Mission Park Cares
When Caring for the Community is What You Do
It made sense to Dick and Kristin Tips that obituaries should evolve from black-and-white newsprint to color television. After all, the baby boomers who are passing on these days grew up with television. But what didn’t make sense was how to effectively insert a two-minute “In Memoriam” break into weekend television. So, the Tips family, along with Executive Producer Ted Eccles, developed a television program they call Mission Park Cares to provide the perfect environment for the televised tributes.
Dick and his wife Kristin are already well known in the community as owners of Mission Park Funeral Homes and for their philanthropic contributions. It made sense to make the program about good things happening in San Antonio. The program, which is produced in conjunction with Bauhaus Media, airs at 7:30 a.m. every Sunday and at 12:30 a.m. Saturdays on KABB Fox 29. It highlights the best of San Antonio, including the Witte Museum, the Doseum, the San Antonio Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, Schreiner’s Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Shelter, which Mission Park Cares helped achieve record levels for donations, even in the year of the Covid pandemic.
Mission Park Cares began as a vehicle to carry the weekly two-minute “In Memoriam” segment, but it has become so much more. Because Covid was interfering with church services, it also made sense to feature ministers of various faiths. So, what started as a form of obituaries has become a very upbeat, lively weekend program, in a magazine format, about good things in San Antonio.
The program is its own non-profit entity, which has opened many doors, Ted said. “We’ve been to places like Fort Sam Houston, which is a great example, where we might have had a hard time getting access on a for-profit program.”
Even though there is no profit motive for the TV show, Ted added, it projects Mission Park – Dick and Kristin in particular – in a positive light that reflects their true love and respect for San Antonio.
“Mission Park Cares has had a powerful effect on the community, allowing us to relate to people and organizations in a positive way, and we have seen the effect of more people turning to Mission Park with confidence in their time of need,” Ted said.
You can watch a recent episode by clicking here:
