helm of revamping and turning Hill Country Family Services into one of the area’s more formidable agencies, Chief Executive Officer Staci Almager is moving on, ready for life’s next assignment.
Almager established the nonprofit as one of the area’s “go to” agencies when help is needed and response is crucial.
Almager in 2018 took a waffling agency with little to no guidance or direction and turned it into one of the county’s more active agencies dealing with law enforcement, emergency and other service organizations.
“Now, without exaggeration, we’re a best-in-class, most-respected agency in this county,” she said, as she prepares on July 15 to become the Chief Development Officer with the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.
“Based on the depth of the work we do, the depth of the relationship we have and the responsibility we have taken on, (HCFS has) become the change-maker for the growth of our community.”
One example, she said, is HCFS’s partnering with the Boerne Police Department and Kendall County Sheriff’s Office to fund receipt of the LifeSpot app — active shooter safety response system — downloaded by more than 3,000 county residents for use if there’s an active shooter situation anywhere in the county.
HCFS secured $150,000 in community donations to make that happen. “That in itself affects almost every person who lives in our community,” she added.
Another is HCFS’s response to the lack of mental health and behavioral health services in the community. Working with law enforcement, school and other organizations, the Kendall County Behavioral Health Advisory Coalition was formed in 2023.
HCFS “has changed the entire dynamic of our community with how it communicates, how it responds; it’s now collective, instead of individual. And we, as an organization, we did that,” she said.
In taking HCFS to “go-to” status among city and county leadership, “you want to make sure you’re filling the gaps in services that are most needed within the community and creating collaborations and partnerships while doing so,” she added.
“We’re the hub of nonprofit. We are the first call, first flush. The first ‘go’ is to contact Hill Country Family Services, and our staff is trained and ready to deploy information, people and resources, 24 hours a day,” she said.
After seven years and getting HCFS to its present point, Almager knew a change was coming.
“I remember knowing there’s going to be a moment when I'm going to have to hand this to someone who has ‘a little bit more’ than I do,” she said.
She approached the HCFS board about six months ago and informed them she wanted to pursue her P.hD. and move on, professionally.
“I want to do something else professionally that will give me more flexibility so I can focus on the things that are next in my life,” she said.
Enter Bryce Boddie. Boddie, she said, soon became part of the agency's formal corporate succession plan.
“Bryce is going to tell us what’s next, because I did what I said I would do,” she said. “I set out to right the ship and create a stable, ethical, highly moral organization that put the community first, and established relationships with individuals who trusted the word and the work that we do.”
She has basic and literal advice for Boddie and the agency as it moves forward without her.
“There’s three things you need to do,” she said. “Make sure we have money in the bank, make sure there’s money coming in, and that we are upholding the moral integrity of the organization.”
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