Imagine with me for a moment you are settled in for the night. Maybe catching some tv show or reading a book. Someone knocks at your door and informs you that for your own safety you must leave your home, family, pets, and there is no time to pack a thing.
As adults we would think this is absurd. Not knowing when you’ll see your family again, if you’ll return home or see your friends is frightening. And who is this family you’ll be living with for an undetermined amount of time? Will you get along? What are their expectations of you? The unknowns are endless.
The sad part about this is it happens to children everyday, for their own protection, when they need a safe place to stay. This is foster care.
Too often children cannot pack anything, sometimes because they are picked up at school. It could be for sanitary reasons or just lack of personal items.
As a foster family we personally saw children come through our front door with nothing but what they were wearing or things in a trash bag. There had to be a better way for these kids to be comforted in such a traumatic situation.
This is why Hope Pkgs exists.
Our family also knows how wonderful it is to have kids arrive with a bag of their own. A new bag filled with new items such as underwear, socks, pajamas and toiletries. This bag is something the children can keep. Something they are not sharing with other children in the home. Something new rather than hand-me-downs.
Not only does this benefit the kids but also the foster parents as they can focus on calming the children and getting them settled into a home they have never been to with people they have never met.
We have witnessed the devastation that puts kids into foster care. We have seen the desperation, sadness, confusion and tangible needs they arrive with. Your support is vital.
Our family and other foster families thank you for stepping alongside of us as we all help by providing HOPE, encouragement and love in action with something as basic but important as Hope Pkgs.
We truly appreciate your gifts. All donations will be used toward creating 1st night bags & to advance this project. We have approximately 170 to 220 children in foster care just within Ottawa County all the time. In the state of Michigan there are nearly 11,000 children in care. This is an ongoing need.
If you would like to do something unique & make a donation to honor someone for Christmas or their birthday, Hope Pkgs is happy to send you a Gift Letter that you can present to your loved one explaining how they inspire such gifts.
Again we thank you for your generosity! For your convenience, you can also use the tab shown below to use PayPal to make a gift.
Lisa Hoeve
Hope Pkgs
https://www.facebook.com/hopepkgs/
Children served since 2015