Media

The Need is Great in County

by Sean Nyhan, Special to the Culpeper Times
Thursday, December 17, 2009

Culpeper’s foster children are never guaranteed to receive a bounty of presents for Christmas. But thanks to another successful fund raising initiative spearheaded by the Culpeper Ruritans, the less fortunate youth in the area will have a happy holiday.

With help from members of the community, $1,100 in Target gift cards and additional gifts from the Toys for Tots program will be sent to foster children throughout the county. “It’s nice to have the community to help make their holidays a little nicer,” said Wendy Hanson, who leads the foster parent support group. “I can’t praise everybody that’s helped us enough.”

Foster children routinely receive aid from the state for necessities like food, clothing and education. But foster youth sometimes miss out on items traditionally paid for by a family’s discretionary income. The foster parents often have children of their own, and holidays can apply added pressure.

“I think it’s a big burden for the foster parents,” said Theresa Dalman, a local realtor and member of the Culpeper Ruritans. Dalman started the Christmas fund raising drive for the area foster children one year after she helped donate bags of candy that were leftover from a Brandy Station Christmas celebration to the local social services department. The staff expressed their gratitude and asked Dalman if more gifts were available.
“It made me realize that there was a tremendous need for something,” Dalman said.

The toy drive, which has become an annual affair, benefits Culpeper’s foster youth with both gifts and awareness. “We’re just trying to get the community to understand the need to connect with these kids, especially on the holidays because they’re going through a tough time.”

In addition to the gift cards and toys, Dalman pressed for more practical presents. Socks, shampoo and gloves were among the items collected for the foster children. Blankets were also donated from a national organization called Project Linus. The fundraisers expressed enthusiasm over the response to their solicitations, but their total collection fell around $700 short of the targeted $1,800. To make up for the difference, Dalton sought out the Toys for Tots charity to secure toys for children under 10 years-old in Culpeper’s foster program.

Hanson has been a foster parent for 23 years. “It opens your world to…how other people live,” Hanson said. “I’ve enjoyed it tremendously.” She added that every child in foster care has a unique set of special needs, which makes participating in the foster program challenging.

According to Dalman, there are around 70 foster children in Culpeper and only 11 families associated with the program. “That’s a lot of people doing a lot of work for a lot of kids,” Dalman said.

The Culpeper Ruritans is a charity organization that raises money annually for local community groups, including youth sports programs, the Culpeper Free Clinic, the local literary council, the Food Closet, and many other groups. Last year the 29-member organization gave away $11,000. Their largest drive occurs each year at the Culpeper Day Street Festival, which will take place on May 10.

Culpeper’s Director of Social Services Lisa Peacock is grateful for their generosity. “We greatly appreciate all the donations given by this community from groups like the Culpeper Ruritans, along with church groups and individuals (especially foster parents) for our foster care children. The needs are great and we have limited funding to meet those needs, so this extra help goes a long way to give our children a happier holiday.”

Scrap Book:

The Need is Great in County
(Culpeper Times article)

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