Some of the blankets made by our volunteers are shared with these organizations, who put the blankets in the hands of children in foster care.
My Stuff Bags
Since 1998, the My Stuff Bags Foundation has been addressing the needs of an often forgotten group of American children – those who must leave everything behind when they are rescued from abuse, neglect or abandonment and enter foster care, or who must flee with their mothers to the safety of a battered women’s home. Tragically, these children enter shelters with little more than the clothes on their backs and little hope for their future.
Agencies that care for these frightened kids frequently lack the resources to provide anything beyond food and safe shelter. And the few possessions these children might gather along the way are often lugged around in trash bags, leading to the demeaning label, “trash-bag kids.”
Since 1998, the My Stuff Bags Foundation has been addressing the needs of an often forgotten group of American children – those who must leave everything behind when they are rescued from abuse, neglect or abandonment and enter foster care, or who must flee with their mothers to the safety of a battered women’s home. Tragically, these children enter shelters with little more than the clothes on their backs and little hope for their future.
Agencies that care for these frightened kids frequently lack the resources to provide anything beyond food and safe shelter. And the few possessions these children might gather along the way are often lugged around in trash bags, leading to the demeaning label, “trash-bag kids.”
My Stuff Bags served children -- with duffel bags and blankets -- in 13 states between January 2018 and October 2019: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Indiana, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
My Stuff Bags are bright blue individual duffel bags filled with brand new, age- and gender-appropriate toys, books, a stuffed animal, school supplies, clothing, personal toiletries, and a warm, often hand-made “security” blanket – all theirs to keep. Packed with items they desperately need as they adjust to their new surroundings, My Stuff Bags provide things to do and to hold during this difficult time. Handmade blankets are provided by My Very Own Blankets for My Stuff Bags.
Learn more about My Stuff Bags
Learn more about My Stuff Bags
My Comfy Kits
Entering foster care is a scary experience for children regardless of their age.
Orphan World Relief sees this as an opportunity to provide comfort, dignity and love to these kids. With your support, we provide backpacks - My Comfy Kits - filled with age-appropriate items to help ease the pain of transition.
My Very Own Blanket is a partner organization to My Comfy Kits and provides blankets that will fit in the backpacks.
Learn more about My Comfy Kits
Entering foster care is a scary experience for children regardless of their age.
Orphan World Relief sees this as an opportunity to provide comfort, dignity and love to these kids. With your support, we provide backpacks - My Comfy Kits - filled with age-appropriate items to help ease the pain of transition.
My Very Own Blanket is a partner organization to My Comfy Kits and provides blankets that will fit in the backpacks.
Learn more about My Comfy Kits
Our Mission: Comfort
Every child deserves to know that they matter. When Comfort Cases provides a case to a child in need, we not only offer them new items that they can keep during their journey, we also provide them with dignity and the notion that someone cares about what they are going through.
A Comfort Case is a small duffel bag or backpack with a purpose to provide comfort for youth as they enter the foster care system. Our case provides the essentials for the first few days in a new place as well as comfort items to help ease a scary transition. One of the comfort items is a small blanket -- many of them provided by My Very Own Blanket!
Learn more about Comfort Cases
Every child deserves to know that they matter. When Comfort Cases provides a case to a child in need, we not only offer them new items that they can keep during their journey, we also provide them with dignity and the notion that someone cares about what they are going through.
A Comfort Case is a small duffel bag or backpack with a purpose to provide comfort for youth as they enter the foster care system. Our case provides the essentials for the first few days in a new place as well as comfort items to help ease a scary transition. One of the comfort items is a small blanket -- many of them provided by My Very Own Blanket!
Learn more about Comfort Cases
Fostering hope to kids in foster care
Stitched Together, a family-run organization serving Central Ohio, was created to meet a need for kids entering the foster care system and give them a little hope during an uncertain time in their life.
Stitched Together wants to provide every child entering foster care with their own Hope Case, a backpack filled with comfort items (such as a handmade blanket!) as well as essential items appropriate for their age group. Hope cases ease the children's transition into foster care with something to call their own. Blog post about our new partnership
Learn more about Stitched Together
Stitched Together, a family-run organization serving Central Ohio, was created to meet a need for kids entering the foster care system and give them a little hope during an uncertain time in their life.
Stitched Together wants to provide every child entering foster care with their own Hope Case, a backpack filled with comfort items (such as a handmade blanket!) as well as essential items appropriate for their age group. Hope cases ease the children's transition into foster care with something to call their own. Blog post about our new partnership
Learn more about Stitched Together
We are proud to partner with Carrying Hope, a non-profit organization in League City, Texas. Their goal is to give a Hope Pack filled with comfort items (including blankets!) and necessities to every child entering the foster care system in Texas.
Learn about Carrying Hope in this 3-minute video: https://youtu.be/6FejQYMgtB4 |
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El'lesun - Healing Hearts and Restoring Lives
MVOB partner El'lesun is a Columbus non-profit organization that advocates for and serves the foster care community. El’lesun works with The Bair Foundation, Alicia’s Closet and Franklin County Children’s Services. El’lesun was founded in 2019 by Jaye Turner, who – at a very young age – experienced the foster care system after neglect and abandonment by her parents. She is pictured at right with her son as they picked up 200 blankets at our workshop. |
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Wendy's Wonderful Kids - Foster Care Adoption Program
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is the only public nonprofit charity in the United States that is focused exclusively on foster care adoption. Through its signature program, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids®, the Foundation provides grants to adoption agencies to hire recruiters who use an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model to find loving, permanent homes for children waiting in foster care.
The Foundation works closely with child welfare advocates and policymakers, provides free resources about foster care adoption and raises awareness through social media campaigns, public service announcements and events.
Camp Joy. WWK adoption recruiters take youth aged 12-17 who they feel need to prepare for adoption or permanency to a 5-day summer camp, where they attend adoption readiness class in addition to enjoying traditional camp experiences. Often they arrive without bedding. MVOB provides blankets for these young people.
May 2019: Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiters chose MVOB blankets for Camp Joy campers. Read about it and watch video.
UPDATE: See photos of campers with their blankets
Learn more about Wendy's Wonderful Kids
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is the only public nonprofit charity in the United States that is focused exclusively on foster care adoption. Through its signature program, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids®, the Foundation provides grants to adoption agencies to hire recruiters who use an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model to find loving, permanent homes for children waiting in foster care.
The Foundation works closely with child welfare advocates and policymakers, provides free resources about foster care adoption and raises awareness through social media campaigns, public service announcements and events.
Camp Joy. WWK adoption recruiters take youth aged 12-17 who they feel need to prepare for adoption or permanency to a 5-day summer camp, where they attend adoption readiness class in addition to enjoying traditional camp experiences. Often they arrive without bedding. MVOB provides blankets for these young people.
May 2019: Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiters chose MVOB blankets for Camp Joy campers. Read about it and watch video.
UPDATE: See photos of campers with their blankets
Learn more about Wendy's Wonderful Kids