Boysville, the Home with a Heart, was founded in 1943 as a result of Rev. Don Holiman’s observation of orphaned, homeless and abandoned boys sleeping in San Antonio’s Travis Park. The local police picked these boys up from the park in an effort to provide some safety and shelter for them. But because they had no other place to take them, the police took them to a detention center even though they had not committed a crime. Holiman knew someone needed to help these boys, and thus Boysville was born.

Throughout the years, the mission remained constant. Boys came from broken homes and abusive situations. They were provided a safe caring home and a chance to gain an education.  In 1986, in an effort to keep siblings together, Boysville began accepting girls into the program. Later in 1995, Boysville added an emergency shelter to allow for the placement of boys and girls coming from a crisis situation. In 2004, again to continue meeting the needs of families, Boysville expanded its continuum of care by accepting its first infants onto the campus as a sibling group of five needed immediate help. Boysville now cares for children of all ages, birth through college or vocational school. The mission is simply stated, “Helping boys and girls become responsible adults.” Boysville has a unique policy of never turning away a child for lack of financial resources.