Cases for Kids

Just a quick update before the holidays! We are beginning another push for Cases for Kids, our program where we provide bags to our children in foster care, as they are moving from one placement to the next. We began this project handing out bags through our volunteers, after or just before their child clients had been moved.

Through generous donations from the community, we were able to fill 54 bags with either school supplies and personal care items, or a small toy and personal care items. We also filled about 40 “emergency” bags, with the essentials; soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. We will now be able to give children a little something when they are moving, and hopefully help them while they are transitioning through this tough time.

We are also beginning a partnership with the Mecklenburg County Foster Adopt Parent Association, and they will be helping us in the distribution of our bags. Each of the Mecklenburg County Foster Adopt Parent Association officers will be keeping some bags at their homes, and foster parents will be able to contact them, say they are getting an emergency placement, and pick up a bag anytime. This will help us get bags to the children as they are being moved, rather than after. Some of our children are taken from their homes immediately, and are not able to pack any of their belongings. Hopefully with this partnership they will be able to receive a bag as they are arriving at their foster placement. We are always looking for donations of personal care items and school supplies, contact us if you think you can help!

Knowing Who You Are

Everyone here at the Mecklenburg Guardian ad Litem Advocacy Foundation is very excited about receiving the Speedway Children’s Charities grant. We attended the ceremony last Monday, and are humbled and excited to begin our latest project, Knowing Who You Are. The GALA Foundation will be partnering with the Guardian ad Litem Program and the Department of Social Services to coordinate this initiative.

Every child who enters the foster care system is confused, frightened and overwhelmed with the reality of being taken from all they know and being thrown into a new and often strange environment. A disproportionate number of our children are from minority communities and while the Department of Social Services strives to keep them within their communities, often many of them are placed in homes very different from the ones in which they were raised.

The goal of this project is to: help make the transitions for children in foster care as smooth as possible, foster healthy racial and ethnic identities within them, and to provide the GAL volunteers with another resource through which they can build relationships with their child clients. The GALA Foundation will be purchasing books with positive cultural or racial messages to help ease the transitions for children and help them develop a positive identity. 

Social workers, judges, program supervisors, and eventually Guardian ad Litem volunteers will be trained to identify and help those children who may be in need. The books will be distributed through our Guardian ad Litem volunteers and will also provide another way for our volunteers and their child clients to bond! More information about KWYA can be found at:  http://www.casey.org/Resources/Initiatives/KnowingWhoYouAre/

 Keep an eye on our blog and our website for more updates on this new initiative!

GALA Foundation Receives a NASCAR Speedway Children's Charities Grant

Exciting news!! The GALA Foundation is the proud recipient of a NASCAR Speedway Children’s Charities grant. We will be attending the ceremony this coming Monday evening where we will be notified of the exact amount of the grant. A great thank you goes out to Anamita Gall, our Fundraising Coordinator,m for making this happen!

The money that the Foundation receives from this grant will be used to support a new initiative, the Knowing Who You Are project. Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of the children in the Guardian ad Litem program are of minority descent. Often they are placed in homes with different backgrounds than their own, and this can cause them to become confused about their ethnicity. It is important for them to develop a healthy image of themselves and their racial identity, and the GALA Foundation will be purchasing books that promote a healthy racial identity and explore issues of multiculturalism. We hope that this will foster healthy identity development in our foster children, and also provide an additional way for our volunteers to connect with their child-clients. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting new project!!!  

What's Going on at the GALA Foundation?

Just a quick post to update everyone on some of the happenings at the Mecklenburg Guardian ad Litem Advocacy Foundation.

We are keeping busy planning our Basketball Charity event, featuring the Harlem Ambassadors! The Ambassadors are a traveling, comedy basketball showcase, and the GALA Foundation is hosting them here in Charlotte on March 12^th, 2011. We are looking for local celebrities, advocates, or supporters to come out and play against the Ambassadors, contact us if you know of any, or if you yourself happen to be one! Or if you feel that basketball really isn’t your thing, but you are still interested in helping out, then contact us at guardian@meckguardian.org, and help us with organizing the fundraiser.

The money raised at our Basketball Charity event will be used to support our Beyond the Classroom initiative. Many of the children in foster care are unable to attend extracurricular activities, such as summer camps, piano lesions, art lessons etc, which can be integral to their upbringing.  It is our goal to provide 900 children with an opportunity to explore an activity of their choice.

In addition to Beyond the Classroom, we have a project called the Cases for Kids project, where we provide bags, suitcases, or luggage to a child in foster care who is moving placements and does not have a way to transport their belongings, or if a child has simply lost their backpack. If you are interested in more information on this project, or if you would like to make a donation, visit our website, meckguardian.org.

Thanks to generous donations from the SouthPark Rotary Club, The SouthPark Lions Club and Girl Scout Troop #3620 we have been able to kick of this project, but still have a great need to fill the backpacks with personal care items such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. We would also like to fill the bags and backpacks with school supplies so the children can be sent off to school well prepared to learn.  If you have a group of people looking for a project, this could be a great way to get involved and give back to your community! Contact us if you would like more information on this project!

We are also still in the process of developing our tutoring program, and would love any ideas, thoughts, or resources that you have to share with us. The program is still very much in the initial phases, and any ideas will be taken into consideration as we move forward with this program.