Help Homeless Teens in Your Community

Have you been looking through your or your teen's closet and realizing that there are some jeans there that are still pretty good (in terms of wear) but just no longer fit correctly?  Here is a great way to get a better fitting pair and to help homeless teens!

For those in the Boise area, if you bring your gently-used jeans in to Aeropostale at the Boise Town Square Mall by Sunday, February 22, you can donate them to the Boise Rescue Mission and receive 25% off of a new pair!  What a great way to help with two problems ... helping other homeless teens and making sure you or your teen has a pair that fits better.

If you are not in the Boise area, Aeropostale is undertaking this same offer around the country. As part of their Teens for Jeans campaign, in conjunction with Do Something, they are doing their part to help teens in need. Last year, they collected 125,000 pairs of jeans, and they are hoping to collect twice that this year!  It is estimated that 1 out of every 3 homeless people in the U.S. is under the age of 18.  The reason for this is myriad - many of these are homeless because their family is undergoing a financial crisis, but some are escaping a bad situation and about 1 out of 5 are leaving directly from foster care.

You or your teen get to look and feel good, and you also help a teen who very much needs help. What could be better?

Family Advocate Program – Gingerbread Holiday Village

Can you feel it coming?  The season of mulled cider, candy canes and zesty gingerbread is almost here.  Just conjuring the scent of these can transport you to happy childhood memories of home.

For almost twenty-five years, the Family Advocate Program has been working to provide happy memories to children and families.  Through its Families First program, it provides trained parent educators who will visit any home, no matter its income level, and create individualized plans to help the adults be even stronger parents.  These educators help make the adult feel more confident in his or her parenting and offer tools to help the children be more prepared for and successful in school.

When homes are already showing cracks, the FAP provides a voice for children in foster care.  It trains volunteers to be guardians who speak for the child and making recommendations in court hearings.  These guardians can become a lifeline for the children, and often are the only stable adult in their lives as they may transition in and out of several foster homes.  The visits with their guardians often help provide them strength to retain joy and happy memories.

You can support the Family Advocate Program’s efforts at one of the most fun events of the year at the Gingerbread Holiday Village Dinner Gala. On Friday, November 21, you can view and bid on outstanding gingerbread creations (and other silent and live auction items) such as Bronco Stadium, Boise Zoo and the most delicious houses ever.

Tickets are $100 each or $700 for a table of 8.  For information or to purchase tickets, contact Kara at 345-3344 x. 1003 or visit www.familyadvocate.org.

A Century of Doing Good!

With the theme “The best is yet to come...” the Children's Home Society of Idaho is kicking off their centennial celebration on Saturday, February 23 with their 12^th Annual Gala Celebration.

Featuring dinner, live auction, dancing and a variety of gaming entertainment, the event will take place at the DoubleTree Riverside Hotel. Black tie is encouraged.

Funds raised benefit the Warm Springs Counseling Center and The Bridge. The Warm Springs Counseling Center provides mental health services, education, and training to the children and families of the community. The Bridge is a residential and community outreach program designed to educate, recruit and help retain foster parents.

The Children's Home Society of Idaho is a one hundred year old non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of children in this community. Founded in 1908 to privately oversee the state orphanage, the Children's Home has cared for thousands of Idaho's abandoned, abused and neglected children for nearly a century. Since the 1970's, they have been working to address the need for quality mental health care in the community.

To purchase tickets or to sponsor a table of 10, contact Julie Petersen, Special Events Coordinator, at (208) 343-7813 or jpetersen@childrenshomesociety.com.

Not Your Mother's Gingerbread House

All I can say about the gingerbread houses that were submitted as part of the Gingerbread Holiday Village Benefit and Gala for the Family Advocate Program is "holy cow!"  So many of these entries completely blew away any traditional notion of what a gingerbread house is.  The event took place on November 16 at the Boise Centre on the Grove, and seriously - if you did not go down to see these houses, you missed an amazing display of skill and creativity.

There was a fabulous hair salon made of gingerbread, that even had little people inside it sitting at the styling stations, and the sweetest barn you've ever seen that was lit up and just looked so peaceful, you wanted to sit around and just wait for the farmer to show up. Major kudos must be given to the Centennial High Art Club in Meridian who submitted two incredible "houses" - one a replica of Bronco Stadium and the other a replica of Zoo Boise.

The event raised a record-breaking amount to help out the Family Advocate Program, and they wanted to pass along their thanks to everyone who attended and helped make it such a success.

Our Guest: Family Advocate Program

Nicole Sirak, Executive Director of Family Advocate Program joined the Divas on our debut radio show on November 10, 2007 to talk about the organization and their upcoming Gingerbread Gala.

About Family Advocate Program:
For almost 30 years, Family Advocate Program has had two important programs designed to keep kids safe and families strong

1.  Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program pairs volunteer advocates with children in foster care who investigate their case and make recommendations to the court.   Last year, CASA protected 720 children in foster care; almost half of these children were under the age of six.

2.  Their Families First Parent Education Program helps parents develop the skills to give their children the best possible start through in life.  Last year, Families First mentored 258 parents creating stronger families by serving more than 250 children. Of the parents served by the Families First program, 96% of them feel more confident about their parenting skills and 75% now regularly read to their children.  Early education programs like Families First provide a great return on investment as research shows that every $1 spent on saves $7 in reduced special education, crime and welfare assistance by the time participants reach their twenties.

Upcoming Event:
The Gingerbread Gala is being held on Friday, November 16th at 6pm at the Boise Centre on the Grove. Tickets are $100/person or a table of 8 for $700.

The theme of this year's Gingerbread Holiday Village event is 'Treasures of the Treasure Valley' as, according to Nicole, "we feel this event is a gem in the community's calender."

"It's become a holiday tradition over the last 8 years and has something for everyone. For example, we have kids who make gingerbread houses as a class project that are fun to auction off and business people who bid on the private suite for a Steelheads game.  All of this raises essential revenue for our programs" says Nicole.

Volunteers:
They are seeking volunteers for their event and throughout the year.  Event-related tasks include helping decorate the venue, helping process transactions or delivering Gingerbread houses the next day. They also continually recruit volunteers Guardians as part of their Court Appointed Special Advocates program.

If you have just one hour a month to give, according to Nicole, "most likely we have a job that will interest you!"

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Melanie Nelson at 345-3700 ext 1001.

History:
In 1978, Family Advocate Program was developed by two foster families, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Hogin and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Murphy. Both families had provided shelter home and long-term foster care for over twenty-five children. As foster parents, they provided unique foster care services in that they encouraged natural parent contact for the benefit of the child and advocated for supportive services for the parents. With help from the Junior League of Boise, a parent education program called Families First was developed to serve struggling families in their own homes with supportive, voluntary home visitor services.

In 1977, a Seattle Superior Court Judge named David Soukup was concerned about trying to make decisions on behalf of abused and neglected children without enough information. He conceived the idea of appointing community volunteers to speak up for the best interests of these children in court which became the start of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) movement. In 1980, with the help of the Boise Junior League and the Boise Bar Association, Family Advocate Program launched the CASA program in Ada County.

A Thought from Nicole:
Asked from where she draws her strength: "There is a wide variety of people I draw strength from and it rolls into a force that continually motivates.  This includes my Dad who has devoted his life to community service, my Mom who is a quiet hero that helps people without them knowing or some of my colleagues overseas that risked their lives to build peace in the Balkans."

Thank you Nicole Sirak of Family Advocate Program for being a Diva who is making a difference!