This article was contributed by Kathy Tiffany, former president of the Gabilan Chapter Kinship Center.
On May 28, Gabilan Chapter Kinship Center hosted the third annual foster family appreciation dinner at Jardines de San Juan in San Juan Bautista. We held the first dinner two years ago with the Department of Social Services.
We wanted to thank the families who foster our vulnerable youth in San Benito County. If the kids are able to stay within the county, near to their school, friends, sports teams, etc., it is less disruptive to an already fractured situation.
This past year, Gabilan Kinship was able to support the families through a Christmas shopping expedition; the children were able to buy gifts for their biological and foster parents. The kids had a ball and really loved being able to buy for both families. In the spring we were able to help support a spring egg hunt. Our group donated eggs and candy. The foster families have their own support group and a clothing closet.
Kinship continues to have training for future foster and adoptive families at the office at 345 Fifth Street. If you are interested in the foster family training you can contact Debbie Schugg at dschugg@kinshipcenter.org.
Between the county’s effort and Kinship, the foster families are growing in our county, which will only create healthier kids and families. The number of county foster families has almost doubled in the past year.
In addition to our foster family appreciation dinner, Gabilan Chapter Kinship Center awarded four scholarships to foster and adopted youth from San Benito County this past academic year. The scholarship information will be posted to our website in January 2020. If you know of any teen who would be interested in applying for our scholarships, please direct them to our website.
Our group has also started the Gabilan Fund, which will issue grants to foster youth for items their families cannot afford. Information is available on the Gabilan Chapter Kinship Center website. The website also has information regarding our annual wine tasting event that will be held on September 7 at the Paicines Ranch from 4-7 p.m.
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