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Kases for Kids collects and distributes suitcases, duffle bags, backpacks and similar carrying cases to foster children in the system. As we know our foster children don’t always have their own cases before entering or leaving the system. Most of the time they have to use plastic or trash bags in which they carry their personal items in. These children have been torn away from their everyday and everything surroundings familiar to them. Most of the time they believe it’s their fault for being removed. Kases for Kids wants the children to know that these cases are their belongings when they leave the foster home to return home or into a permanent placement. If you’re a Lions Club and want Information on helping in your community OR if you are a local business and want to donate to this program please contact:
Items needed: Suitcases, backpacks and other travel bags for children along with small toiletry items, such as those from hotels (shampoo, soap, etc.). Is your club participating or planning to participate? Send in a copy of this form:
---------------------------------------------------------------------- As the founder of Kases for Kids, Mary Lorenz of Fairfield spends a great deal of time assembling and delivering care packages to Child Protective Services in Solano County. Each month, Lorenz assembles 38 backpacks for children in the foster-care system whom she will never meet. Lorenz believes Kases for Kids helps boost children's morale. "There are more than 500 children removed from their homes in Solano County alone every year," said Lorenz, 58. "We're not reaching all of the kids, but we're reaching as many as we possibly can. "It used to be that when CPS would go into a home to remove a child for any reason - abuse, neglect, abandonment - they would grab a garbage bag or a plastic shopping bag and put the kids' things in there and take them to a foster home," said Lorenz. "The children would show up on the doorstep of their foster home with this garbage bag in their hands with all of their things in it. It had to be demoralizing for them. 'I must be trash if all of my things are in a trash bag.' It's a very difficult time in their lives, and knowing that if I can help them just a little bit, it's a great feeling." Lorenz started the program four years ago through the Fairfield and Suisun Travis Lions Club. She purchases backpacks and toiletries with her own money and also receives donations from Lions Club members such as Jim Prigmore, a dentist who donates toothbrushes and toothpaste. Lorenz's granddaughter, Kara Lorenz, a student member of the Lions Club, helps assemble the backpacks. In each backpack Lorenz puts toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, bar soap, shampoo, deodorant, skin lotion, Kleenex, washcloths and school supplies, as well as a stuffed animal with a name tag on it. Lorenz was born and raised in Minneapolis and has lived in the Bay Area for 18 years. For eight years she has been manager of the Wine Club at Pine Ridge Winery in Napa. She has two sons, Brian, 40, and Robert, 38, and three grandchildren. As a member of the Lions Club, Lorenz has also helped raise money for the American Cancer Society as a team captain of Relay for Life. In addition to Kases for Kids, the Fairfield and Suisun club provides scholarships to high school and college students through their Assist-a-Grad Scholarship Fund. Kases for Kids is a program that is close to Lorenz's heart. "It would great if a child never had to be removed from a home, but that's not going to happen," she said. "I'd like to keep this program going as long as I can through donations and funding." For more information on Kases for Kids visit www.fairfieldfastlions.com. Each week, The Chronicle features a Bay Area resident who has won a Jefferson Award for making a difference in his or her community. The awards are administered by the American Institute for Public Service, a national foundation that honors community service. Bay Area residents profiled in The Chronicle are also featured on CBS 5-TV and KCBS-AM, which are Jefferson Award media partners, along with The Chronicle. E-mail Shelah Moody at smoody@sfchronicle.com. |
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