Providing the “bear” essentials for children entering care.
In August of 2019, it came to our attention that the clothing closet at DHR was cluttered, crowded, & not being utilized. With the help of a Serve Project coordinated with Church of the Highlands – Huntsville as well as help from Foster Love HSV, MCFAPA was able to renovate the closet into a clean, organized, and usable space. Dubbed “The Den,” this space provides the “bear essentials” needed for children first entering foster care until foster families can get to one of our partners like Our Kids Clothing Closet at The Rock Family Worship Center.
In conjunction with our KICK (Kids in Care Kit) Bag program that started in October 2019, we are now able to serve almost every child coming into care with items to get them through their first couple of nights in care. In just the first 2 months of launching, we were able to provide over 50 KICK Bags to children entering care. Since then, we have been able to serve over 1,000 children first entering foster care here in Madison County through The Den alone, not counting the thousands of others through The MCFAPA Exchange. On average, The Den serves 25+ children each month now.
MCFAPA is always looking for local organizations that would like to host their own “KICK Bag Drive.”
Download this handy checklist to help collect the most needed items for our bags or shop from our Amazon Wishlist here. Keep watch on our Facebook Page where we sometimes post immediate needs.
