YMCA of Coastal GA Collecting Suitcases for Foster Children
Wednesday, April 27th, 2022
Five YMCA of Coastal Georgia branches are collecting new and gently used suitcases, duffel bags and backpacks to be donated to Chatham County foster children, with the drive culminating at the Habersham Branch’s 30th anniversary Healthy Kids Day Event, Saturday, May 7.
Many children in foster care must move from place to place with their possessions packed in plastic shopping and trash bags; Tots to Tots aims to provide a real piece of luggage in which each child can carry their things. Since 2002, Totes to Tots has collected and distributed over 67,000 age-appropriate bags to more than 11,000 children in Georgia’s foster care system.
The Y’s drive will take place at the Habersham, Islands, Tybee, West Chatham and Effingham branches to benefit the 304 children in Chatham County’s foster system. Bags from all the branches will be collected on Healthy Kids Day, and partners from Totes to Tots will join the Y team at the Habersham branch’s Healthy Kids Day event to celebrate wrapping up the drive. DFCS will also be at Habersham’s Healthy Kids Day to recruit eligible foster parents.
The YMCA of Coastal Georgia’s chaplain Herb Hubbard, himself a foster child once, emphasizes how packing a child’s belongings in a disposable bag can send the message to the child that they too are disposable: “I’m a foster kid from years ago, and I know how self-image is affected by just having a bag to carry, a backpack…that makes you feel like everybody else.”
For more information on the drive, contact Laura Schmarkey, association outreach program director, at [email protected], or visitYMCAofCoastalGA.org.
