A new campaign will help foster children in Lethbridge to move to new homes with hope and dignity. Lethbridge Family Services has launched a Suitcases for Kids Campaign, which aims to make sure all foster kids moving homes have a brand-new suitcase full of essentials and other items to make the move easier.
The idea for the campaign was sparked when a suitcase was donated to the Angel Tree campaign.
“When I read that a small person was looking for a suitcase as they were entering foster care, I felt very touched and months after Christmas I found myself still thinking about that story,” says Barbara Tillsley, an Angel Tree supporter who started the campaign. “I am so excited to know that there are people who are going to be given this gift in our city and area because I feel like it is a real way for me to make a difference.”
The campaign has a goal of raising $10,000 to help about 50 kids in Lethbridge and area. Each suitcase will come packed with a blanket, colouring books, a journal, toys and games and hygiene products.
“Children who experience emergency foster care normally take their small belongings in a large plastic bag to their new home. They are scared, they feel alone and they need hope and we can help give that hope and start to restore their dignity with a gift of a suitcase filled with personal items,” Tillsley says.
Anyone who wants to help with the campaign can visit the Lethbridge Family Services website to donate. There is a list of items that are needed and LFS will accept money also.
Tillsley says she and her husband have committed to matching donations from the community.