The next VDTA/SDTA Convention & Show will be in
New Orleans, LA
February 27 - 29, 2012
at the Ernest Morial Convention Center
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The next VDTA/SDTA Convention & Show will be in |
Help America’s Children in Crisis by supporting My Stuff Bags!
There is a foundation called the My Stuff Bags Foundation (www.mystuffbags.org) in Westlake Village, CA, that offers help through its donations of emergency bags. These “My Stuff” bags are filled with clothes, toys, and personal items. When children arrive at crisis centers or are moved into foster care, “we want to make sure they have something to call their own,” said Janeen Holmes of My Stuff Bags Foundation, co-founder and president/CEO. “No one else in the nation is out there in this big a way, reaching out to kids in 49 states, through 1,100 organizations.” The youths are often extracted from “terrible environments” and have very few belongings. Many of them have nothing so the “My Stuff” duffels become important personal property and a hint of stability. Maintaining the pipeline to reach at-risk kids is an ongoing challenge. In October you can help by taking part in the SDTA’s Pillow Patrol program. You can host the program at your store or in conjunction with your local 4-H group or Girl Scout troop to make the pillowcases. Then after the event, simply gather up the Pillow Patrol pillowcases and send them to the My Stuff Bags Foundation. The foundation will then include a pillowcase in the bags as they are being assembled. Since its inception in 1998, more than 333,000 bags have been given away. Agencies served include shelters, foster agencies and homes, residential centers, CASA organizations, drug enforcement agencies, police and fire stations. Because the items in a “My Stuff” bag are donated by people all across the country and the bags are stuffed by volunteers, the message for each rescued child receiving one is “many people care about you.” “My Stuff” bags provide comfort and hope to America’s children in crisis. They give children who have been separated from all they know something to hold on to. The My Stuff bags touch the heart and hands of rescued children. To donate your Pillow Patrol creations to be included in the “My Stuff” bags, mail them to: My Stuff Bags Foundation Reprinted from SQE Professional, September 2008 |
Children removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect often arrive at crisis centers or foster care with little more than the clothes on their backs.