My Why:

I chose to devote my 40 hours to my organization because it allows me to gain experience working with people who are dedicated to helping the service for people. Making sure they have essentials to survive and keeping children out of the foster care system and healthy.

About Children’s Home Society of Florida

The program I decided to work with is the Children’s Home Society of Florida. This amazing nonprofit organization has been around since 1902! Yes, that’s a whopping 122 years of service for the communities that need it the most. They have focused their efforts on creating an environment that supports children and their families to build a solid foundation regardless of their circumstances. I wanted to find an organization that prided itself on the hope and opportunities it provides families in need. The partnerships they encourage in the community are what makes them stand out above the rest. They work with any organization that is willing to help contribute goods and services to their community and strengthen the families through advocacy. Local and state leaders, advocates, and volunteers work together to bring change to the policies that inhibit the family structure. They strive to bring positive, impactful programs to the area that needs them the most. The most impressive factor that attracted me to this organization was the partnership with schools where the Florida Senate has endorsed a 10.6-million-dollar proposal to enable this organization to reach more students and their families. CHS is partners with thirty-one out of forty-four community partnership schools. I was so moved by their work with families that I switched my organization to do my 40 hours of community service to raise funds, make donations, and bring awareness to support the cause. I am a nursing major student and I have a passion for working with children and families that are in need and this organization is truly a unique opportunity to bring awareness to issues that affect the communities in our area. They focus on encouraging healthy families because they believe it helps children thrive to the best of their ability if the families are given a support system. They also work with foster care and boast that 100% of the families that complete their Healthy Families program remain together and keep the children out of the foster care system. This is an amazing feat and I needed to bring to the forefront how important this organization is in our community.

Figure 1: A fellow volunteer and myself making donation boxes. Figure 2: CHS leadership in Florida