Post by TonyV on Nov 3, 2011 23:27:17 GMT -5
Christmas Giving at KTP 2011
For the last two years we have proudly sponsored the children of St. Joseph Children's
Home during the Christmas Holidays. For those of you who are not familiar with St. Joseph,
it started out as an orphanage. They don't use the term orphanage anymore because many
of the children who live there are not actually orphans. Many children have been placed
with St. Joseph due to neglect or abuse or sometimes a combination of several of these
factors.
St. Joseph Children's Home has three programs.
The first program is residential. 37
children live on the second floor in five apartments. They house boys and girl that range in
age from 6 to 14.
The second program is a therapeutic foster care and adoption program. They serve 36
families with 26 children. The children are referred to the program from St. Joseph
Children's Home or from the community at]large. This program also offers training for
people that want to become foster families.
The third program is the Child Development Center. As of today, there are 131 children that
attend the Center ranging in age from newborn to pre]school. This year marks the 28th
anniversary of the CDC! The set]up is much like a daycare; the children are dropped off in the
morning and are picked up in the afternoon.
All of the children have different backgrounds and different stories of how they came to St.
Joseph Children's Home. Some of the children will return home if it is safe for them to do so.
Some of the children will go into foster care and either remain there or eventually go home.
The rest of the children will go into foster care and are eventually adopted by their foster
family. Wherever the child is, St. Joseph wants to make sure that they have therapeutically
dealt with their issues and feel safe no matter where they live. St. Joseph Children's Home
accepts children of any race and any religion.
Throughout the year, the children need a variety of hygiene items, sports equipment,
games, etc. At Christmas, St. Joseph's need Christmas sponsors for each of their residential
and foster care children. This is where we come in! The UAW/Ford has again agreed
to sponsor the 37 or so children in the residential care system.
In November of this year, St. Joseph will provide us (KTP employees) with the children's
wish list for Christmas. The wish list is exactly what it sounds like; a list of things they
would like for Christmas. Some of these children have never had a Christmas so getting
them to understand they can request a gift is a challenge.
Should you choose to participate as a team, you will be able to pick a child off the list and
sponsor that child for Christmas. Our suggestion is to get one or two people from your
team to organize the effort. The team should pick the child, collect any money needed to
purchase the gifts on the list and go shopping. Make it a fun group effort. Collect all the
gifts together and turn them into the Union Hall for distribution at St. Joseph Children's
Home.
If you don't want to do this as a team and just want to donate to the children, you can take
up a collection and drop the money off at the Union Hall or to one of the coordinators listed
below. That money will be used to sponsor a child or one of the activity rooms that wasn't
picked up by a team. When we do go shopping for these children, it will be done on a
Saturday in December and an invitation will be sent out to all KTP employees for anyone
who would like to be a part of that shopping spree. All will be invited and the more the
merrier!
Like in years past, the gifts are given to the children on Christmas day. There are no photo
shots, or just a day that we get to meet the children and pass out their gifts. Due to
confidentiality and safety issues, St. Joseph will not allow photos of the children. The
unfortunate reality is many of the children have a hard time trusting adults because of their
past. Besides that, many regulations prevent direct contact with the kids. However, St.
Joseph will be setting up tours for any KTP employee that would like to tour the facility.
This is to see the apartments the children live in and to generally look around the property
to see how it all operates. They will schedule these tours to accommodate any one from
any shift. The schedule will come out at a later date.
So there you have itca rough idea of how we would like to handle Christmas giving this
year at KTP. Please discuss this among yourselves and decide if as a team you would like to
help bring a smile to less fortunate children.
Best Regards,
KTP Christmas Coordinators
Kevin Powers
kpowers3@ford.com
429]2341
Mark Baker
mbaker20@ford.com
429]2291
Takeya Lewis
tlewis18@ford.com
429]2182
For the last two years we have proudly sponsored the children of St. Joseph Children's
Home during the Christmas Holidays. For those of you who are not familiar with St. Joseph,
it started out as an orphanage. They don't use the term orphanage anymore because many
of the children who live there are not actually orphans. Many children have been placed
with St. Joseph due to neglect or abuse or sometimes a combination of several of these
factors.
St. Joseph Children's Home has three programs.
The first program is residential. 37
children live on the second floor in five apartments. They house boys and girl that range in
age from 6 to 14.
The second program is a therapeutic foster care and adoption program. They serve 36
families with 26 children. The children are referred to the program from St. Joseph
Children's Home or from the community at]large. This program also offers training for
people that want to become foster families.
The third program is the Child Development Center. As of today, there are 131 children that
attend the Center ranging in age from newborn to pre]school. This year marks the 28th
anniversary of the CDC! The set]up is much like a daycare; the children are dropped off in the
morning and are picked up in the afternoon.
All of the children have different backgrounds and different stories of how they came to St.
Joseph Children's Home. Some of the children will return home if it is safe for them to do so.
Some of the children will go into foster care and either remain there or eventually go home.
The rest of the children will go into foster care and are eventually adopted by their foster
family. Wherever the child is, St. Joseph wants to make sure that they have therapeutically
dealt with their issues and feel safe no matter where they live. St. Joseph Children's Home
accepts children of any race and any religion.
Throughout the year, the children need a variety of hygiene items, sports equipment,
games, etc. At Christmas, St. Joseph's need Christmas sponsors for each of their residential
and foster care children. This is where we come in! The UAW/Ford has again agreed
to sponsor the 37 or so children in the residential care system.
In November of this year, St. Joseph will provide us (KTP employees) with the children's
wish list for Christmas. The wish list is exactly what it sounds like; a list of things they
would like for Christmas. Some of these children have never had a Christmas so getting
them to understand they can request a gift is a challenge.
Should you choose to participate as a team, you will be able to pick a child off the list and
sponsor that child for Christmas. Our suggestion is to get one or two people from your
team to organize the effort. The team should pick the child, collect any money needed to
purchase the gifts on the list and go shopping. Make it a fun group effort. Collect all the
gifts together and turn them into the Union Hall for distribution at St. Joseph Children's
Home.
If you don't want to do this as a team and just want to donate to the children, you can take
up a collection and drop the money off at the Union Hall or to one of the coordinators listed
below. That money will be used to sponsor a child or one of the activity rooms that wasn't
picked up by a team. When we do go shopping for these children, it will be done on a
Saturday in December and an invitation will be sent out to all KTP employees for anyone
who would like to be a part of that shopping spree. All will be invited and the more the
merrier!
Like in years past, the gifts are given to the children on Christmas day. There are no photo
shots, or just a day that we get to meet the children and pass out their gifts. Due to
confidentiality and safety issues, St. Joseph will not allow photos of the children. The
unfortunate reality is many of the children have a hard time trusting adults because of their
past. Besides that, many regulations prevent direct contact with the kids. However, St.
Joseph will be setting up tours for any KTP employee that would like to tour the facility.
This is to see the apartments the children live in and to generally look around the property
to see how it all operates. They will schedule these tours to accommodate any one from
any shift. The schedule will come out at a later date.
So there you have itca rough idea of how we would like to handle Christmas giving this
year at KTP. Please discuss this among yourselves and decide if as a team you would like to
help bring a smile to less fortunate children.
Best Regards,
KTP Christmas Coordinators
Kevin Powers
kpowers3@ford.com
429]2341
Mark Baker
mbaker20@ford.com
429]2291
Takeya Lewis
tlewis18@ford.com
429]2182