We wrapped up 2010 with 161 families supported! It was our best year, so far! Our sponsors supported families in Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Allen and Irving.
This year we already have requests from eager and generous sponsors, wanting to support a family (or two!) in their community and we are ready to kick off 2011! Unfortunately we are looking for volunteers or financial contributions to reach the same number of families we supported last year.
VOLUNTEERS! Last year our volunteers were spread a little thin and we struggled to meet the demand. This year 2 of our volunteers are about to have babies (yeah!) but that means they have their own needy family to care for and 1 volunteer moved away (boo!). In 2010, we were a small team of 8 volunteers, that really needed to be 12. This year we are starting off as a team of 5 and while we have operated Second Wind with only 5 before, at that time the number of families we supported was much lower.
So, this year, in order to do what we did last year and support 160+ local families, we are…
1. in search of volunteers! Each volunteer is assigned one school and the counselor at that school. The volunteer is responsible for calling the sponsors assigned to the families at their school (roughly 10-12) to ensure their questions have been answered and they know how/when to deliver the family’s items. That’s it! It can be done from home through email and over the phone, with the exception of one meeting. If a sponsor calls to ask a question about their family, you would just need to call the counselor for the answer and report back to the sponsor. We give you the information you need at the Volunteer Orientation meeting around Nov 16th and the sponsor delivers their items before Dec 16th, ending your responsibility. Please contact us if you are interested or have any questions!
2. We are also looking for financial donations. Every year we shop for families with the financial contributions we receive and we have it down to a fine art! The average family we support has 5-6 members in one household. Sometimes there are as few as 2, sometimes there are as many as 12. We can supply a full range of basics (socks, underwear, pajamas, pants (1-2), shirts (1-2), coat and toys (1-2) for the children, toiletries and food for the adults) for $100 per family member. That means a family of 5 will cost us about $500 to support. If you don’t have time to shop for a family this year, please consider a financial donation to support a family, family member or partial family member. Please contact us for more information!
