0 items - $0.00
No products in the cart.
How a Father’s Loving Act Went International
How a Father’s Loving Act Went International
To a father, his children are a true gift and treasure. They always wish the best for them and would do anything to see them happy. For Gavin Leonard, he just wanted a way to be closer to his daughter and create memories that would last a life time. About 2 years ago, he began writing children’s books to read with his daughter. He never expected this small fatherly act would connect him with people and organizations across the Globe.
Gavin’s Inspiration and Motivation
From the moment Gavin laid eyes on his daughter, he knew he would do anything for her. As she got a little bigger, he started thinking of a way to remember the adventures they had together for when she was older. A friend told him how he began a blog to keep track of all the adventures he had with his kids, Gavin couldn’t help but love the idea. He began doing just that and to his surprise, found people were actually interested in following his posts. At the time, Gavin didn’t know where this would lead but luckily enough, his love for his daughter would open doors he couldn’t imagine.
When family and friends came to visit, they would always comment on how beautiful she was and that she could be an actress or model. Gavin knew they meant well, but to him it was a bit strange to think of a new born in this way. Additionally, they would always call her a “princess” but Gavin began replying, “she’s not JUST a princess”, for he knew she would be able to do anything she dreamed of. The reason Gavin felt this way came from the books he read to her. To him, they were always the damsel in distress and in need of being saved. Not his daughter! She would be strong and capable on her own. He often made comments about this to his wife, until one day she said, “if you don’t like the books you read… then write your own!?”. And so, he did!
The ‘Not Just a Princess Book Series’ is Born
Gavin made a plan and wanted his princesses to get away from the typical fairy tale and make it more real. So, what better title for the series than “Not Just a Princess”? His initial plan was to have his daughter (the princess), have a job and need to solve a problem that came up. But after a while, he knew she would need help and began creating new princesses. The common theme throughout the previous 6-book series is the princesses’ strengths, smarts, and abilities to work together to help one another overcome their problem. He wanted a story for everyone and made the princesses different in all aspects including being different culturally, appearance, etc. He never expected the books to be published but his daughter loved them so much he figured why not try.
The Newest Princess and the International Connections she made
Most recently, he decided to go further and include a second princess with a disability. Gavin wanted to show the world the truth of people differently abled. Instead of talking about a disability, he wanted to spread awareness that people have all different strengths and weaknesses no matter who they are. He thought back to his time living with family in China. While there, he spent a lot of time with his niece Nora, who has down syndrome and learned a lot for himself. When I had the opportunity to speak with him, he told me a story of what truly opened his eyes. “Nora loved water”, he said. Her and her siblings would often swim and play. One day when he was with them, he had been throwing Nora’s siblings into the water for fun, when Nora asked to go next. He hesitated out of care and in fear she may get hurt or scared. But her father set the record straight and what he said to Gavin really stuck with him. He said, “she’s just like her sisters and she can be thrown too.” Gavin went and threw her next and after seeing her joy and excitement, he realized nobody should ever be treated differently like that. In honor of his niece, this story follows Nora, a champion swimmer with down syndrome, and how she helps the others solve a problem.
But it doesn’t stop there. For this story he wanted to do more than just spread awareness but instead, use it to give back in a better way. Gavin began looking for local charities and connected with Down Syndrome Ireland and the Special Olympics. After hearing all that Special Olympics does for their athletes across the globe, they decided to begin promoting it worldwide. That led to Gavin connecting with us at the Dreamscape Foundation and other nonprofits as well. He explained he planned to donate all proceeds from the book’s sales to different charities and wanted to connect to as many as possible.
The Release and Final Details
Should all go as planned, the book is anticipated to be released in Ireland on October 24th, 2019. But you can purchase anytime through Dreamscape Foundation’s direct link!! The charities involved as of now include the Dreamscape Foundation, Special Olympics: Ireland, UK, Down Syndrome: Ireland, and US, and Brainwave UK. All of these organizations will have their own links available to purchase after the book is released! Those links will be used to directly support that organizations, or by purchasing from Not Just a Princess directly the proceeds will be distributed evenly to all organizations.
