(From SERVE)
The Young Parent Program is a program offered through Lutheran Social Services. This program assists families within the community with parenting skills while providing them with support and encouragement as well as assisting them in obtaining their goals, such as employment, housing, and education. The Young Parent Programs provides a safe and supportive environment for families in need of assistance. SERVE would like to support the benefits that the Young Parent Programs has on the community and is happy to sponsor their Holiday Celebration.
More information on the Young Parent Program can be found on:
- http://www.lssmn.org/duluth/
- http://www.lssmn.org/volunteers/duluth_mentor.htm
United Way stated the mission of the Young Parent Program as:
The young parent program helps to continue the parent support/education groups and in-home mentoring for families who face challenges such as mental health issues, developmentally challenged, poverty, single parenting, and negative experiences such as abuse, neglect, alcoholism or drug abuse.
Gifts for the Children
Boys:
18 months
20 months
2 years old
3 years old
4 years old
7 years old
Girls:
Newborn (1 week old)
4 months
18 months
3 years old
4 years old
6 years old
A learning toy for each child that is appropriate for their age group. To best fit the needs of the child, the toy should not require a television or computer because we are unaware of what the family currently has in their home.
Some ideas for toys brands are:
-LeapFrog
-Fisher-Price
-VTech
-any learning books (ABCs, numbers, colors, words, etc.)
-and many other brands also have great learning toys
These toys can be found at ShopKo, Target, Walmart, Kmart, etc and they can cost anywhere from about $10.00-$50.00. The children and their families are currently filling out wish lists and once those are received, I will also send out a list of those gifts as well. Our main goal is to make sure that each child receives at least one learning toy, and 1-2 things that are on their wish list (more if possible).
We would like to get gift certificates, probably to Target, for the parents, ranging anywhere from $50.00-$100.00 per family. This amount depends on the support that we receive from students on campus. There are about 9-10
families that are involved, and we would also like to give the parents something from their wish list.
Other things that we would like to purchase for the families are:
-10 disposable cameras (one per family, and later we will get the photos developed for the families)
-batteries for any electronic toys given to the family/child.
-fleece blankets, or any warm throw blanket
If you would like to help in anyway, please let us know how. If you would like to donate, please indicate the approximate amount that you would like to contribute. If you would like to sponsor a child/family, just let us know
what age and gender you would like to sponsor, and we will take these children off of the list. Thank you. We would like to have all donations received before Thanksgiving break so that we have appropriate time to purchase the gifts, and we would like to receive all gifts unwrapped by December 6th, 2006.
This is a big event that is going to require the assistance of many organizations and students on campus. If there is anyway that you and/or your organization can help out in anyway, please let SERVE know through email: serve@d.umn.edu, or you can stop by at anytime, Multicultural Center 270A. Any contribution is greatly appreciated; I think that together we can really make a difference in the lives of these families.
Thank you very much,
SERVE