A Kids Place
Hello friends,
Some of you know about "A Kids Place" and some don't, for 6 months or so I have driven by and thought it was a daycare, it is not. It is a shelter that is part of the Joshua House where kids that have been taken from their home for various reasons (drug abuse, sexual abuse, abuse etc... usually in the middle of the night) and are taken here to live in a safe environment, sometimes with just the clothes on their back sometimes they get a chance to fill a pillow case with items. The building you see from the street has a few offices, large kitchen, dining area, playroom, library etc., then behind that building is, I believe, 5 homes that have been donated by various sponsors. Each house has a den mom and den dad that tries to keep life normal for these kids, the day I was there a 3 week old baby was delivered in the night, of course I thought who and what could someone do to a 3 week old ? They couldn't tell me, but it broke my heart thinking of these babies. I believe right now, they have 26 kids there, one is a 7th grade girl who is pregnant. If the kids are there longer than 30 days they are enrolled in Burns Middle, Brooker Elem and Bloomingdale High school. A Kids Place needs volunteers during the day & evening hours too, but as we all have families that would be harder... they can use help as teacher aides, answering telephones, rocking babies, maybe helping serve lunches, if cleaning is your thing wiping the hand prints off of the glass doors or going to one of the 5 house and helping clean bathrooms. The volunteer the day I was there told me about the Mom's club of either, Valrico or Lithia, she wasn't sure which will be bringing Xmas trees and setting them up in each house so each "family" will have one, I believe they are going to have a toy drive also so each child can have Christmas. She told me about some older women that would like to bake cakes each month and have a birthday celebration for the kids that birthdays are that month, I thought about donating birthday plates, napkins in a girl and boy theme would be great. I am passing this onto you as many of us stay at home moms that may want to contribute 2 hours 4 hours a week or a month to help out. I also learned the Newsome kids go there afterschool to earn volunteer hours they play basketball with the kids or help ones that could extra tutoring. They also have a wish list of items needed below are a few of them. If you decide to become a volunteer you will need to be finger printed and fill out a volunteer form, I just wanted to share this with as many people as I could please feel free to pass the information along to others.
Most pressing now: Pull ups (all sizes), disposable gloves (lots of diapering taking place), soy formula, knee pads and helmets (I saw a dozen bikes around), ethnic baby dolls, larger size socks for boys and girls, size 9 girl shoes, (sneaker,flip flops, slippers), boys clothing 5t and 12-18 months,girls clothing sizes 4 and 8, scotch tape, post it notes, crock pot, radios and cd players, batteries all sizes but mostly AA, lice head/hair products, shampoo, gel red lice comb, diapers all sizes, diaper genie, changing pads for changing tables, onesies, hair accessories, brushes, curling irons, blow dryers, beads for hair
Product for young ladies: nail files, polish, tweezers, manicure tools ..
Kitchen items: casserole dishes, storage containers, tupperware.
At first I understood they would only accept new items but that is not true I brought 3 bags of clothes the girls won't wear or do not fit anymore and a few games. So if you are cleaning out closets, or kitchen's please think of "A Kids Place" ... it will definetly touch your heart..we havent had anything like this in our backyard and they need our help!
Sandy Ferren