That is how what started out as a way for Gavin Leonard to share time with his daughter, turned into an international movement to spread awareness and give back to the disabled community. Gavin is an amazing guy and has nothing but love in his heart. On a final note, what he wishes to highlight most is how excited he is to be working with various nonprofit organizations on this project and to have the opportunity to raise funds for their continued good work!
To keep up with Gavin and the Not Just a Princess book series you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Written by:
Nicholas Sibilia
« PreviousNext »Illuminating Invisible Disabilities
Illuminating Invisible Disabilities
Many know a disability when they see one; Quadriplegics in a wheelchair or Blind people with a walking cane are some afflictions that come to mind. If I asked you, “What is the most common disability?” what would you say? Actually, the most common ones are typically non-physical related. Many people will not know immediately that someone is living with these Hidden Disabilities. This is where we want to step in to help spread the word.
Living with a Mental Disorder
Psychiatric disabilities, an umbrella term that covers a wide variety of mental health issues, are as common as 1 in 2 people. This is something people deal with every single day. These people do not require use of a cane or any accessibility device, as they have no actual physical disability. Keep in mind, people suffering from Psychiatric Disabilities can have years of experience, but still suffer from their condition. One mustn’t confuse experience with curing of a disability. Think of it as a scale, day to day, ranging from mild to severe. For example with the right amount of experience, people living with Bipolar Disorder will be able to notice signs of a disturbance and might even be able to contain their emotions, to a degree. Other days, the person may not even notice their mental disorder.
Knowing the Signs
Although some invisible disabilities can be kept low-key, some will actually need to be presented to everyone around them. Due to the possible life-or-death situation, conditions such as Epilepsy, Diabetes, and Learning Disabilities should be shared as soon as you get to know someone. There is no shame in telling someone about your condition. especially if you spend a lot of time with them. The triggering of your disability can spark a wide variety of health issues and symptoms that can have you thrown for a loop, and can even lead to death. Keeping loved ones in mind, there should be no judgement. It may be a hard conversation to have, but one that needs to happen.
Being the Support they Need
Living around someone with an Invisible Disability may sound like a rigorous task, but actually it’s pretty simple. With the right experience, someone will be able to “get into the mind” of their mentally disabled friend. These skills can be learned through personal experience, knowledge of previous events, and works best when you’re very close to the person. Catching someone slipping can save hours if not days of grueling mental laps that the invisible disability affects on the person afflicted. A simple, “Let’s step outside and get a breather” or “Hey, drink some water” can go a long way!
Tackling Invisible Disabilities can be as easy as changing the pace of the day. Get some fresh air, take your mind of what it bringing you down. Staying positive is one of the best ways to deal with Invisible Disabilities. Without the right attitude, the afflicted will never get better. With the help of loved ones and the advice of professionals, Invisible Disabilities can be identified and dealt with accordingly.
« PreviousNext »Improving Lives With Heightened Hearts Foundation
Improving Lives With Heightened Hearts Foundation
Millions around the world are suffering from poverty, hunger, and social injustice. After being struck with hard times, many struggle to get back on their feet. With only limited resources and help available to these families and individuals, the Heightened Hearts Foundation is going above and beyond to help them get back on their feet.
Who is the Heightened Hearts Foundation?
Recently, the Dreamscape Foundation had the pleasure of speaking with Lyubov Smirnova, the Founder and CEO of the Heightened Hearts Foundation. While speaking with her, it was clear she is a driven and dedicated woman on a mission. It is no surprise that since founded in 2015 they have been able to implement over 32 successful programs in the US, Ukraine and Mexico. Outside of these set programs, Heightened Hearts is open to doing all they can to provide for those in need. But what sets them apart from many organizations is their ideology that providing needed goods alone is not enough. In line with their mission of creating lasting solutions for poverty, hunger, and social injustice; they focus not on just providing for temporary relief but work with people to help them become self-sufficient once again. To put into prospective, as the old saying goes, you can give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and he’ll never go hungry again.
