My City June 2021

VOLUNTEERS ARE AT THE HEART OF CLARA’S HOPE.

How you can help DONATE Visit clarashope.org/donate, or send a check to: Clara’s Hope, PO Box 673, Fenton, MI 48430 VOLUNTEER All volunteers must be back ground checked and have references. Volunteers are connected with a family to provide with a monthly meal; childcare/mentoring. FAMILY SUPPORT House-cleaning, small home re pairs, auto maintenance and yard work FUNDRAISING Auction-planning team, business networking and one-time events COLLECT DONATIONS First-night Backpacks and other items families need Kromer’s daughter, Lillie, has vol unteered since the fifth grade with a fundraiser called Socktober, which has collected over 150,000 items for the first-night bags. Volunteers also pro vide a monthly meal to connect with a foster/adoptive family. “We want to make sure the family is seen, heard and loved,” Kromer says. During the 2020 pandemic, Clara’s Hope provided ap proximately 420 meals to families. “It is so meaningful to see families go from just getting by to ‘we can do it,’” Kromer shares. “To me, that is the best thing. I love what I do.” x

(L-R) KAREN BYRNE (BOARD MEMBER & LONGTIME VOLUNTEER), TAMI KROMER (FOUNDER & DIRECTOR) AND ERIN DEALE (PROGRAM COORDINATOR) CELEBRATE WITH CUPCAKES AFTER RAISING OVER $65,000 WITH THEIR 2021 ONLINE FUNDRAISER.

believe everyone can do something – adult or child – and we want to raise awareness of the foster care issues in America,” Kromer explains. “We are not a placement agency or a case management agency. We try to help people remove the barriers that would prevent them from becoming a foster

parent or that would stop them from continuing as a foster family.” The many volunteers at Clara’s Hope have assembled 300 “first-night foster care bags” – backpacks contain ing everything a child needs for the first night in their foster home.This is something they work on year-round.

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