Organizations fill backpacks for kids in the foster care system
Newsroom@DominionPost.com
On Tuesday, representatives from the local Northwestern Mutual and CASA For Kids team members packed 40 backpacks in the local Northwestern Mutual office on Maple Drive.
These backpacks will be distributed to teenagers in the foster care system in Monongalia and Preston counties who are victims of abuse and neglect.
Northwestern Mutual staff, CASA staff and CASA volunteer advocates all participated.
This is the fourth year Northwestern Mutual-Morgantown has sponsored these individualized L.L. Bean backpacks. They are monogrammed and filled with a new tablet, blankets, school supplies, shoes, games, water bottles and more. These backpacks will have a huge impact as these children begin a new school year, according to Kayla Taylor Benson, executive director of CASA For Kids of Monongalia and Preston Counties.
Most of these children have been removed from their homes, and everything and everyone they know, with no notice — often with no belongings of their own, Benson said in a press release. Each year, the children who receive these backpacks are so excited to receive a personalized backpack with so many items that are theirs.
When one child received their backpack, they were filled with excitement and said that the backpack was the first thing they ever owned with their name on it since it’s more of a unique name.
CASA For Kids is a nonprofit organization that began in Monongalia County in 1994, with expansion to Preston County in 1997. The mission of the program is to assure that abused and neglected children are placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. CASA For Kids recruits, trains and supervises community volunteers to be child advocates.
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