Programs Leading to Lasting Solutions
Heightened Hearts has 6 main programs established to help families, individuals, children, students, and the elderly. These consist of: Food Box program, Adopt-a-Grandparent, Back to School Children’s Baskets, Spiritual Programs, Teen Pregnancy Education, and Global Relief Centers.
The Food Box program offers meals and vital nourishment to people in the worst conditions. The recipients of this program are constantly struggling to battle hunger, malnourishment and even starvation. However, it goes beyond just providing them with food for survival, but to educating those better off, of the devasting conditions being faced around the world. The programs purpose is to save countless lives, while educating and inspire others to join the fight. The programs run twice a year every November and June.
Adopt-a-Grandparent is a sponsorship program to aid the aging and elderly. Unlike most developed countries who have assistance and elderly care programs, many seniors in other regions of the world are not as lucky. All volunteer sponsors will aid in offering services to the senior they are connected with. These services include obtaining proper medical care, proper nutrition, and companionship to let them know they are not alone.
To ensure children have all the necessary supplies they need to learn and further their education, Heightened Hearts has created their Back to School Baskets program. Many families struggle financially and are faced with enough hardships as it is. Heightened Hearts believes their children’s education and chance for success should never be one of them. What this program offers are baskets full of all the necessary supplies a young student needs. Including backpacks, notebooks/paper, pens/pencils, highlighters, rulers, calculators, dictionaries, folders/binders, and a whole lot more!
The Heightened Hearts Spiritual programs focus on specific themes from the Bible to provide insight and an opportunity for reflection on life. Help comes in all different forms and for many, reconnecting with God and strengthening themselves from within is all the help they require. Additionally, these programs allow individuals to address broken relationships with God, friends/family, and even themselves.
The Teen Pregnancy Educational program is just as it sounds. A program established to properly educate teens on the aspects of safe sex practices. Additionally, many unplanned pregnancies around the world come from abuse. That is why Heightened Hearts includes therapy and clinic-based programs to ensure no child/teen is left to suffer alone.
Lastly, the Global Relief Centers program is an initiative to give communities around the world a place to meet and discuss social and economic issues. Heightened Hearts will work with these communities who lack social gathering or relief centers, to build new Community Centers. Providing a safe, spacious area to discuss solutions to the problems they face.
Holiday Events on the Horizon
Every year, leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas, Heightened Hearts goes to work. Packing large sized laundry baskets with pantry staples, foods, snacks, desserts, detergent, toilet trees and more, to ensure families will have much needed supplies to make the best of their holiday season. Delivered one week before the holiday, the baskets include enough supplies to last through the holiday and for weeks to come. At Heightened Hearts, they feel families should be helped in the long term and not just for a day or two.
Love the Mission and want to get involved?
Heightened Hearts relies entirely on Volunteers. With almost no paid employees, they are always look for new donors or volunteers to support their programs. If interested in donating, you can go online and give funds right through their website. But if you are more interested in helping prepare for the upcoming holiday events, they are still in great need of the following items:
- Children’s toys, clothes, school supplies
- Nonperishable food items
- Home goods: detergent, toilet trees
- Kitchen items
- Computers
- Beds or bedding
- Cooking items
- Adult Clothing: Male and Female
In conclusion, people all over the world fight everyday in the hopes of getting by and making it to tomorrow. Through a combined effort of education and support, overcoming these struggles is possible and each individual suffering deserves help!
For more information on the Heightened Hearts Foundation, please check out their website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter!
« PreviousNext »
Dreamscape Foundation: A Charity for the Disabled & Our Community
Dreamscape Foundation: A Charity for the Disabled & Our Community
Founded in 2013, The Dreamscape foundation was created when the founder, Joseph Sehwani was diagnosed with a rare disease at the age of sixteen that took away his vision. Since then, Joseph has created a vision of his own for people suffering from rare diseases. Providing individuals with scholarships, job aids, education accommodations, health aids and all amenities to help them succeed in life. This foundation focuses on supporting their future to provide equality.
