Photo courtesy of Child Advocates of Fort Bend
Recently, eleven students from the George Foundations’ Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) Program lent helping hands to Child Advocates of Fort Bend (CAFB) at their Davis George Campus, named after Albert and Mamie George’s young son who tragically died as a child.
YIP students helped with some of the agency’s most pressing and timely volunteer needs, and in return received insights into how they are vital to the community-wide response to end child abuse. Students began their day-long visit with a tour of the agency known as the “Voices for Children” tour that takes attendees on a visual and informational tour of CAFB’s services for child victims of abuse. In an interactive role-play exercise, students saw the path a child takes when they are brought to CAFB and learned about the life-changing services that the agency provides through its Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program.
Students assembled 240 butterfly inspired garden seed kits to represent the transformational change that is possible for children who have experienced trauma from abuse. The kits were given as gifts to CAFB volunteers and guests at their annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet. They also assembled 2,500 packets to be given out at community outreach events like the annual “Light of Hope” awareness ceremony, and to local schools for students to have grade-level activities for learning about abuse. The packets are available in English and Spanish and feature coloring pages and puzzles to teach about child safety and personal boundaries, social media risks and how to be brave and tell a trusted adult if something seems wrong.
The students also assembled “engine plates”, an exercise where a wheel of connections is drawn representing people or places where a child feels safe. This helped the students understand the significance of having a network of positive adults to support a child throughout their healing journey, which is the cornerstone of CAFB’s Collaborative Family Engagement program.
During each stage of activity, the students were given the why behind the project – why CAFB exists, why volunteers are essential, what trauma training does to help a child cope, how telling as many people as possible about child abuse and prevention is critical. As a result of their experience, the YIP students voted CAFB as the non-profit recipient of a $2,000 funding award at the conclusion of their six-month program The award was announced at their Youth in Philanthropy program and scholarship luncheon.
“Today’s generation of YIP students are uniquely qualified to make a shift-change in awareness and prevention of child abuse as they are much more in tune with the detriments of childhood trauma,” stated Child Advocates of Fort Bend CEO Ruthanne Mefford. “We are thankful for The George Foundation’s Youth in Philanthropy program, which makes shift-change in our community possible and helps to address problems today and with these future leaders.”