The Junior League of Springfield (JLS) is funneling its resources to address Child Abuse and Neglect in our community. It is alarming that child abuse rates in Greene County far exceed the state average. The Junior League will impact this issue through advocacy, direct service and volunteer time. We will collaborate with local experts to develop strong intervention programs, raise community awareness and be part of the solution.
In the 2010 - 2011 league year, JLS will contribute monies and volunteer hours to several projects:
Ambassadors for Children, an operating agency of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks, Kid’s Clothes Closet
The Kid’s Clothes Closet provides clothing for Greene County foster children. The children can go to the Kid’s Closet twice a year and select three complete outfits. Additionally, they receive one winter coat. Many of the children served have very little clothing. The majority of these children have never experienced new clothing and it is a tremendous boost to their self-esteem as it empowers them to have pride in their appearance. The project serves over 800 children. JLS volunteers will purchase clothes for the children and organize them in the Kid’s Closet.
Boys and Girls Town of Missouri, Pink Power
The Boys and Girls Town of Missouri helps children who have suffered from abuse, neglect, emotional or behavior problems. While at Boys and Girls Town the children receive all aspects of care from the physical to emotional. The young women who live at the facility need access to information about their developing bodies and self image especially breast health. For this project, girls will be assembled in the campus dining hall for a special pancake breakfast to hear speakers on breast health and a demonstration/ discussion on how to measure to achieve proper bra fit. The JLS volunteers will work with the girls to help create life-sized posters of themselves for their bedrooms. The posters will be a tracing of their bodies on paper, which will be decorated with positive traits about these girls that the JLS volunteers help them discover.
Freedom’s Rest, a Christian County Family Crisis Center
Freedom’s Rest is a facility for abused women and children. The facility has been open since October 2004 and since opening has provided safety to 294 women and 280 children. The primary goal is to help keep women and children safe by providing emergency shelter. The women who come to the shelter are often terribly traumatized. The JLS volunteers will help provide a comfortable space that will aid in the healing process. They will help with repainting and making two rooms more children friendly. The volunteers will also help paint hopscotch at the end of the parking lot providing an outside play activity for the children in the shelter.
Isabel’s House, the Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks
Isabel’s House, the Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks, is the Signature Project of the Junior League of Springfield. Isabel’s House provides safe refuge for children birth through 12 years old that are at a high risk of abuse and/or neglect. Each child receives a new outfit, pajamas, undergarments and shoes upon arrival. Due to the fact that many of the children are arriving from potentially hazardous environments, it is imperative to provide the children with clean and appropriate clothing. JLS volunteers will be utilized to purchase clothes each season and to re-stock the closet.
An additional DIAD opportunity is for volunteers to help at Isabel’s Open House in both April and September. The open houses allow for the community to learn about Isabel’s House and the impact it does and can have on the community. Volunteers would help prepare before the event and help secure/shop for prizes, snacks, and give-a-ways. Other volunteers would help set up, prepare, and engage for the open house and celebration. These volunteers would help with food, raffles, and games for the children.
Lighthouse Child and Family Development Center
The Lighthouse Child and Family Development Center strives to educate and support Springfield families with aim not only to reduce poverty and increase self-sufficiency, but also diminish many of the risk factors for child abuse and neglect – unemployment, low self-esteem, lack of social support, parenting skills, and coping skills. The JLS volunteers would help implement four monthly parent education workshops – two in the fall and two in the spring. These events consist of a family meal and social time, childcare for young children, and a community agency that provides at least one hour of parent education. The monthly events provide quality parent education opportunities for parents to learn age-appropriate behavior, positive discipline techniques, financial management, and more.
Ozarks Regional YMCA, on behalf of Girls on the Run of the Queen City
Girls on the Run is an interactive life skills program for pre-adolescent girls 3rd through 5th grade girls. The goals of the program are to empower girls to develop a positive self-image, respect others and cooperate in a group, build supportive personal goals, strive to achieve personal goals, and improve health and physical fitness. Girls on the Run is a 12-week program that meets twice a week to teach girls life lessons at the low income schools in the Springfield area with the end goal of running or walking a 5k race. The Junior League will be working with Girls on the Run through Campbell Elementary School. The volunteers will either come to the 5k race and be matched up with a girl to run with during the race, helping her finish the race or they will help with a celebration banquet for the girls at the end of the program.
Springfield Regional Arts Council
The Springfield Regional Arts Council has a variety of programs aimed at reaching At-Risk children through the arts. The specific project the JLS volunteers would be helping support would be Free Art Day. Free Art Day is a bi-monthly free program that provides arts activities to children and families in Springfield. Each Free Art Day consists of three to five stations with visual activities that the JLS volunteers would be helping staff. The projects are simple and repeatable and hope to stimulate positive communication within families. The goal of the project is for parents to witness their child’s motor, cognitive and language skills developing through the arts. Junior League will staff this project once in the fall and once in the spring.
Updated 06/01/10
