Your support will help amazing people like Shequenda
As a board member, you have already shown your commitment to the tremendous good our many programs offer to our neighbors. There is no doubt that healthy families and individuals create the building blocks for a healthy community.
This year, the board is challenged to make a very real, concrete addition to our community by funding a neighborhood-based group for teens and a support group for families affected by trauma. Your support will help amazing people like Shequenda.
She participated in the Teen Outreach Program® at Patrick Henry High School. Shequenda learned skills at TOP that provided her with a foundation for coping with life's challenges. When people face challenges too big to handle alone, they can become more resilient by participating in peer groups, therapy, or being involved with a caring case manager.
Twenty-six percent of children will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn four, according to the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (2012). People who have experienced trauma are 15 times more likely to attempt suicide, four times more likely to become an alcoholic, four times more likely to inject drugs – the list goes on, unfortunately.
With Shequenda, the seed has been planted. With her whole life ahead, she will always have the strong foundation built through her relationship with Family Service. The board of directors can lead the effort to make the same foundation possible for more of our neighbors.
To create a neighborhood-based group for teens and a support group for families affected by trauma, the board needs to raise $12,000. If the board raised an average of $600 per board member, we would raise over $12,000.
Thank you for creating building blocks for a healthy community.