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February 2013 In This Issue Director's Letter: A Thank You to This Agency's Important Partners Meet the Children Available for Adoption Kiwanis International Donates to Hamilton County Foster Children Where Are They Now? Don Thomas Hamilton County Reinstates Foster Youth Advisory Board
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A Thank You to This
Agency's Important Partners
The difference between the two is easy to see. The mission focuses mainly on this agency and its most important daily tasks: providing the necessities to move someone to higher ground as quickly as possible. The vision is about this department being the catalyst for long-term change in this community. Because of our status as both a funder and a service provider, we are in a great position to be at the center of activities geared toward the long-term benefit of our consumers and this community. We feed the hungry, provide medical care for the uninsured, assist the unemployed, protect abused children and senior citizens, make sure other children have the financial support they need --- and we fund a myriad of community organizations that help us in that plight. Naturally, we want to be at the center of efforts to eradicate the social problems that bring people to our doors. We would love to put ourselves out of business. But we recognize we absolutely cannot do this job alone. This has to be a community-wide effort and everyone has a role to play. It always amazes me when an individual or organization joins this fight with little to gain. It is natural that organizations we fund would be by our side – we have the same goals and our success is dependent upon each other. But other individuals and organizations have joined us just for the sake of making this community a better place to live. They give and give, seeking nothing in return. For example, Ron McSwain, businessman and community leader. He has a special place in his heart for disadvantaged children and has gone out of his way on many occasions to assist our foster youth or provide gifts at special celebrations. He asks for nothing in return and gets true joy out of seeing their happiness. Another great partner is the Coalition of Care, a great group of local churches that has come together to support our efforts with foster and adoptive children. Chris Combs and his folks host a holiday party every year, help with our Celebration of Dreams event which recognizes graduating foster children, and provide gifts and necessities throughout the year when they are needed. They’ve even held recruiting events to help us find foster families. This group considers it a calling to help our children and we are lucky to have them by our side. The Foster Child Enrichment Council is another organization that has always supported our efforts, helping with both our holiday events and our Celebration of Dreams event. The group also pitches in, for example, if a child needs to pay school fees to participate in extra-curricular activities, or needs to buy equipment for those activities. Businessman Rob Herman contacted us in 2011 after seeing a news story about our Toys for Tots donation. The story noted we loved the toys, but also needed items for older teenagers. He immediately donated several Target gift cards and has maintained a relationship with the agency since, even recruiting friends for donations. He would even like to develop a network of donors to make sure all of our teens receive age-appropriate gifts. The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr. Foundation is also a wonderful partner. We have several interns working in our building who help take some of the workload off our staff. They perform the grunt work, but they also get a chance to learn about their profession and get real-life experience. The Haile Foundation has generously agreed to fund those internships. Tim and Leslie Maloney, and Chris Bochenek, have also stepped in with gifts and other necessities for our families whenever we have called upon them. We are extremely grateful they have “adopted” us. There are many more that I am unable to mention in this limited space. My point is that many organizations and individuals in this community are willing to help their neighbors and ask nothing in return. That is not unique to Hamilton County, but it is worth recognizing and lauding. One of every six people in our community is receiving some type of financial assistance from our agency. At least one in every three is involved in a child support case. One in 11 of our community’s children is involved with Children’s Services. The job is massive. I am glad to have the help we do. Thank you. |
Our agency mission is to provide services today that lead our consumers to a better tomorrow. Our vision is to be the center of a collaborative effort that draws together, guides and supports families, social services agencies, businesses, governments and other stake holders to help combat social problems, such as child abuse and poverty.
