Contributed by Amy Andrews
Friendship Trays has been delivering nutritious meals to elderly and infirm individuals in the Charlotte area for more than 40 years. Friendship Trays clients face isolation and concern over access to food each and every day. The irony of today’s situation is that so many of us are suddenly facing those very fears, perhaps for the first time ever.
In just a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has turned our world upside down, shutting down any place where large groups of people would normally gather - including restaurants, concerts, performing arts, and fundraising events. For our local nonprofits, COVID-19 has forced dramatic change in order to continue serving the local community.
In a time of crisis, we are often reminded that as long as our basic human needs are being met, in the end, we will be OK.
But here is the issue - food, water, shelter and clothing are not always guarenteed. With the current crisis our world is facing, the resources that many of our most vulnerable neighbors rely on for access to food have been disrupted and compromised, making hunger a more urgent need than ever in our community.
Contributed by Becky Santoro
In the fall, Foster Village Charlotte opened up a one-of-a kind home-like resource center in the Oakhurst Neighborhood thanks to the generosity of individual donors and the seed money they won being a part of SEED20 through Social Ventures Partners. But why a resource center? What's so important about a physical location?
By Jennifer L. Colter, Communications Director of Thompson Child and Family Focus
Rarely does Thompson’s foster care team have a day that is uneventful. When your job entails children and their well-being-especially their long-term outcomes, day-to-day experiences are going to be challenging and have an effect at the end of the day.
When Branson first arrived at Carolina Family Connections (CFC), he was a shy and scrawny 14 year old, just a month away from turning 15. But birthdays had never been a special day for Branson.
Often times victims of abuse or neglect, children in foster care can have a damaged sense of self worth and require special support and nurturing throughout their foster care journey. This month, we are shining our #SpotlightOnCLT on our local nonprofit partners that support both the vulnerable children in the foster care system as well as the individuals and families who take them into their care.
Meet Charlie. He's only five, but he's already a three-year cancer survivor. Charlie was born with Down Syndrome and Transient myeloproliferative disorder, which transitioned into leukemia when he was 16 months old. When other babies were experiencing crucial brain, physical, and social development, Charlie was undergoing high-dose chemotherapy, long-term hospitalization, and isolation. As a result, Charlie experienced physical regression and delays in his motor skills.
“How do you connect with a mom when you’re feeling like, ‘I'm upset about having a baby like yours?’” she asked me. “Good point,” I thought to myself, and Shana Filkins continued to reflect on her first days after receiving a Down syndrome diagnosis for her daughter in utero. Five years ago Shana knew only one family who had a child with Down syndrome, and for two long months she contemplated and rehearsed the call she knew she needed to make to them.
