We Are Thankful For…
If you are a user of social media, it’s likely that the November gratitude challenges have begun to appear. These challenges encourage you to sit down every day and identify something you are grateful for, then write a post about it to share the good in your life and then encourage your friends to do the same. Many of these posts include warm blankets, a favorite movie, or a family member that has impacted them in a special way. These challenges get us thinking about the many things in our lives that we are grateful for, big or small, and remind us of all the good in a world that often focuses on the bad. Here are some things we at Family Advocates are grateful for.
Our Office
Everyone needs a home, and for Family Advocates our home is an office in Boise! This space allows us to host in-person Family Strengthening Education Program (FSEP) courses, meet with volunteers and potential partners, and provide a calm stable environment for our staff and volunteers to focus on everything they do to serve the children and families in our community. As an organization that provides free services, an office would be impossible to have without generous support from donors and other financial partners. Thank you for giving our programs a home.
The Family Advocates Resource Room
Whether it’s a warm blanket, a new toy, or a book to read the Family Advocates Resource Room has the essential items we need to give the children and families involved in our programs some help. The resource room is also where the supplies for the backpacks we provide to every child involved in our Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program come from. These backpacks each contain something the child wants, something they need, something warm, and something to read. The Family Advocates Resource Room is kept stocked entirely through donations, and we are so thankful to our community for making this something we can provide to the children and families we serve.
The Family Strengthening Education Program (FSEP)
In the last several months this program has been able to provide drop-in workshops, Family Resiliency courses, and books to families throughout the Treasure Valley. Our volunteers and partners help make this happen by assisting staff with course facilitation, teaching special topics, and providing space for our classes to be held throughout Boise and Caldwell. We are so thankful to be able to provide these classes to families and participate in many wonderful events throughout the year.
The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Program
This program would be impossible to run without the help of many talented volunteer Guardians ad Litem (GALs) and pro-bono attorneys who, since July of this year, have already served more than 375 children involved in active child protection cases. These volunteers work hard to make sure children who are going through what may be the most challenging time in their lives have a safe stable adult who will make sure their voice is heard in court. We are so thankful to be able to provide this program to children in our community.
Our Board of Directors
It takes a tremendous amount of background work to make an organization like Family Advocates function. From approving budgets to helping us recruit volunteers and sponsors, our Board of Directors is a vital component of what makes Family Advocates successful. The men and women on our board come from a wide variety of backgrounds, each adding to the success of our organization in a unique way. We are tremendously grateful for their guidance and leadership.
Our Donors
It costs money to run our programs, from printing materials for participants in our courses to paying the rent. Bills must be paid or the doors close. We are so thankful that our community values the work that we do enough to help us make sure that our doors stay open. Last year individual and corporate donors contributed more than $300,000 to help Family Advocates run its programs. Some of that money went to buying Christmas gifts for children whose families couldn’t afford them, keeping the lights on and air conditioner running so the families participating in our Family Strengthening Education Program (FSEP) courses have a comfortable place to learn, and buying backpacks for foster children in our Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Program. We couldn’t be more thankful for your support of the work that we do.
Our Volunteers
Our mission at Family Advocates is to strengthen families and keep kids safe by empowering everyday people to protect and enrich the lives of youth. Our volunteers are those everyday people. They give so generously of their time in many ways including helping facilitate courses for families who want to strengthen their family bonds, spreading the word about Family Advocates at community events, or completing many hours of training to learn how to advocate for the best interests of children who have experienced abuse, helping make sure their future life is safe and secure. We are thankful for the time they so generously give.
Our Community Partners
Family Advocates is privileged to have many community partners that help our organization operate in a variety of ways including grants for our programs, space to host classes, training, and events, and spreading the word about our organization and what we can do to help children and families in our community. Our community partners include for-profit, non-profit, and government organizations all of which have helped Family Advocates in amazing ways. We are thankful to belong to a community where organizations can work together.
Hopefully, if you choose to participate in a gratefulness challenge this year it reminds you of all the good in the world that you can be thankful for. At Family Advocates we see that good in action every day, through the work of our dedicated volunteers who help us run programs that our donors and community partners make possible with their support. To everyone who supports our organization, whether it be through donations, grants, volunteering, or telling those you know about what we do, thank you for making it possible to serve the more than 600 children and families involved in our programs each year.
