Many are looking forward to turning the calendar to 2021. This year has brought us challenges and issues we could never have imagined, and there are many reasons to want to put 2020 in the rearview mirror.

We all are well aware of how different 2020 has been – a pandemic, a contentious election, social unrest, the hottest summer on record – all of these have frayed everyone’s nerves. Even at Arizona Helping Hands, despite seeing every day the importance of our work providing basic needs to Arizona’s 14,000+ children in foster care, we’ve faced our share of challenges.

1,823 – that’s the number of children in foster care whose birthdays have been made special already in 2020 by the Birthday Dreams program at Arizona Helping Hands. More than 250 boys and girls each month have received gifts and party packages, thanks to our efforts.

Back to School is different this year, but the end result is what is important. Once again, thousands of children will be served through our program. They will have the notebooks, paper, markers and more that will allow them to pick up their education, in whatever fashion it will take in 2020.

In 2016, Arizona Helping Hands expanded our services to foster families to include the safety items needed to pass Arizona’s home inspection standards to become a licensed foster home.

I thought my friend Dale was coming to say hi and tour the Arizona Helping Hands facility where we provide essential needs to children in Arizona’s foster care system.  It turned out that Dale and his wife Pam were not stopping in for a social visit, they were coming to access our assistance.

Foster Dads don’t have nine months to wrap their heads around the responsibilities of parenting. They are called on often at a moment’s notice because children desperately need that one caring adult who will be present in their lives.

I met Curtis four years ago.  He came to Arizona Helping Hands to receive beds, cribs, clothing, diapers, sports equipment and more to help his family.  His daughter’s life had been tragically stolen in a moment, and his FIVE grandchildren needed grandpa’s love and safety.  Curtis took in his grandchildren despite the fact that as a schoolteacher he had limited resources.

Volunteering is so important to our day to day operations of serving the 14,000+ children in foster care...Your work matters, and we can’t wait to have you back beside us.