Giving Children the Gift of Giving
The art of becoming a giving person and living life graciously are not easy tasks to cultivate amongst our children. Being a thankful person and learning to give have to be two of the more difficult virtues we as parents are asked to teach our little ones. This year marks our 9th annual Holiday Bash and the needs in our community keep growing. Many are well aware as we go into the holiday season how eyes are wide with anticipation of receiving gifts. What a neat lesson to instill, if we could, that giving is just as awesome!
So, as we begin planning and running crazily through the holiday protocol I wanted to share with everyone a need that has been brought to my attention, one that I as a community leader and artists feel compelled to give support. As you can imagine I get called to assist in our community from giving toys at holiday time to sponsoring children. A few weeks ago I met with an organization called The Alliance for Children. They are the go to organization for our Child Protective Services division and are trying to fill the needs of 700 children this holiday season. Each year they collect and distribute both toys and clothes for needs of all ages.
The studio has always sponsored through our Holiday Bash local families and have through the years met holiday wishes of many youth in our community. This year I am rallying to meet the needs for their children. The wishes range from bikes and toys to simple needs of new clothing, diapers and shoes!
- The primary goals of the organization are:
- 1) To reduce trauma to a child when they are involved in the justice process
- 2) To promote emotional healing so victims and non- offending family members may lead healthy and productive lives
- 3) To keep our community safe by holding offenders accountable for crimes against children.
The Center for Child Advocacy provides many services for our community. Primarily focused on the neglected and abused, their siblings and the non-offending family members, the organization offers the following:
- 1) Coordination of team child abuse investigations
- 2) Crisis Intervention
- 3) Volunteer services
- 4) Electronically recorded forensic interviews
- 5) On-site sexual assault medical exams
- 6) Therapy referrals and follow-up
- 7) Assistance with Crime Victims Compensation
- 8) Case review team meetings
They are a very important part of helping our children through the “system” once trauma has struck. In addition, they have a room called a “Rainbow Room” that provides basic needs to children under emergency circumstances. At all times items are needed to fill a “blue bag” for distribution through a volunteer or a case worker once a child enters the system. Some of the needed items are formula, baby food, diapers, onesies, baby care products, baby wipes, pajamas, clothing for newborns up to 18 years, shoes toddlers through 18 years, snacks, paper towels, car seats, crib sheets, detergents, cleaners, twin bed sheets, blankets, towels, soap. These are just some suggestions they gave me as to what they need.
OK, so there I was listening to all this stuff. Really awful stuff when children don’t have basic necessities and I knew my crew was on board to help. I contacted my friends over at Fox and they were right there to do a story and assist in getting the word out to our community. I am asking all of us to do the same. I’m collecting from now until December 3rd items for this organization. If you’d like to donate a bike or a toy, even if you can find the time to go through items in your playrooms and children’s closets, anything that you can give would be given to a needy family and or child. If you can assist please call 979-849-2500 to find a location to drop off.
