December 22, 2021
Kelly C. Bawden, MS, CCC-SLP
Care Options for Kids, formerly The Hello Foundation Give Committee meets once a month and is in charge of guiding our philanthropic efforts throughout the year. We try to pick a mix of activities that will allow every THFer to participate to whatever degree they choose, and we're always eager to partner with both old and new friends for this work! Here's what we've been up to over the past few months:
Diaper Drive
In October, we hosted our first-ever Diaper Drive. We’re all about putting kids first and what do children need from the very beginning? Diapers! And as we all know, diapers aren’t just for babies. They are also a critical need for lots of older kids and young adults who we serve. And guess what? Diaper need is yet another area that has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. The New York Times reported that diaper banks across the country have reported a major increase in families who can’t afford diapers, with some banks reporting they distributed up to 60% more diapers in 2020 than they had in 2019. We partnered with the Pdx Diaper Bank in Portland and the Covering Weld Diaper Bank in Colorado and THFers came through in a big way! All told, we donated 3300 diapers, 6340 wipes, & 13 tubes of diaper cream to these organizations who will distribute them to diaper-wearing individuals in our communities.
Michelle's Love
In December, we once again partnered with our friends at Michelle’s Love to fufill a family's holiday wish list. Michelle's Love supports single mothers who are undergoing cancer treatment with rent/mortgage assistance, bill pay assistance, meals, gas cards, and house cleaning services. It has been our honor to work with them on their holiday giving program for the last several years. We received the family's wish list in late November, posted it to our Jostle intranet, and THFers were off to the stores! Committee members Heidi and Amber made the special delivery to mom Brandy and twins Bodie and Annebelle, and were joined by a local news crew as well (you can watch the news story here).
It was a great start to our Give year, and we're already looking forward to our spring projects! Here's to a 2022 full of community building and service!
