Essential Items to be Shared with Local Youth in Foster Care
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Local and international organizations are joining forces in Columbus on Sunday, November 6 to support local youth in foster care. At a "packing party," volunteers from Second Nurture's Broad Street Interfaith Alliance will fill 300 Comfort Cases® backpacks and Comfort XL duffle bags with essential items which will then be donated to The Buckeye Ranch for foster youth ages birth to 18.
"The Second Nurture model is predicated on tapping into and building upon the support of the community to create ever-expanding, long-lasting networks of support for our foster youth, foster caregivers, and primary parents. What better to way to do this than to mobilize the greater community in service?" states Courtney Keys, Director of Second Nurture Columbus. "Today's event is also an opportunity for us to challenge common misconceptions about foster youth and the foster care system. We hope this encourages more people to open their homes to a foster child, because every child deserves a life of dignity, safety, community, and love."
Currently, there are more than 16,000 youth in foster care in Ohio. In 2021, more than 3700 children were removed from their homes. These children often experience emotional distress, which can lead to multi-generational trauma. Furthermore, youth who are not placed eventually age-out of foster care and are most likely to live in poverty or become homeless, trafficked, or incarcerated.
On November 6, volunteers from Second Nurture's Broad Street Interfaith Alliance, comprised of Temple Israel, Tifereth Israel, and First Church, will be on hand at Temple Israel to pack up the backpacks. All cases will be given to foster youth at The Buckeye Ranch, based in Whitehall, OH, one of the country's leading providers of emotional, behavioral, and mental health services for children and families.
"Children in foster care have often been quickly uprooted from their own home. Providing regulating comforts, such as a stuffy, is soothing and can help ground them. Having something of their own during this time where they have little-to-no control, is powerful", said Amy Nims, Director of Foster Care at The Buckeye Ranch.
In each of the comfort cases® and XLs, youth will find new items: pajamas, a blanket, a hygiene kit (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, etc.), a "stuffy", art supplies, and a new book. Rob Scheer, founder of Comfort Cases explains: "To have your own shampoo, bar of soap and toothpaste – or a new stuffed toy and book, not a hand-me-down, is so powerful and meaningful to these children. It gives them value and dignity, and isn't that something we all, as good humans, should expect?"
Ten years ago, Scheer founded Comfort Cases to promote hope and dignity to youth in foster care – particularly by working to end the common practice of youth moving from place to place with their belongings in trash bags. Scheer was given a trash bag for his belongings when he "aged out" of his foster home, becoming homeless at 18 and a senior in high school. Years later, when Rob's children first arrived at his door via foster care, they had the very same trash bags. "My husband Reece and I decided at that very moment that this practice must come to an end," states Scheer, who will be speaking and leading packing at the Second Nurture event. "Since 2013, we have delivered more than 185,000 Comfort Cases® and comfort XL duffels to children in every state, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. We're thrilled to be back with our friends at Second Nurture to help provide much needed support to the foster community here in Columbus."
Also expected to attend the packing party are Rita Soronen, president and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the Columbus-based organization that focuses on moving children out of foster care and into adoptive homes, representatives from The Columbus Foundation as well as The Buckeye Ranch.
About Second Nurture
Second Nurture is a 501(c)3 located in Los Angeles, California and Columbus, Ohio. 2N's mission is to increase the number of safe, supportive, and loving homes for youth who have been temporarily or permanently displaced and provide a lasting community of support for foster families. Second Nurture encourages more individuals to become licensed foster care-givers by partnering with existing communities to tap into organic and established networks of support, connecting families to local resources, and engaging the greater community through outreach and education. Founded in 2017, Second Nurture has just opened its first affiliate branch in Columbus and has implemented programming within three local partner communities.
About Comfort Cases
Comfort Cases is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to inspire communities to bring dignity and hope to youth in foster care. Founded in 2013, Comfort Cases has distributed more than 185,000 Comfort Cases and Comfort XL duffel bags to children in the foster care system in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. More information can be found at http://www.comfortcases.org.
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SOURCE Second Nurture
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