“Fill a bag and fill a heart” is the motto of Together We Rise, a non-profit agency dedicated to making the lives of foster children just a little bit easier.
One of our (almost) local friends is putting together a vendor fair to benefit the organization’s efforts to support children in the foster care system.
Becci Mendenhall, the owner of Mendenhall Fuel, Inc. in East Quogue, has recently become a foster parent. As such, she has come to understand some of the pitfalls of the foster care system. One of them, she says, sticks out and saddens her. When “children get removed from their homes and families for various reasons, most of them do not get to take anything with them, or if they do, it is collected in a trash bag,” she relates.
Mendenhall believes that foster children constantly face enormous difficulties and trauma in their lives and that sending them out into a strange new home with few belongings packed up in a trash bag tells them they’re “unworthy or that they are no better than trash.”
She is determined to change that by raising funds toward purchasing and filling “Sweet Cases.” Sweet Cases are duffel bags given to the children. Each bag is filled with a blanket, crayons, a coloring book, a stuffed animal and a hygiene kit. The bags cost $25 each, and along with the East Quogue United Methodist Church’s help, Mendenhall hopes to raise enough money to buy and fill 100 duffels.
On June 25, Mendenhall and the EQUMC are hosting a vendor fair from 5 to 9 p.m. Representatives from Origami Owl, Tupperware, Thirty-One, Tastefully Simple, Avon, Pampered Chef and other companies will be on hand to help raise funds. There will also be raffles at the fair.
In addition to the vendor fair, Mendenhall is organizing a car wash and a donation campaign to help meet her goal of raising $2500.
Click here to make a donation online. Checks can be made out to Together We Rise and mailed to Mendenhall at PO Box 3000, East Quogue, New York 11942.
Volunteers are needed to help with the car wash and to help fill the duffels. Call 631-805-2005 for more information or to volunteer.
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