Each suitcase will be filled with daily items and donated to children being rehomed. (Photo: LNN)

By Joel Mendelson

Lethbridge Family Services introduces Suitcases for Foster Kids initiative

Oct 24, 2023 | 2:43 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – During Alberta’s Foster and Kinship Caregiver month, Lethbridge Family Services has announced the Suitcases for Foster Kids initiative.

Suitcases for Foster Kids aims to help Lethbridge children who are re-homed by providing them a suitcase with personal items.

Michelle Galucci, Director of advancement and communications at Lethbridge Family Services said, “Suitcases for kids was born out of our learning through Angel Tree. One of the donations we received last year was a suitcase. It came in quite late and no child had asked for one. So we wondered about how to honour the donor’s intention with this gift.”

According to Barbara Tillsley, spokesperson for the Suitcases for Foster Kids initiative, often times when a child is re-homed they are only able to take small personal items with them, and it is highly common for them to be taken in garbage bags as well.

Tillsley said, “Children who experience emergency foster care normally take their small belongings in a large plastic bag to their new home. They’re scared, they feel alone, and they need hope. We can give that hope and start to restore their dignity with the gift of a suitcase filled with personal items. It’s a real way to show that they are important and cared for.”

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According to Child and Family Services, there are currently 65 children in Lethbridge who are in need of suitcases due to being re-homed.

Galucci said, “We put it out there, without promoting it in a big way, and we received enough money to get these 15 suitcases and the items that go with them, some of the items were donated”

The initiative has set its goal at $10,000. Tillsley said, “We are happy to accept both monetary and items themselves for the suitcases. A list of the items for the suitcases can be found on the Lethbridge Family Services website, as well our company, and myself and my husband personally, will be donation matching, any donations that come in, we have a goal of reaching 10,000 and we’re hoping to reach that this year.”

Donations can be made directly to the cause through the Lethbridge Family Services website. There is a Suitcases for Kids option on the menu.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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