Meet David...One Amazing Villages' Kid!

David, age 8, has gone through more than most people do in a lifetime. After suffering abuse and neglect at the hands of his parents, David found the love and support every child deserves from an amazing Villages’ foster family. The Klines opened their hearts and home for David, and fell in love with him immediately! David is just like other kids his age…he loves sports, playing video games, and spending time with his family – his amazing foster family!

“Events like these are so important to the children we serve”, said Sharon Pierce, The Villages’ President and CEO. “The Villages’ children we serve aren’t bad kids…just kids who have had bad things happen to them. Attending a sporting event like Pack the House with their family helps them feel normal and just like the other kids who are at the game with their families.”

On Saturday, David will drop the puck to kick-off the Pack the House for Charity hockey game. He, his foster siblings and parents will be among the 10,000 people attending the game. David was selected as the ceremonial Puck Dropper among the 1,400 children served by The Villages.

There are thousands of children who are hurt by the people who should love them the most – their parents. The children served by The Villages are receiving the love and support they need to overcome this trauma, but The Villages’ can’t do it alone. By purchasing tickets to Pack the House you’ll help fund The Villages’ life-changing programs and services offered to abused and neglected children like David.

Buy Your Tickets Here!!

Staff Spotlight: Brenda Wilson

Brenda Wilson is a supervisor for The Villages’ Healthy Families MOM Project in Indianapolis and has worked with the organization for 11 years. Brenda works with staff whose job it is to provide parenting support for at-risk first time parents. We recently asked Brenda a few questions about her job working with vulnerable parents and their children.

The Villages: Why did you choose a career in child welfare?

Brenda: I have always had a calling to help people. I enjoy working with families on empowering them to achieve their goals. I also want to help children to achieve at their highest potent.

The Villages: Please share one inspiring experience you had in the last year?

Brenda: The fact that we had two events where over 300 hundred adults and children attended. We were able to be creative and provide them with services and items at a minimal cost.

The Villages: What can the community do to help you, and The Villages, better serve vulnerable children and families?

Brenda: The community could do more to advocate for more money to be invested in the programs that make up The Villages agency.

The Villages: What is your wish for The Villages and/or the children you work with?

Brenda: I would wish that The Villages could provide all the services needed for children and families to be successful in achieving their goals without the worry of if there is enough money.

A Heartfelt Thank You

Every year we are humbled by the generosity of our donors and volunteers. We just wrapped up a very busy holiday season where EVERY Villages’ child, youth and family who requested assistance received support; our older youth, kinship care families, and foster families celebrated holidays thanks to generous sponsors; and our friends and donors were very generous as they financially supported our mission. We recently received a note from one of our families that we wanted to share with you about how grateful they are for the amazing Christmas they had thanks to one of our donors:

I don’t know where to begin. This year [2012] was one of the hardest our family every experienced. A couple of years ago my husband lost his job and had to take another one working below the level he used to work at and for less money. It’s been a struggle but we made it work. Early this year a young boy was placed in our home and while we’ve helped lots of kids during our four years of fostering, this child was the most difficult we’ve ever had. He had a lot of behavioral and emotional problems on top of a few medical conditions that seem to make things worse. He fought us at every turn, but thankfully with the help of our Villages case manager we made a lot of progress with him. But around Thanksgiving he started acting out worse than before and that’s when we discovered that he was take away from his parents at Christmas and he doesn’t like the holidays because of the memory. My husband and I wanted to give him a great holiday but we weren’t sure where to start. We ask The Villages for help and what they did was amazing. They found a donor who pulled out all the stops. I had never seen so many gifts before. They provided food too. I was speechless. On Christmas morning our foster son woke up and saw gifts that filled our entire living room and he was shocked. Then we had a meal with some of his favorite foods. That night when I was tucking him in he said to me “this was the best Christmas ever”. Since the holiday he’s been a completely different boy. He’s been happy and carefree like little boys should. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done to help our family.

This is just one of the many joyful stories The Villages receives every year. We are able to provide camperships, tutoring classes, birthday gifts, and much more every day thanks to people like you! We are humbled every day by the generosity our friends show us. Thank you to everyone who helped make the holidays.

Adoption Training

The Villages is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a grant from The Center for Adoption Support and Education, to provide Clinical Adoption Competent Adoption Training (TAC) to licensed mental health professionals, providing them with the knowledge skills and values they need to provide adoption competent mental health services.


TAC is a standardized, manualized curriculum developed in collaboration with national experts in the field of child welfare, adoption and mental health and rigorously evaluated at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. A 13-session instruction program (a total of 78 hours of instruction) engages students in clinical knowledge and skill building, followed by monthly group clinical case consultation sessions over a 6-month period.

Topical Areas Include:

• Clinical and Ethical Issues in Planning, Preparing for and Supporting Adoption
• Clinical Issues in Providing Therapeutic Services: Grief, Loss, Separation and Identity
• Trauma and Brain Neurobiology
• Clinical Issues in Providing Therapeutic Services: Attachment
• Adoptive Family Formation, Integration and Developmental Stages
• Openness in Adoption and Birth Family Culture
• Race and Ethnicity

The Villages’ expert trainers, Alfreda Singleton Smith and Jill Budnick, are excited to announce that the first training class is scheduled to begin in February, 2013. There is limited space still available for this training. If you are interested in participating please call Alfreda Singleton Smith or Kimberlee Cottingham at 317-775-6500.

