2008 Springfield Business Expo

Ambassadors for Children will have our own booth at the Springfield Business Expo, which draws around 6,000 spectators each year. This is a very exciting opportunity for us, as we will be recruiting business groups to participate in the Adopt-a-Caseworker program.

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This program will allow local businesses the opportunity to support local child victims of abuse/neglect and their Caseworkers in a very specific and direct way. Volunteers from the Ambassadors for Children Advisory Committee and the Agency Director, Sondra Uzzell, will staff the booth from 9am-7pm on Thursday, October 2nd. To receive a free Expo ticket, please contact Sondra Uzzell at suzzell@ccozarks.org or call 417-862-3586.

Come see us on October 2nd in booth 803!!!

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"The Adopt-a-Caseworker program is supported by grant #2005-VF-GX-K009 awarded by the Office for Victims oice Programs, U.S. Department of Justic, 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."

2008 Day of Caring

The 2008 United Way Day of Caring proved to be a huge success for Ambassadors for Children!

A total of 14 fantastic volunteers from the City of Springfield volunteered their time and energy on Thursday, August 14th to help organize and distribute duffel bags for our Pack-a-Bag with Love program. Their total in-kind volunteer time was 52 hours!

These volunteers completed 185 duffel bags for children entering foster care in Greene County and also assisted to transport 100 of the bags to the Greene County Children's Division Office.

A total of 265 bags had already been completed and delivered to Missouri Baptist Children's Home, Presbyterian Children's Services, Boys & Girls Town, and Springfield Partners by volunteers from Ash Grove First Christian Church.

We truly appreciate the help and support of these wonderful people!

Check out these amazing Before & After pictures!!!

Bags before prep, empty storage boxes after prep, and finished bags ready for transport

Foster Parent Insight

Local Foster Parents were given the opportunity to participate in a special focus group last night (8/14/2008) to share their thoughts about Ambassadors for Children and our new Adopt-a-Caseworker program.

21 Foster Parents participated in the event. They shared enthusiasm for the program, as well as the existing Ambassadors for Children programs that serve them and their foster children exclusively.

Many great questions, suggestions, and opinions were shared among the group. Thanks to all who participated in this process! The information gathered will be used to assess our community needs as we embark upon the strategic planning process for this new and exciting program!

For more information about Adopt-a-Caseworker, see the program information section to the right.

"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"