HOPE IN A SUITCASE
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : m****a@h*************e.o*g
Mission Statement
Hope in a Suitcase is a volunteer-run and driven, nonprofit group benefiting foster children. Our mission is simple. We provide children and teens in and entering foster care with a suitcase/duffel bag, along with basic essentials and comfort items, to make their transition into the foster care system and their circumstances just a little bit easier and more dignified. No child should have to carry his or her belongings in a trash bag. A personalized suitcase or duffel bag, along with basic essentials and comfort items, allows children to enter their new family or community feeling more confident and more comfortable, and sends children entering foster care a message that they are important and cared for by our community.
About This Cause
Hope in a Suitcase's mission is to provide children and teens in foster care with a personalized, age and gender specific suitcase/duffel bag, along with basic essentials and comfort items, to make their transition and circumstances just a little easier and more dignified. Our current program concentration is in the Greater Los Angeles area. Our organization is volunteer run and driven. Through donations by individuals, schools, and community groups, we distributed suitcases, duffel bags, comfort items and basic essentials to over 5,000 children and youth in foster care by the end of the 2017 (our first 2 years of operation). There is much more work to be done! There are approximately 35,000 youths in foster care in Los Angeles County alone. Many children do not have a suitcase or a duffel bag when they enter foster care, especially in emergency situations. They often enter foster care with nothing but the clothes on their backs or have to bring whatever belongings they can fit into a plastic trash bag. And, unfortunately, the foster families welcoming the children generally have had very little time to prepare for their arrival. Despite efforts to provide a stable family environment for each child, some children in foster care have to move several times before being reunified with their birth-families or before finding a forever family through legal guardianship or adoption. Without a suitcase or duffel bag of their own, their belongings are often carried from placement to placement in a pillow case or a trash bag. Our goal is to provide a personalized suitcase, with essentials, to the children of Los Angeles as they enter foster care and as they join a loving foster family. The intent of our simple and tangible gesture is to not only reassure children that we value them as individuals, but also that their personal belongings deserve the same respect and care as they do, no matter where they go. Operationally and philosophically, one thing that distinguishes Hope in a Suitcase: We are not a “One Size Fits All” operation. Children in foster care range in age from newborn all the way up to and through 18 years old. In Los Angeles, space is at a premium. Each agency has a distinct set of systems and challenges, including on-site storage limitations. Hope in a Suitcase does not just drop 100 generically packed duffel bags at an agency’s doorstep all at once. We work closely with our partners to tailor what we provide and how we provide it to best fit their needs and the needs of the children they serve. Hope in a Suitcase provides ALL NEW items to youth in foster care according to 3 general models: 1. Fully Packed Size and Gender Specific Suitcases. Children placed with a loving foster family by our Foster Family Agency partners receive an age and gender specific suitcase or duffel bag, pre-packed by Hope in a Suitcase volunteers with love and with practical and special ALL NEW items to help them through their first days with their new foster family: Something to wear to their first day of school, new pajamas, a cuddly blanket and age-appropriate book, personal toiletry items and undergarments they may be too embarrassed to request in a new setting, a personal note of encouragement from another child. We are generally able to deliver size and gender specific bags (e.g. "Baby Girl, size 0 -3 months"; "Toddler Boy, size 4"; "Girl Size 8") precisely matched to the individual children they place within 24 hours of request. 2. Clothing Closets: The Transitional Shelter we serve provides up to 72 hour transitional shelter for Los Angeles youth when they first enter the foster care system and are awaiting their initial placement. By maintaining a stock of duffel bags and toiletry kits, along with a closet of clothing, undergarments and pajamas in a range of sizes, Hope in a Suitcase frees well-trained staff from the need to scramble to provide clothing and hygiene essentials while simultaneously attempting to comfort traumatized new arrivals. They instead reach for what each child needs during their stay at the transitional shelter. The child can change into clean and comfortable clothing or sleepwear, and they can also pack their new duffel bag with an additional change of clothes, comfort items and toiletry items to get them thru their first days in a new home. This allows them to meet their new foster families with some sense of dignity, without the lasting image of arriving with a trash bag. 3. Tween & Teen "Shopping" Opportunities: Recognizing the unique needs of older youth to choose their own items, Hope in a Suitcase additionally offers “Shopping Days” at The Emporium: Foster Resource and Literacy Center, where referred foster tweens and teens can come to our Headquarters to "Shop" – entirely free of charge – for clothing and other essentials to fit their personal body types, tastes and needs. Hope in a Suitcase is grateful for contributions in any amount. Small donations from many individuals add up to the ability to fill a complete suitcase for a child in need. What Large Donations and Your Generosity Can Provide: * $125 One Fully-Loaded Suitcase or Duffel Bag, each generally containing a blanket, pajamas, 1-2 comfortable changes of clothing, a sweatshirt or jacket, undergarments, socks, toiletries and age appropriate comfort items (e.g. a small stuffed animal, a journal, a book, a nightlight, a handwritten note of support, etc.). * $250 Two Fully-Loaded Suitcases or Duffel Bags, including same items listed above. * $500 Four Fully-Loaded Suitcases or Duffel Bags, including same items listed above. * $1,000 Eight Fully-Loaded Suitcases or Duffel Bags, including same items listed above. * $2,500 Provides a "Shopping Day" for 30 Foster Tweens/Teens, who are invited to come and choose for themselves from a selection of brand new, high quality merchandise to fit their personal body types, tastes and needs. Typically, each child walks away with a suitcase or duffel bag filled with new school clothing, athletic wear, undergarments, sleepwear, books, a pair of shoes, art supplies, toiletries and more. Thank you for your support! For more information and volunteer opportunities, please visit our website (www.hopeinasuitcase.org) or email us (info@hopeinasuitcase.org).