Every year, the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program hosts a conference for teens in foster care, called College Connect. It gives them the opportunity to stay in a dorm, sit in on real college classes, participate in team building exercises, and interact with not only college faculty but also other teens from around the state…
Category Archives: Youth
Backyard Facelift
On May 25th employees of Cargill volunteered their time by partnering with The Matthews House to install our brand new vegetable gardens and give our backyard a face lift. We had over 15 Cargill volunteers, 7 youth, 3 staff, and 4 volunteers from the Matthews House! In less than 8 hours our backyard was…
Christmas Carriage Ride and Dinner
On December 2nd our Girl’s Group had a chance to celebrate the Christmas season in style. Even though it was a frigid evening, we had 15 young women come out to start off the evening with a horsedrawn carriage ride around Old Town. The ride ended up at Canino’s Italian Restaurant, where the group was…
Thanksgiving Party
Last Wednesday, we got together for our November Family Dinner, also known as our Thanksgiving Feast. Once a month, we host a dinner for youth in our program and their guests. This is a time to just come to the house and have a tasty family style meal prepared by wonderful volunteers in a comfortable…
Community Involvement at the Matthews House
Periodically, groups from the community come alongside the Matthews House to plan and put on events for our youth. These are great, fun activities for our youth with the added invaluable benefit that they are done on a completely volunteer basis by people who share this community with our youth. No ulterior motives, no one…
Realities for Children and the Matthews House
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…
Snowshoeing in RMNP
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,…
Everyone Deserves a Chance to Relax
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…
FCAA Slideshow
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…
The Power of Mentoring: Part 2
Yesterday in the Coloradoan, there was an editorial from one of our youth, talking about his mentor and what that relationship has meant in his life. So if you want to hear a firsthand, heartfelt account of the power of mentoring, check out Glen’s mentoring testimonial.
