Well-Being Matters is an on-going series highlighting different members of our community and how they impact their well-being. Texas Health Community Hope engages in a broad range of innovative programs, investments, and collaborations outside hospital walls to promote a lifetime of holistic health and well-being. This month we meet Bret Helmer, President of R4 Foundation. Helmer is a product of Arlington Heights High School. After graduating from the University of Texas and St. Mary’s University School of Law, Helmer served in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office, then as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office. For almost a decade, R4 Foundation has directed resources to a variety of causes in Tarrant County.

Q:  R4 Foundation was funded by the Reynolds family in 2015. How did you become involved?

A: Walt and Donald Reynolds are friends of mine, and they are also products of the Fort Worth ISD. They are lifelong learners, seekers, and humble people. They purchased their dad’s business, The Reynolds Company, and grew it from one shop on the Northside to a regional and now global presence. They have always been philanthropic, but they were sometimes giving in inefficient ways. They wanted a philanthropic strategy.

Q: The Reynolds family commitment to donating to local child-serving charities dovetailed nicely with an epiphany you had while working as a federal prosecutor.

A: The Reynolds are big on serving children whenever we can. I was on a detail in Washington, D.C. working as a specialty gang prosecutor with Project Safe Neighborhoods. I had been strictly dealing in enforcement, but what hadn’t occurred to me is that prevention and intervention strategies are the friends of law enforcement. A third-grade literacy program or an effective after-school program may keep children who are challenged by trauma out of the law enforcement pipeline. I came home and told Walt and Donald these stories.

Q: What sticks with you most from your time as a Crimes Against Children prosecutor?

A: While at the District Attorney’s Office, I was one of five special prosecutors assigned to the Crimes Against Children Unit for about three years. A traumatized brain cannot learn. How can we get to a place where relevant children are viewed from a trauma-informed lens? At R4, we now give to one of the important agencies that I worked with during that time, The Alliance for Children.

Q: R4 supports a variety of literacy charities, including Go Beyond Grades, which aims to give parents information and best-practice strategies for keeping their children reading on grade level.

A: By third grade you should be past learning to read, you should be reading to learn. If you’re not on grade-level, you’re off track and headed for a possibly less-fulfilling life. We’ve got to do better; we must find a way to make sure our children are reading functionally by third grade.

Q: We’ve heard a lot about how many students in Fort Worth aren’t reading on grade level, but it’s really a national epidemic. How does Go Beyond Grades help?

A: Sometimes there’s a discrepancy between what the child knows and what the report card reflects. Parents don’t know to ask questions or the right questions to ask. The program encourages attacking the problem in a number of ways, with after-school tutoring, summer programming, and facilitating better communication. Teachers benefit from Go Beyond Grades, as well.

Q: The program prepares parents to do some of the educational work at home. But R4 also reflects the founders’ interest in athletics and wellness.

A:  The Reynolds believe in wellness philosophies. Both Walt and Donald were outstanding athletes. They found that gym space in Fort Worth was at a premium, so they wanted to build a gym where kids could have a safe place to play.

Q:  Tell us about the R4 Gym, with rentable courts for volleyball and basketball, along with another building for professionals who help with sports and sports recovery.

A: R4 Gym was built for sports rentals. And R4 Flow is occupied by a variety of health practitioners passionate about their disciplines. They include athletic trainers, massage therapists, personal trainers, a private Pilates instructor, and an acupuncturist. We also have a renowned athletic therapist, a sports psychologist, and a sports nutritionist.

Q: You also support area schools through Texas Health Resources’ Wellness Innovation Grants?

A: We joined Texas Health in supporting the Blue Zones Project initiative in 2017. Then in 2020, we began funding Texas Health’s Wellness Innovation Grant program, which is a competition for area schools to submit proposals for improving well-being on campus. This past year, 17 student teams developed and submitted ideas to a panel of community leaders. Six finalists then presented their innovative campus ideas to the panel.

Q: What’s most important about these applications?

A: They’re written in the students’ voice by a student organization or club. It’s a Shark Tank-type experience for the student groups. Last year, four of the six schools walked away with $5,000 grants; two additional schools each received $2,500 grants. The student groups then use the grant monies to implement their proposals.

Q: It’s interesting that many of the grantees last year proposed programs to enhance student mental health. Jackie Carden Elementary students advocated for a wellness room where they can relax and take stress breaks. South Hills High School proposed refurbishment and enhancement of the school courtyard as a space to support mental health and meet new friends. William James Middle School students are enlarging an existing outdoor garden and develop an indoor garden. And Rufino Mendoza Elementary is implementing a comprehensive wellness initiative designed to foster physical, mental and emotional health.

A: Most applicants need something that the district can’t provide. These are often schools without active PTAs or booster clubs.

Q: That was apparent with Western Hills High School’s pitch for a mobile outdoor hydration station.

A: Better funded and supported high schools buy these; they’re large hydration stations with cooling towels and first aid capacity. They allow student athletes to more fully and safely participate in a variety of activities.

Q: But R4 doesn’t just support wellness and literacy. The arts enrich the soul and spirit of Fort Worth, and R4 also makes grants to a diverse group of well-respected arts organizations.

A: We currently have seven regular arts grantees. Fifteen percent of our annual grants budget will go to arts agencies in 2025. R4 supports Casa Manana children’s summer program; the Cliburn in the Classroom program, which educates elementary students about classical piano music; Texas Ballet Theater’s City Dance, an afterschool workshop designed to teach ballet to children in low-income schools; Imagination Fort Worth, which engages approximately 10 local high school students in an intensive summer arts program; and Jubilee Theatre. If you get the chance to go to a Jubilee show, especially a Christmas presentation, go! They draw their actors from local and regional theater programs.

Q: Speaking of well-being, you have a personal philosophy for living a healthy life.

A: My adult kids roll their eyes at me, but I call it “the Fab 5” so that they’ll remember: sleep well, wake well (with a sense of purpose), eat well, move well, and connect well, as in spirituality. If I miss one of these in a day, I feel “off.”

 

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