You may be familiar with Realities for Children, if not you’ll want to be – trust me.

Realities for Children is a cause marketing and promotional company that provides a unique opportunity for local businesses to gain marketing benefits, including special marketing rates, greater visibility, referral networking, and positive name association, while meeting the needs of abused and neglected children in Larimer County. By bringing together a large number of business members they are able to offer member-businesses an amazing return on investment while making a huge impact on our community by providing funding for emergency needs, education, sponsorship support and special activities for at-risk children and youth.

So why am I talking about Realities for Children on the Matthews House blog? Well, I realized you may not know that The Matthews House is a Realities for Children affiliate agency and I also realized that even if you do know that, you might not know what it means. I can tell you that it means a lot to our youth, directly and indirectly.

As an affiliate agency we are able to apply for emergency funding when there are no resources available elsewhere to meet a need. The Realities for Children Emergency Fund creates a safety net for children and youth who would otherwise fall through the cracks. This partnership with Realities has allowed immediate needs such as emergency shelter to be met for our youth.

Realities also meets the needs of our youth indirectly through event sponsorship. By signing on as the Presenting Sponsor for our upcoming Cultivate Hope fundraiser, Realities for Children is underwriting the cost of putting on the event so that all the money that comes in can go directly to helping the youth the Matthews House exists to serve. That means that when you buy a ticket to Cultivate Hope, all $25 is going to help youth develop the support network and skills they need to be successful and self-sufficient. And when you bid and win a beautiful piece of garden art at the event, you can know that the money doesn’t get absorbed into the cost of food or printing but goes directly to our program and youth in need.

If you are a business owner or an employee of a community-minded business, please look into Realities for Children to see how they can help you to leverage your marketing dollars while helping Larimer County’s children.

Please join us for Cultivate Hope, coming up on May 7th at 6:30pm. Tickets and Info available on our website.

On President’s Day several youth, volunteers and staff were about to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day of snowshoeing. The group was given a quick lesson in snowshoeing “how to’s” from our volunteers and then we were all off. After some trial and error learning how to walk in the shoes, we began our trek. The group got along very well and everyone seemed to have an excellent time, especially sliding down our makeshift snow slide. It was not only a good opportunity for staff and volunteers to get to know the youth better, but also for the youth to socialize with their peers in a positive, fun environment and to build confidence by experiencing something new.

Once a month we plan an activity especially for the young women in our program. Sometimes we hang out, eat popcorn and watch a chick flick or head out to try out our bowling skills. Other months we might encourage creative expression by learning some journalling techniques or taking on an art project. The idea is to provide a safe place to build relationships and to give our young women a chance to learn and try some new things in a comfortable environment.

Last month, we spent the evening at the Matthews House enjoying a chance to relax and learn to take better care of ourselves.  Alia, a Certified Massage Therapist from Capelli’s Salon & Spa, brought information for each of the girls on relaxation techniques, healthy eating, exercise and positive self-talk. We were able to continue to build relationships and have some good conversations about taking care of ourselves in simple and practical ways. Each of the girls was able to enjoy a relaxing chair massage and went home with a CD of peaceful music and a bag of marbles that we learned to use for a foot massage.

Thanks so much to Alia for sharing her knowledge, time and expertise with our young women!

This slideshow of postcards made by alumni of the foster care system showed up in my mailbox recently and I feel it needs to be shared. These simple postcards are able to convey the complex feelings and experiences of many youth in foster care and to shed light on what it might be like to grow up in foster care for those who haven’t been there and find it difficult to imagine.

Like I said, I thought it needed to be shared. Please take a minute to check it out, I think you’ll be glad you did.

This national community art project is an undertaking of Foster Care Alumni of America and is intended to build (the foster care alumni) community at the same time we educate foster care professionals and providers, and the general public, about our culture.

As the alumni movement has grown and gained momentum, we have discovered that regardless of age, race, ethnicity, geography, education, occupation, or placement history, as alumni of the foster care system we have a great deal in common. Our shared experiences form the basis of a shared culture-the culture of foster care. We are exploring the culture of foster care through our community art project where people in and from foster care share their observations, insights, and lessons on postcards.

Foster Care Alumni of America is a national non-profit association that has been founded and is led by alumni of the foster care system. We use the term alumni to describe those of us who have been in foster care during our childhood/youth.

The mission of FCAA is to connect the alumni community and to transform foster care policy and practice, ensuring opportunity for people in and from foster care.

*all italicized type is taken directly from the FCAA website