Accessibility First
We know that living with a disability can negatively impact one’s chances of success in education and employment, but at Dreamscape Foundation, we believe that we have the power to do something to address this. While nothing can prepare us for an unanticipated disability, Dreamscape Foundation offers hope. Our non-profit provides accommodations for individuals with disabilities in their pursuit of education and life-fulfilling work.
Our mission is to aid the small population of people affected by sensory impairments to help them achieve success and to fund a cure. We encourage the community to embrace the use of accessible technology to ensure independence. In the past, Dreamscape Foundation had partnered with IT consulting company Intone Networks and accessibility software company User1st to build out our accessibility platform. The program is unique in that we are not aware of any other non-profit organizations who are committed to holding accessibility to such a high standard and provide similar services.
Dreamscape Foundation’s Mission
The commitment of Dreamscape comes from Joe Sehwani’s struggles and difficulties after he lost his vision in high school at sixteen. It is a privilege to work with a charity that works hard to ensure others struggling with similar disabilities are well taken care of and know that they are not alone.The prevalence of visual disabilities also stands to show the need for support for those who are blind or living with low vision. Across the world, 285 million people live with some type of visual impairment, with 39 million living with blindness and 246 million with low vision. In the United States, those with a visual disability account for about 2.2% of the total population.
Without accessibility, we do a disservice not just to the quality of life for those living with a disability – we also prevent them living to their fullest potential. Our charity can better justify program expenses that involve accessibility. This is illustrated clearly when we look at the number of working-age persons with disabilities in the United States who are employed. Right now, that number is only 35% – Dreamscape believes that with accessibility, that number can be much higher.
Helping our Community
Dreamscape partners with many other charities on both a local and national scale with many different missions. We support local charities by partnering with them on fundraisers, campaigns and events as well as support them with various product donations. At Dreamscape, we’re committed to addressing these issues and advocating for the changes needed to help those living with disabilities. Although living with a disability can be a struggle, we are here to assist and support.
« PreviousNext »Morningday Community Solutions: What’s behind a CRP?
Morningday Community Solutions: What’s behind a CRP?
We had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Bales, the Founder and President of Morningday Community Solutions. We got to learn all about his day to day running a CRP. Are you now wondering what a CRP is? Well, we are here to tell you all about it!
What’s a CRP?
What a great question! CRP stands for Community Redistribution Partner, and Greg founded his in Fort Lauderdale, over 8 years ago. He originally found out about the program when he joined Good360 and their network. When he joined, not only did their business model resonate with him, but he felt a deep connection with their mission statement. He saw the work they were doing with nonprofits and felt it was similar to the work he was already doing in his community, just on a greater scale. He saw great potential in this and it is what inspired him to want to become a founder of his own nonprofit. Greg explained to us the basis of what a CRP does. His organization will bring in products from a distributor and then redistribute them out to nonprofit organizations in need. Since founded in 2010, they have grown to help over 250 nonprofits in South Florida!
All about the mission
Morningday’s mission is completely straightforward, to save other nonprofits money so that they can use their resources to help more in the community. This is great because Greg has and continues to fulfill this mission each and everyday! Their organization doesn’t do direct service to the public, but instead they go directly to the nonprofits. The products they receive are kept in what they call their “Framing Hope Warehouse”. This 10,000 square foot warehouse is the first of it’s kind here in Florida. The warehouse started by them collaborating with Good360 and the Home Depot Foundation. The organization receives a wide variety of supplies and products from Home Depot and other local retailers in their area. There are a number of people that can benefit from MCS and their program, including churches, schools, and all nonprofits or charities. Unfortunately, it is not open to the public, so even Police Officers and Fire Fighters aren’t able to receive products from their organization. The best part is there are no credit card or cash funds taken directly from the nonprofits. This is a huge win for everyone because these nonprofits are able to get the products they desperately need while saving themselves money for other important events or items. This is also a win for Greg because he is able to reach his mission day by day!
