While Christmas may not be on your radar just yet, there's one organization that's planning ahead to provide a happy holiday for Hall County's foster children.
Hall is Home is a volunteer organization looking for the community's help to provide the county's foster children with a fulfilling Christmas. The first ever event is called Hall is Home for the Holidays and the founder of the group said she hopes this will be the first of many holiday events.
"These are our community's children and this is an opportunity for our amazing community to be able to let these kiddos know they are loved, they are significant and Hall County cares for them," said Ari Mathe, a child welfare attorney and founder of Hall is Home.
Hall is Home is a partnership among officials from DFCS, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Hall County Schools, the family court system, local attorneys, foster care stakeholders, community businesses and individuals.
The goal of the partnership and organization is to provide Christmas for nearly 400 foster children. These foster kids are either in Hall County's foster care system or are children directly placed with a relative or family friend but are served by the county's juvenile court and local programs.
According to Mathe, efforts to provide Hall County children with Christmas has been around a long time, but it has been an effort driven independently by individuals and groups.
"Over the last one to two years, it came to my attention that we've got some wonderful folks and organizations in Hall County," Mathe said. "It's a special place and I really thought to myself that we could work together, not just for the children we are impacting, but also for those individuals and organizations."
Four months ago, Mathe reached out to people in attempt to gain widespread support to turn the idea of a foster care initiative into a reality. Mathe wanted to network outside the court system and connect with local businesses and people with greater connections the court system does not necessarily have in order to create a self-sustaining project for the future, she said.
The organization is looking for help through in-kind donations, cash donations and time; people willing to work the logistics of the operation, such as organizational support acquiring lists, delivering gifts, organizing storage and helping with a Christmas party for the kids in mid-December, Mathe said.
For those people who wish to assist with the party, there are additional steps to take, given the nature of the event and the presence of foster children, she said.
"We would love to have some folks who are maybe magicians or face painters," Mathe said. "If they want to donate their time, we would love for them to be a part of that."
Like most kids around the holidays, the children are asked to create a Christmas wish list, Mathe said. The kids are asked to list three things they want, three things they need, to list their clothing sizes, favorite colors, favorite characters and to list any other of their favorite snacks and activities.
"We want to ensure not only that we provide a complete Christmas for each and every child in foster care through Hall County, but to make sure that they all get their gifts ahead of Christmas and that they get what they asked for just like our own children would," she said.
Volunteers may decide to take on a list or lists, but if choosing to do so, that person or group of people are responsible for getting every item on the list, Mathe said. If people don't have the time to do the shopping but want to donate the cash value of a list, $250 is the requested amount.
The organization is also collecting gift cards to various stores like target, Walmart, iTunes, Amazon, Zaxby's, GameStop, Visa cards, etc. According to Mathe, the teenagers typically ask for money or ways to shop for themselves.
"These guys are just normal teens who want to be able to go out and pick their own stuff and have their own style," Mathe said.
Older kids have a tendency to ask for big ticket items on their Christmas lists, she said. Teenagers often ask for items such as Jordan tennis shoes, gaming consoles, cell phones and other electronics. In order to cover the cost of those more expensive items, cash donations will be used to purchase those single items to keep as many people as possible from being responsible for high priced gifts.
Depending on what Christmas lists are available, certain requests can be made as far as age group for the list you receive, Mathe said.
She suggested getting groups involved from places like churches or daycares to tackle numerous items on any one list or to buy for more than one child and manage several lists.
"We want to walk away feeling like we did our very best as a community for our foster children," Mathe said. "These are our children, they are our community's children and they are Hall County's children."
For more information on the cause or to get involved, visit their website or contact the organization directly by email or phone at 678-696-0807.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2019/7/817961/hall-county-foster-care-initiative-aims-to-provide-christmas-for-400-foster-kids