Pack The House for Charity

We hope you’ll join us for Pack the House for Charity on Saturday, March 2nd! Proceeds from this special event with the Indiana Ice will help support the children, youth, and families served by The Villages, Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, and Dads, Inc. Over the last five years, with the help of generous donors like you, we’ve raised over $35,000 from Pack the House which helped to support our life-changing programs and services. This year, we ask you to join The Villages team as we “Pack the House” and raise much needed money to support the children and families we are privileged to serve!


Tickets start at just $11 and group packages start at only $300! At least five dollars of every ticket The Villages sells will fund our life-changing programs and services. This support will ensure that we not only SERVE the over 1,400 children we work with daily, but ENRICH their lives. With your support, we’ll be able to provide a tutor to a child who is struggling to keep up with her peers at school; help assure a youth who is aging out of foster care will be able to live independently on his own; and that parents who are expecting their first child will have the support they need to be the best parents possible!

We know there are many organizations worthy of your support, and today we are asking you to support The Villages by purchasing tickets this important event! Click this link to purchase your tickets today! We appreciate your generous support and look forward to seeing you at Pack the House for Charity on Saturday, March 2nd.



Can You Help These Kids?

I received a call this morning and as a parent this just breaks my heart... The Villages' Northeast Region does not have a sponsor this holiday season and the staff in those offices have been working diligently on trying to find community partners to help provide gifts for the kids that they serve.  Sadly, they can't find anyone which means that nearly 100 children could go without Christmas.  Can you imagine your child waking up on Christmas morning and not having a single gift under the tree?  I'm hoping that the power of social media will help us collect some much needed toys, games, books, etc. for the kids served by The Villages in Northwestern Indiana. 

Below are the kids names who need support and their ages.  We are looking for one NEW toy to give to each of these kids.  It doesn't have to be much...maybe $20-$25.  Our only requirement is that these gifts be new.  If you can help please pick up a gift and drop it by one of The Villages' offices in Elkart, Marion, Fort Wayne or Indianapolis (let us know it's for the Northeast Region and we'll make sure it gets there!) 

http://www.villageskids.org/cntct_villages.php?region=NORTH_EAST 

Thank you in advance for your help.  I know that this weekend when I'm finishing my Christmas shopping I'll pick up a few extra toys...and I hope you will too!

Boys:

(Name, Age)
Anthony, 10
Ashtin, 11
Austin, 4
Blaine, 7
Bradin, 3
Braeden, 9
Breion, 4
Christopher, 7
Dakota, 13
Dathyn, 11
Devarious, 2
Devin, 4
Dylan, 9
Eddie, 14
Elijah, 4
Elijah, 8
Ethan, 4
Greg, Jr., 12
Illario, 4
Isaiah, 2
Ja’Vionne, 12
Jayden, 4
Jayden, 7 months
Jayden, 8
JD , 8
Jeremyah, 2
Jerrimiah, 10
Jordon, 9
Julian, 10
Kani, 3
Keeian, 15
Koen, 7 months
Kyle, 14
Kyren, 7
Lukus, 13
Martin, 1
Mathew, 5
Nathaniel, 6
Nathaniel, 9
Noah, 3
Octavio, 5
Paul, 16
R.J, 3
RJ, 10
Roman, 1
Ryan, 11 (medically fragile, non-verbal/mobile)
Sean, 6
Therron, 5
Zackary, 3
(49 Total Boys)

Girls:
(Name, Age)
Akasha, 5
Alexis, 5
Aliyah, 1
Amberis, 15
Angel, 18
Audreauna, 8
Azaria, 4
Brianna, 5
Cherish, 15
Courtney, 12
Cynthia, 15
Donetta, 16
Elizah, 1
Emma, 6
Evealynn, 1
Jaquanna, 13
Jenna, 5 months
Kala, 18
Kaniya, 7
Kim, 18
Kristina, 3
Kyanna, 5
Layla, 6
Madalynn, 1 ½
Madelyn, 3
Maikala, 16
Marinna, 15
Meika, 14
Myasia, 6
Nakkita, 8
Nevaeh, 2
Nevaeh, infant
Raven, 9
Razioa, 3
Tanisha, 10
Taylor, 12
Thallia, 7
Tlijah, 7
Tomya, infant
Troie, 15
Ty’Shay, 1
Whitney, 11
Xyann, 11
Yahida, 14
(44 Total Girls)

Staff Spotlight: Nancy Yeakle

Nancy Yeakle is an Administrative Assistance in The Villages’ Marion-Anderson Office and has been with The Villages for seven years. Nancy manages, organizes and prioritizes the operation of her office while assisting direct-care staff. She works with the foster families in her region to ensure their licensing is current, plans trainings for staff, and organizes support groups for clients. Nancy also fosters relationships with outside companies who support the Marion-Anderson foster children and families. We recently ask Nancy a few questions about her job assisting The Villages in their mission of championing families and children.

The Villages: Why did you choose a career in child welfare?

Nancy: I love working with families and children.

The Villages: Please share one inspiring experience you had in the last year?

Nancy: Last summer our region had a support group for pool safety. The party was at the city pool and we were the only ones there! All of our foster parents and their children (foster, adopted, and biological children) and staff from our office were there. We had a pitch in and it was awesome…just like one big family.

The Villages: What can the community do to help you, and The Villages, better serve vulnerable children and families?

Nancy: Be aware that we are here to help children and families.

The Villages: What is your wish for The Villages and/or the children you work with?

Nancy: For The Villages to continue helping children and families to become happy and bonded!