This sounds great!
What Greg and his team are doing is simply wonderful and here at Dreamscape, we love seeing other organizations trying so hard to give back and make a difference in the community. But, MCS is constantly looking for volunteers and a helping hand. Morningday receive’s a wide variety of products, from small things such as socks and clothes to large things, like couches and home goods. This organization views their volunteers as a huge asset because, well, they keep their organization moving of course. They also love helping any organization that needs it. So, if you’re interested in helping out, simply follow the link to their volunteer page on the website. If you’re a nonprofit and love the mission and are in need of supplies, don’t worry, we can help you too. Follow the link to their membership page and fill out the information to partner with this wonderful nonprofit.
Remember, if you’re someone who can’t donate money but want to help you can always donate your time.
« PreviousNext »An Interview with United Way of Brevard County
An Interview with United Way of Brevard County
Terry Taylor, the Senior Director of Grants in Gifts at United Way of Brevard County gave Dreamscape some insight on the behind the scenes of this successful Community Redistribution Partnership.
What it’s all about
We had the pleasure of learning about United Way of Brevard and everything their wonderful organization has to offer. Located in Rockledge Florida, they have been helping their community over the last 55 years! Their mission is simply to care for their community and provide whatever they can for those in need. The organization specializes in a number of different things such as, education, financial stability, and health. They even help out with disaster recoveries including fires, flooding and even hurricanes! They believe that instead of focusing on a single issue they want to help tackle problems facing their community as a whole.
Diving Deeper
It may seem challenging for one organization to face all of this alone, but they have an amazing support system of partners behind them! Aside from their own work in the community, they also help other organizations achieve their goals. By hosting fundraisers for the benefit of another nonprofit, they are able to make more resources available to that organization. Which allows that organization to provide even more to the people in they serve. The best part is they have a very broad demographic of people and families they help. From elderly and disabled, to children and low income families, this organization will be there for you! On their website, United Way even provides numerous success stories of the people they have helped and impacted. These stories include single mothers who wanted a better childhood for their kids. They were able to provide that and more to help these families achieve not only success, but a great life as well. They also have numerous programs for people to attend, including their feed and read program. The goal is to provide nutrition, mentoring, and books to low income children while they’re off of school during the summer.
What they need
United Way of Brevard County can always use donations of course. We asked Terry if there are specific items they’re in need of most. She responded with various hygiene items. Such as toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and other items of the sort. They are also always taking new volunteers to help with their many programs.
If you’re a family who is struggling or someone who is disabled and needs a helping hand please go to the contact page on their website and they will be happy to help! If you’re someone who simply wants to donate or volunteer you can fill out and submit your information to their volunteer and giving page.
« PreviousNext »
Habitat For Humanity: A Helping Hand in every Community
Habitat For Humanity: A Helping Hand in every Community
Everyone has seasons of struggles in their life, that is why the Habitat For Humanity is always there with love and care.
What it’s all about
“What I enjoy most is the team I work with. They all are there to help and they want to be there. Everybody is great to each other and helps out, plus they are all passionate about the cause”
Recently, Dreamscape had the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Grybek, the Marketing Coordinator at the Habitat for Humanity of Collier County. Jessica has been with them for 3 years and is loving every minute of it. She was able to give us some insight on what their organization is all about. This particular location was founded in 1978 and, is actually in a tie for the oldest of Habitat Humanity. Their main focus is to create a world where every person has a decent place to live.
Habitat For Humanity offers a home ownership program, along with building homes, renovations, and pairing with families to make sure they have a pathway for affordable housing and home ownership. I would agree with you that this organization is quite wonderful, but how do they pull it off? By not doing it alone, of course! From partnering with donors, to hard working volunteers it takes a whole team to get the job done! Our local location of Collier County builds in Naples and Immokalee. With having such a great team of people behind them they were able to recently celebrate their 2,200th home this year! That is such an incredible win and I can’t believe the impact they’ve made in just this community alone.
