Plans are well under way for this exciting event that will increase public awareness and hopefully motivate many to participate! The invitations will be complete this week and will be mailed by the end of this week or beginning of next week.
We are truly hoping for a good turnout, as this is such an excellent opportunity to learn more about the program, which serves as a specific, direct, and immediate way to help local child victims of abuse/neglect and their families.
Our community is strong and has accomplished many great things. Our faith, civic, and business community members are powerful resources for local children and families that are struggling. Individuals and groups (big or small) can make a huge difference in the lives of children!
If you would like to learn more about this fantastic program and how you can help, please come to our event (scroll down for detailed event information or click on the event flyer link).
The Adopt-a-Caseworker project is supported by grant #2005-VF-GX-K009 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in cooperation with HALOS. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or polices of HALOS or the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Adopt-a-Caseworker Event
Pack-a-Bag Success
A couple weeks ago the first bundle of 20 duffel bags filled with hygiene and children's items was delivered to Missouri Baptist Children's Home! With their new location at the caseworker's offices there, the bags will be more accessible and will make their way to children entering foster care in Greene County.
Reminder: We are still in need of donated large plastic storage tubs. These will be used to store surplus duffel bags so I the foster care office supplies can be replenished as needed.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Adopt-a-Caseworker Orientation Event
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
12 noon-1:00pm
Christ Episcopal Church
601 E. Walnut (corner of Walnut & Kimbrough)
Springfield, MO
**If you lead or belong to a church, faith, business, or civic group that wants to enhance the lives of local abused and neglected children and their families in a very direct and powerful way, this event is for you!!
Featuring:
Vonda Wallace, Greene County Children's Division Circuit Manager
David Hockensmith, Council of Churches Executive Director
Sondra Uzzell, Ambassadors for Children Director
Junior League "Done in a Day" Award Recipient
We are pleased to announce that Ambassadors for Children has been awarded a 2008-2009 "Done in a Day" award of $2,500 from the Junior League of Springfield, Missouri, Inc. The Junior League will provide volunteers to buy and put away new clothing for foster children in Greene County as part of our Kid's Clothes Closet program. There will be a designated day around Fall 2009 and Spring 2008 to complete this project. We are so appreciative of this support from the Junior League and we know this project will provide many new clothing items for local foster children! 
Pictured: Sondra Uzzell (Ambassadors for Children Director), David Hockensmith (Council of Churches of the Ozarks Executive Director), and Linda McAllister (Junior League of Springfield President).
The Kid's Clothes Closet is a project supported in-part through funding and volunteers provided by the Junior League of Springfield.
Children Taking a Stand
Children are Taking a Stand against child abuse and neglect across the Ozarks! This initiative started in Clever, MO from the ingenuity of a young boy who wanted to help local child victims. With support from his pastor and Clever First Christian Church family, the young boy's idea came to fruition on Mother's Day and several other local churches and groups are following suit! To learn more about this initiative, visit our June Newsletter link or the Council of Churches of the Ozarks link.
Last week, Ambassadors for Children received a gift of $650.80 from Clever First Christian Church (represented by Pastor Juli Nelson) as a result of this initiative. As part of this movement, we also received a gift of $150.00 from Evangel Temple in Springfield and a gift of $159.00 from Clever United Methodist Church. The funds raised by Children Taking a Stand will be used to support our non-federally funded programs. Thank You! Bags Finding new Homes
We recently decided to look at alternative storage options for our Pack-a-Bag with Love bags. They are currently housed at the Boys and Girls Town, where they are accessible to foster care caseworkers at that location, but not easily accessible to other foster care caseworkers in the county.
The bags are in the process of being neatly organized and we are hoping to have them housed at each of the offices where Greene County foster care caseworkers are located. That way, the caseworkers won't have to travel to an external location to pick up the bags when a new child is taken into care. The caseworkers work very hard and are extremely busy, so this will hopefully simplify the process for them and allow more local children to receive the bags.
So far, 20 bags have been deliverd to Missouri Baptist Children's Home,
and 200 bags are ready to be delivered to Alternative Opportunities. New bag sign-out sheets have also been developed so we can track the number of bags taken, child ages, and child gender. This will help us sustain supply for the ages/genders that are more prevalent in our county.
Thanks Ash Grove First Christian Church for making this happen!
Above: picture of bags before being newly reorganized
To the Right: picture of hygiene items used to fill the bags
Fantastic Volunteers
I have been tracking total volunteer hours on a monthly basis since February. For our federal grant (Adopt-a-Caseworker program), we have a total of 175.25 in-kind hours from February-May 2008. Thanks to our in-kind staff and volunteer Advisory Committee members for all your hard work to make this program a success! Also, a huge thanks to my husband for his IT and programming expertise in helping develop this blog, our newsletter, and providing other technical assistance related to this project.
The Adopt-a-Caseworker program is supported by grant #2005-VF-GX-K009 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in cooperation with HALOS. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of HALOS or the U.S. Department of Justice.
For our non-federally funded programs (Kid's Clothes Closet, Pack-a-Bag with Love, Project Self-Esteem, Tutoring Scholarships, Foster/Adoptive Parent Recruitment), we have a total of 109.75 volunteer hours from April 2008-present. A HUGE Thanks to Connie Condict and members of Ash Grove First Christian Church for their hard work getting Pack-a-Bag with Love bags organized and ready for delivery!
