Celebrating the Ultimate Boy Mom

After her seventh son was born, Patti Yetter, who always had wanted a daughter, resigned herself to being the ultimate boy mom. She and her husband raised their sons in the North Houston area, where they attended Westfield and Klein High Schools. Patti grew up in El Paso, and she credits her Lebanese parents for shaping her parenting style to be fiercely loving, faith-filled, and protective – always looking out for her children ahead of herself.

While all mothers should be celebrated, in 2022, the Yetter boys wanted to do something extra for their mom. The first shift they made was to celebrate her on Lebanese Mother’s Day in March and American Mother’s Day in May. This was a notable shift in their family as she would not share this celebration with anyone else. It was a unique, memorable day just for her.

In addition, for Lebanese Mother’s Day 2022, Patti’s oldest son Chris wanted to expand on their new Mother’s Day tradition. Instead of relying on Venmo and Thomas, the brother closest to home, to buy flowers and a card for their mom, they wanted to honor Patti by donating to a Houston-based nonprofit. Chris participated in Greater Houston Community Foundation’s Next Gen Donor Institute. Using similar tools that he learned from that class, he and his brothers identified the “motivational values and interests” they had seen their mother prioritize through her prior charitable work and giving. They narrowed the focus areas to a Catholic organization, a charity that supports children, or the foster care system. Eventually, they pooled money to make a generous gift to Casa de Esperanza, a charity Chris had just learned about and visited through the Next Gen Donor Institute and Giving Circle.

Patti was deeply touched when she learned about the donation to Casa de Esperanza in her honor. Her sons knew her so well, but little did they know Casa de Esperanza was one of the many Catholic-sponsored charities she had supported for decades!

We asked Chris Yetter, “captain” of this effort, more about the motivation for this incredible gesture by him and his brothers for their mom. He shared that his parents have modeled charitable behavior since he was four or five years old without explicitly discussing philanthropy or donating. He shared how around Thanksgiving each year, his family would go to Sam’s Club and load up large carts with basic needs like blankets, canned goods, Ziploc bags, or water. Then, as a family, they would drop the items off at a Houston-based homeless shelter or food bank.

In addition to this Thanksgiving tradition, Chris shared how his parents have always dedicated a part of their income to the family’s Parish and other charities. This is something that would have been easy to delay or reduce as their family kept growing, but his parents held steadfast in this commitment to the larger community. When Chris got his first job, his Dad encouraged him to do the same, telling him, “Whatever number you set, it is a personal decision. It is your choice. But start now and stick to it.” Chris ran with the advice, and as his career advanced, even a small percentage grew to have a bigger impact.

Realizing that he now could have a larger impact, Chris wanted to develop his own philanthropic strategy. First, in partnership with Greater Houston Community Foundation, he developed the Pi-Squared Scholarship for graduating high school seniors in the Spring, Klein, and Houston school districts planning to pursue a “STEM” major. Recently, he also participated in the Next Gen Donor Institute to learn best practices for starting a philanthropic program for his company based in New York City.

Whether we love it or fight it, our upbringing shapes how we think about our impact on the community around us. The earlier that people are engaged in learning, volunteering, and giving back to the community, the more likely they are to have it ingrained into their everyday lives, just like the Yetter brothers have done.

ABOUT CASA DE ESPERANZA

Casa de Esperanza de los Ninos strives to break the cycle of child abuse and neglect for at-risk infants, children, and their families by providing comprehensive residential and family support programs that transform people and communities.