Okay, now I’m interested!
Are you someone who is struggling with finding a safe and secure home, or simply just somewhere warm to lay your head at night? Please, don’t be afraid, they can help! We asked what the best way to apply is and she advised for people to go directly to the local office. During the time you’re there, they will do a quick pre-qualification interview. She recommends this because their application is so extensive that they will meet with you first to make sure you will qualify. This part of the process is easy and will typically only take 15-30 minutes. Once you pass the prerequisites, they will continue to help you along to the application process. If you do not qualify… no worries! They will still work with you to them get things in order and be a constant resource for you. I have even included the link to the families and communities prequalifying flyer.
Currently they don’t have any events coming up. Their primary focus is on the personal relationships with their volunteers and donors. As a successful nonprofit they are always in need of resources and a helping hand. Right now their biggest need is volunteers to help with the job sites. As for the stores, their biggest sellers are appliances, varying from kitchen items and bedroom sets, to washer and dryers. If you are in need or if you are interested in lending your time, Habitat For Humanity is just one click away.
« PreviousNext »Good360: The Charity That Never Stops Giving
Good360: The Charity That Never Stops Giving
Running a nonprofit and struggling? Maybe Good360 is exactly what you need! Take a deeper look to get the full effect of what this nonprofit is doing for the community around you.
The Mission
Good360 is a product philanthropy, partner based nonprofit organization. This means they work with large and responsible companies to donate their excess merchandise to charities or other nonprofits. They then partner with the charities and nonprofits to help them receive goods for their specific needs. Their mission is to help people, whether it be individuals, families, or a community, who are impacted by disasters or other challenging life circumstances. By providing nonprofits with the goods they need, they can free up their resources to spend on more important aspects of their organization including programs and events.
Good360 views the products as more than just stuff, to them it could be providing a bed to a child for a much-needed good night’s rest. Or even something as little as a pair of soccer cleats to help someone pursue their passion confidently. They have a 35-year track record and have distributed more than $9 billion worth of products. Currently their organization has 400+ corporate donors and 800,000+ nonprofit members. By doing this they are able to give old products new life and reducing waste by keeping it all out of landfills.
The hard workers of Good360 take pride in not only the product donations, but in their help with disaster recovery. In the first few days of a disaster they will be there for people who have been displaced from their homes. They could supply them with products including toiletries, socks, diapers for babies, toys, games, and snacks for kids. When it comes to clean up, Good360 will partner with other organizations to help provide various cleaning supplies to help with things such as the debris and mold. After the cleaning is complete, they will then work on getting donations of the reconstruction materials needed. These materials could be something as small as paint or as large as kitchen appliances. This is extremely important to them because it’s helping people get their homes and lives back. The best part about their disaster recovery is that even years after the impact, they will still be there to help people with things like mattresses, furniture and other home goods.
But wait, there’s more!
This organization even has a blog to discuss all of the wonderful nonprofits and donors they work with. A lot of their blogs will include information on how the programs have given back to the community. Their articles talk about a variety of different things. Some of them will have information on current or previous disaster relief and even articles about how they have helped women dress for success! You might even get a little emotional when reading their impact stories and true testimonies from the numerous lives they have helped and transformed. Not only do they have a great amount of pride and value in themselves but also in their partnerships. They are constantly talking highly of all the people they work with and this shows even when only reading one of their articles.
