What a great year 2014 turned out to be!
There were 102 grants approved to foster families totaling over $18,000.00. Most of these grants where for basic needs of - clothing, beds/bedding, medical, sports activities and education.
We have a Visitation Center which is open Monday - Friday from 9:00am - 4:30pm. There are five (5) Agencies utilizing these rooms, with over 550 hours in use for the year. This allows relatives the opportunity to spend time with their child in a supervised environment.
The Adoption Exchange had 13 more families sign up, this allows the possibility to have communication between birth and adoptive families in a way that respects the confidentiality of all parties.
April 9th was the first AZ Gives Day that we participated in with great success, raising $4,500.00 and received a matching donation dollar for dollar from an annonymous donor, making the grand total $9,000.00.
We continue to support Time for Teens - aka T4T - and this year they had a Spring get together, Thanksgiving and Holiday parties.
There are two Adoption Day's each year that we had the priveldge to support. Along with an appreciation lunch in the Spring and Holiday Dinner in the winter for CASA's.
On August 23rd the Silverbak band dedicated it's performance at the Courthouse to raise awareness and much needed financial aide.
We also had our very 1st Annual Costume for Kids 5K Fun Run/Walk starting and ending at the Courhouse Square on Gurley. For our first fall event, we had over 100 participants dressed in costume, jogging through our beautiful downtown Prescott. There was a face painter and clowns creating balloon art with other Non-Profit agencies with booths. This year we had eight (8) Corporate sponsors for this event.
The Clothing Gift Card was 10/17th with 376 gift cards issued in the amount of $18,225.00. The agencies then forwarded these gift cards to the foster families.
In Addition to the clothing gift cards provided to all foster families, we also provide emergency cards to DCS to be used as needed.
The Holiday Gift Drive was another great success with 16 distribution sites set up all over the Quad City area. After collecting the generous donations, on 12/18th & 19th, foster families where able to "shop" for gifts ranging from bikes, books, clothes and toys for all ages.
December is a very busy time of year besides the gift drive we also participated in the annual Stocking Stuffer Bazaar on 12/20th, held at the Armory on Gurley. This year you could purchase ornaments made by children and alumni in foster care.
Our grant committee applied for 17 grants and we were awarded 13 totaling in the amount of $14,800.00. CONGRATULATION grant committee on a very successful year!
What can you look forward to from us in 2015? This year the Board has even more goals set.
We will continue to provide foster families with much needed necessaties through our grant request program. We will fund Adoption Day's and Time for Teens along with giving gift cards for emergency clothing. This year we will add celebration cards. These are gift‑ cards from local stores that are given to children when they experience a milestone, such as a birthday, improving grades in school, getting along better in the foster home, not wetting the bed for a week, or sleeping through the night in their own bed. Celebration Cards provide much-needed positive reinforcement. We are hoping to increase the hours used at the Visitation Center.
There is a new project called CODY (Court Orientation for Dependant Youth,) that we will support financially. This new program encourages youth to attend their court hearings and familiarize them with the dependency process – to let them know they have a voice and encourage them to use it. The program brings dependent youth age 12 and up to court after hours for a presentation in the courtroom which describes how the court moves through dependency process and the roles of each of the participants. Presenters are: a Judge, an AAG, a parent’s attorney, a child’s attorney, a child’s GAL, a CASA, a DCS worker and a youth (foster graduate). We would also like to expand our social media presence with Facebook, Twitter and possibly a Blog.
Specific dates or months to mark on your calendars are below.
Spring Fundraiser - TBD
AZ Give Day will be on April 7th
2nd Annual 5K Fun run/walk will be on October 25th
December - Holiday Gift Drive & Stocking Stuffer Bazaar
Keep checking back for updates of things happening in and around Yavapai County from this amazing Foundation.
Yavapai CASA for Kids is proud to announce that we now offer a quarterly newsletter to keep YOU up to date on how we're working to improve the lives of children in foster care!
First Annual Costume for Kids 5K Fun Run/Walk in beautiful downtown Prescott, Sunday, October 26th at 9:00am. Starting and ending at the Courthouse square. $25 entry fee, group of 4 - $80, children 4 and under are free. FUN for all ages! Register by clicking the button to your left.
The money raised will go to support the unmet needs of the over 400 foster children in our community.
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