LaReeca Rucker
From the archives
Before she was a crime-solving DNA expert on “CSI: NY” or winning Emmys for “Sisters,” Sela Ward was just a barefoot kid growing up in a quiet Meridian, Mississippi neighborhood — riding bikes, swimming in lakes, and sneaking into caves with friends for pretend séances.
These days, she still returns home — not just for family, but for a cause close to her heart: Hope Village for Children, the residential care facility she founded in 2002 for Mississippi kids in the foster system who need a safe place to land.
Ward is returning to Meridian to celebrate Hope Village’s 10th anniversary with a star-studded gala at the MSU Riley Center. It’s the nonprofit’s first major fundraiser, featuring dinner, music, auctions, and appearances by her CSI: NY co-stars (including Gary Sinise), and Mississippi friends like Lance Bass and Sam Haskell.
Auction prizes include a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a guitar signed by the Eagles, and even backstage passes to Carrie Underwood. The real stars, though, will be the Hope Village kids, some of whom will share their stories.
Ward said she started the organization after visiting a local shelter and meeting two young brothers who were about to be separated — one more heartbreaking reminder of how often kids in the system get bounced around, sometimes 15 or more times in a year.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to them,” she said. “That moment stayed with me.”
She used her Hollywood connections to secure funding and transform an abandoned Masonic children’s home into what is now a 30-acre campus with group homes, a gym, cafeteria, swimming pool, and transitional housing for teens aging out of foster care.
And unlike the cold, impersonal group homes of the past, Hope Village is designed to feel like a family.
“It’s not about warehousing kids,” Ward said. “It’s about giving them safety, love, structure — and hope.”
Today, Hope Village serves more than 200 children annually and has helped over 2,000 since its opening. They emphasize education and life skills, with over 95% of residents completing high school — far above the national average for foster youth.
Ward dreams of Mississippi becoming a model for foster care reform nationwide. “We have some of the most loving people here,” she said. “We just need to show the rest of the country what’s possible.”
To learn more about Hope Village for Children or how to attend the gala, visit hopevillagems.org.
