First Night Bags
How to Help Children
With the Christmas season upon us, children are anticipating the gifts they’ll receive. We are all looking for a way to make a difference. It seems that there are so many charitable organizations that are seeing and receiving donations. Recently, I was talking to a friend who is a foster parent and has adopted four children through Child Protective Services. She was talking about collecting first night
bags for children who have been removed by Child Protective Services. Often
these children come into the system with nothing. As a result, they are in a traumatic
situation with nothing of comfort nor practical items for care. These bags would be something that the children would have of their own, meet their immediate needs and hopefully show them that someone cares. This was
something that I thought my family would love to be involved in due to my
husband’s childhood and our call to care for orphans.
Success
My husband, Richard, was the third of three boys. By the time he was school age, he had experienced more of life than most have as adults. One particular time as a child, he was removed from his family and placed in a shelter. Being shuffled from place to place, he would have loved to have been the recipient of something that showed that someone cared, like a first night bag.
He experienced a long journey of abuse, neglect, trauma and eventually the murder of his father. Through it all, he learned to
persevere. Furthermore, while having a demanding upper management position in the restaurant business, he successfully navigated college and landed in an Ivy League Law School.
As a result of his journey, he has worked hard to create a life that is peaceful and contributes to the community around him. He is now in a successful private law practice making a difference in others’ lives.
Give Back
Most importantly we would like to help the children. We decided that our
businesses, Speak Volumes, Inc. and Horton Archibald, P.C would like to collect first night bags for
the children placed in CPS custody. These bags will be distributed through Hunt
County CPS Offices. Finally, we are collecting them during office hours, 8-5, at Horton
Archibald, 1020 W Ralph Hall Pkwy #105, Rockwall, TX 75032. We invite
you to join us in blessing these children during their difficult season. We
hope you and yours have a most joyous Christmas season!
First Night Bags Contents:
Set of clothes (shirt, bottom, underwear/diaper, socks)
PJ’s
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Comb/brush
Blanket/stuffed animal/book
String bag/backpack
