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.