Personal Message from the Founder
Pegasus Founder Robert Ellis chronicles the many ways God has blessed both him and his school
I began working with the youth in 1985 and toward opening a home for abused children in 1989. I founded Pegasus in 1990 as a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) for the care of abused and neglected boys. My motivation stemmed from having lived through an extremely physically and sexually abusive childhood in the ’70s. I experienced the blind eye society cast on the victims of abuse during that era.
Mine was one of the more fortunate cases. I was adopted by a family in Lockhart, Texas. Although I was forced to wait until the day I turned 18 to be officially adopted and have my last name changed, I had lived with the Ellis family for a long period prior to adoption.
After graduating Lockhart High School, I went to work for demolition contractor Weldon Johnston, who was not only my mentor for seven years, but the closest thing to a father I have ever known. He taught me more about the nuances of business and human nature and behavior than I would ever learn in a subsequent three-and-a-half-year stint at the University of Texas at Austin, pursuing a degree in education and psychology.
After founding Pegasus, I was befriended by Brian McCoy of McCoy’s Building Supply Centers. Brian has been a major contributor to Pegasus and a mentor and friend to me since 1990. My relationship with Brian furthered my belief that, through all the adversity I had faced, God had his hand on me.
Even in the worst of times as a child, I believed God was there looking after me.
My belief in God and my savior Jesus Christ not only brought me through a terrible childhood, but also propelled me to do all within my power to help others growing up in the same situation.
With the help of my wife Jody Ellis, CEO Chris Moody, Assistant CEO Nick Sedlachek, Program Director and Placement Director Keith Bradbury, Administrators Eric DeHoyos and Roberto Fernandez, and a myriad of other devoted employees and benefactors, Pegasus has grown from the original 15 RTC residents to the current 200 boys we help today.
Pegasus is now regarded as the best RTC in Texas, with an ongoing list of caseworkers waiting to place children. Accolades come from the Department of Family and Protective Services as well as every monitoring entity statewide. Pegasus is also the fourth largest employer in Lockhart.
Please take a look at the remainder of the Pegasus web page. While observing all we have accomplished in 33 years, please keep this in mind: Everything you see, everything we’ve done, is the result of God’s use of an abused, impassioned, imperfect person and those God put in his path.
Pegasus is a prime example of what God can do in a chaotic situation. He took an abused child and developed a place where 200 children can get help. He took a diverse group of imperfect people and developed a program benefiting all those boys on a daily basis.
Please help us by hitting your knees tonight and asking God to bless us, through the grace of his Son, with the ability to continue to help all the young men placed in our care.
God bless you,
Robert Ellis