Dreamscape has recently had the pleasure of starting a partnership with Good360. We started in mid-July of this year, and we have been more than impressed. They have made it easy on us start to finish. The employees listened to what we needed and walked us through to make sure everything smooth and accordingly. We have had the pleasure of starting with two donors and they have yet to disappoint. This program has been a tremendous asset to our organization. We are supplied the goods and products that we need and give back to the community what we don’t. This program has also been extremely beneficial for us to partner with other nonprofits in our community. Anything that we don’t need or can’t use, we reach out to other local charities to see if we can donate to them. This is such a great asset for everyone because it helps us with creating relationships with other local nonprofits and it helps them get a donation of things, they need but don’t typically get. Aside from the products that Good360 has helped provide us, this has helped us with saving resources to use on other important things within our charity. For example, being able to receive the donated products this has made us be able to save and use our finances towards other things such as the prizes we give away during a fundraiser event.
Now, I know you’re probably thinking that this is a scam because there can’t possibly be a nonprofit organization out there that does all of this. But, I’m here to tell you that this is not a scam and it is true. When we first heard about Good360 and all of the great things they do we were a little skeptical at first, but we cast our worries aside and gave them a try and now we are more than pleased with the outstanding partnerships we have developed.
The best part is whether you’re looking to receive products as a nonprofit, a person who is struggling, or a business who wants to donate their surplus of goods, Good360 has a valuable place for you.
« PreviousNext »
Friends of Foster Children Forever
Friends of Foster Children Forever
Have you ever wondered how foster children and families receive help and support? Well, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ann Hughes, the Executive Director of Friends of Foster Children Forever (FFCF), to learn what it truly is all about.
The mission behind it all
The Friends of Foster Children Forever is a local non-profit organization in the Southwest Florida area. They strive to help children all across the area to succeed in life. The organization provides a variety of tools and programs, from supplies to summer camps, but their largest is the Academic Mentoring Program. This is extremely important to them because being prepared academically, will set a child on the right course to success. This mentor program helps the children get excited for school and makes them hopeful for their futures. Aside from the mentorships, they provide after-school programs such as dance, and various sports. They also provide professional tutoring for children who are having a hard time in school or with certain subjects. These tutors will continuously work with them regardless of switching from home to home or school to school.
Behind the scenes
There are a lot of great things provided, but what does it take for this organization to successfully help? Well, the community around them of course! Aside from the wonderful employees, the volunteers are a huge asset. From mentors to running summer camps, FFCF is always looking for help from their local community. On top of providing your time, all donations are welcome and extremely helpful as well. The donations help pay for the professional academic tutors, field trips for the kids, and supplies needed to help. In addition to donations, they hold fundraisers including this years back to school drive, being their most successful one yet! This year, more nonprofits and groups participated than ever before. They were able to distribute 150 backpacks, with 500 still left to give. On top of the backpacks they were able to provide uniforms for children whose school does not supply them. The organization is always prepared by providing an emergency backpack for the children who are taken from a home in an emergency or short notice. These emergency backpacks include, clothes, pajamas, blankets, tooth brush/tooth paste, and a stuffed animal or toy.
Upcoming events
Including everything they provide, the FFCF also encourages field trips for the children. They have different trips based on age groups. For the elementary school kids they will take them to Legoland, and for the high school kids they will take them to Busch Gardens. These field trips allow the children to have an outlet by spending time focused on fun and excitement rather than the stress they undergo on a daily basis. Also, during Christmas time, the organization does a gift giving. What this entails is, they will pair the children up with a volunteer and they go to pick out gifts for their family from Walmart. Then later in the year, for the caregivers/guardians they will take them to pick out toys and gifts based on what their child likes. During the holidays they provide wrapping paper, and on December 21st, they will be holding a Holiday Toy Fair.
Hope for the Future
We asked Ann what her favorite part of working for the organization was and this is what she told us.
“It gives foster children hope for a better future, they start with kids when they are infants and will follow them into their 20’s in some cases.”
This is extremely important for a child as they grow because it provides comfort and stability to have people who will continue to work with them regardless of how much they move around. By providing that stability, the children have a better opportunity in having a wonder and successful future.
Anything helps, even if its just your time. So, if you are interested in foster care, volunteering, or donating to the Friend of Foster Children Forever please click on the link below and follow their website.
« PreviousNext »