Tag Archives: volunteer

Ways to get involved and support Hearts & Homes

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Are you interested in getting involved and giving back? Below we have listed a number of ways you can get involved and support the young people at Hearts & Homes for Youth. If you are interested in any of these opportunities, contact Caitlin Ward, cward@heartsandhomes.org.

Sharing Your Expertise:

We are constantly working to prepare our young people to be well rounded, self-sufficient adults. There are opportunities’ to facilitate small life skills groups or provide one-on-one guidance to a young person that’s area of interest may align with your skill set. Life skills groups are hosted in Baltimore and Columbia, Md., some topic areas are:

  • Health Q&A
  • Study Skills
  • Goal Setting
  • Positive Self Identity/Self -Awareness
  • Social and Emotional Balance
  • Building a Strengths-Based Character
  • Social Skills
  • Drug Awareness
  • Budgeting and Money Management
  • Understanding Housing Costs and Paying Bills
  • Building Credit
  • Resume Writing
  • Job Skills for Maintaining Employment
  • Career Planning and Exposure
  • Healthy Relationships/SEX/Dating
  • Coping Skills/Understanding Emotions
  • Healthy Conflict Resolutions
  • Picture Framing
  • Re-upholstery
  • Electrical
  • Basic Auto Skills
  • Art
  • Cooking classes
  • Beauty and grooming (face and skin) group,
  • Personal branding
  • Parenting topics

Sponsor an Event: We aim to provide opportunities for our young people to create new positive memories while they are with us with the hope that the good will begin to offset the bad experiences in their life journey.  Some event ideas include:

  • Sponsor our Mother’s Day event
  • Sponsor an Amusement Park Trip
  • Sponsor and plan a Volunteer Day for our youth
  • Sponsor a Sporting Event Trip
  • Host a Barbeque
  • Sponsor a Graduation Party
  • Donate gift cards to restaurants, Dave and Busters, Movies, etc.

Employment Opportunities:  Our young people are seeking opportunities to build their professional skills and earn money in order to age out of foster care successfully. Our youth WILL benefit greatly while in our program as well as after they have transitioned. Some ways you can help:

  • Provide internship opportunities for our youth
  • Assist with linking qualified youth to employment opportunities

Mentoring or Tutoring: Youth in foster care often miss many needed educational opportunities and fall behind academically due to frequent moves. Providing our youth with one-on-one educational support can make a significant difference in a young person’s life.  A background check is required to provide tutoring or mentoring for our youth.

Helping Us Get The Word Out: Come to our agency for an orientation session and learn about the youth we serve and the programs we offer! Then take our flyers to your job, church, social groups, etc.! We are looking to recruit families interested in becoming foster parents!

Donations:

  • Car seats
  • Strollers
  • Pack and Plays
  • Coats
  • GED Study Materials
  • Gift Cards to Target, Walmart, Babies R Us etc. to assist us in purchasing emergency supplies for incoming youth
  • Gift cards to restaurants, Dave and Busters, Movies, etc.
  • Diapers and Wipes
  • Hair accesories

BB&T Hunt Valley paints an impact at Hearts & Homes for Youth!

Thank you to our supporters, Volunteering, , , ,

group 2Volunteers from BB&T Hunt Valley Branch teamed up with Hearts and Homes for Youth earlier this month to paint housing units for young mothers (age 14-20) in the Damamli Mother-Baby Independent Living program. Associates from BB&T Maryland Commercial Real Estate and Appraisal divisions volunteered on June 3rd to help prep new housing units for move in.

BB&T will be joining Hearts & Homes for Youth again on June 24th to throw an end of school year picnic for the youth in the Therapeutic Foster Care program to kick off the summer and celebrate the accomplishments of the school year for those in the program. The picnic will include food, crafts and games all sponsored and administered by the volunteers from BB&T.

“We are grateful to BB&T for repainting our young mother units,” said Hearts & Homes CEO and President Chloe Perez. “We were elated when they reached out to us! BB&T embraced the idea of doing something special for the young mothers and foster youth in our care. The results so far have been incredible and we can’t wait for the picnic later this month!”

Hearts and Homes for Youth and BB&T invite other members of the community to join them as they work to provide unique opportunities and experiences for the youth in the organization’s care, to help them build brighter futures. To volunteer or for more information, contact Jessica McKinnie, at jmckinnie@heartsandhomes.org.

“We wanted to work with Hearts and Homes for Youth because of the great work they do for foster youth and young mothers in Baltimore,” said Candace Zang, Commercial Credit Underwriter. “We’re proud to team up with them and help in any way we can.”

The BB&T volunteers are taking part in the company’s eighth annual Lighthouse Project. The teams have each selected a project to assist a nonprofit agency to complete between April and June to make a positive impact on the lives of people in need. BB&T hopes their efforts encourage others in the community to volunteer their time and support organizations such as Hearts and Homes for Youth.

Since the inception of the BB&T Lighthouse Project in 2009, BB&T associates have completed more than 7,700 community service projects, donated more than 385,000 hours in volunteer service and touched the lives of more than 11 million people. Associates overwhelmingly voted to bring back the initiative this year. For more information about the Lighthouse Project, go to www.bbt.com/bbt/lighthouseproject/.

Volunteer Opportunities

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Are you looking for opportunities to volunteer and get involved in the community this summer? Is your church, group or organization looking to plan something for the coming months or the next school year? If you said yes to either question, we want to hear from you!

There are a number of ways you can volunteer with Hearts & Homes and we’d love to help you find the opportunity that appeals to you and capitalizes on your strengths! Write to us at hhyinfo@heartsandhomes.org to set up a meeting in person or over the phone and we will discuss how we can collaborate!

We are also building our vocational training program! We encourage the youth in our care to apply for work experiences to develop career readiness skills that will help them build their resumes, learn specific occupational skills, build connections with employers who support their growth, and to learn more about their career interests. Work experiences for young people help them acquire jobs at higher wages after they graduate and are a critical part of the healing process. If your workplace offers job or internship opportunities, or if you would like to provide vocational training such as a resume workshop or mock interviews, please contact us at hhyinfo@heartsandhomes.org!