According to Rainbow Days CEO Tiffany Beaudine,
As COVID-19 impacts our world, we have all been feeling its effects. Although our experiences during this pandemic may vary, we are all experiencing a great deal of uncertainty and stress in our lives, families and communities.
For the at-risk and homeless children whom Rainbow Days serves, these feelings of insecurity brought about by the health crisis and other challenges going on in the world are compounded by the adversities they have already been facing in their lives.
When children experience adversity, there are lifelong effects from them, their families and communities. In order to mitigate the challenges that occur once children experience trauma, they need critical coping and life skills, the support of caring mentors, and the resilience to bounce back and rise above. Rainbow Days has continued to meet social and emotional needs as well as provide for the immediate tangible needs of these children and youth through an array of services during these adverse times.
Rainbow Days has provided the following essential services throughout the pandemic: For children and families living in motels, we have doubled our food delivery program over these last few months and added cleaning supplies, PPE and other items to our deliveries. For children and parents living in shelters, we have provided over 600 care packages filled with social-emotional learning messages, activities and essential supplies. For over 600 at-risk middle school students, we have provided virtual presentations and support from our staff along with essential social-emotional learning activities. To support STEM enrichment and provide children with a meaningful summertime experience, we provided two weeks of outdoor summer camps for the homeless children we serve. We are in the midst now of our largest back-to-school drive ever with the goal of providing new school supplies, PPE, backpacks and uniforms to over 700 homeless children and 500 at-risk students.
Rainbow Days needs caring volunteers and donors to continue providing our essential services. To donate, please click ‘Donate’ on our website or visit us here: https://rainbowdays.org/donate. Volunteers are needed throughout the next month in our offices to help us sort, organize and deliver school supplies and throughout the year for our food program and other special activities. To sign up as a volunteer, please visit us at: https://rainbowdays.org/more-ways-to-help/volunteer/. In-kind donations of school supplies, snacks and other essential items are needed. Please find our list here: https://rainbowdays.org/more-ways-to-help/in-kind/.
During this challenging and unprecedented time, we also want you to know that we care about you and your family. Please visit Rainbow Days’ website to check out some free resources and social-emotional learning activities that you can implement in your own household: https://rainbowdays.org/our-services/sel-support/.
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*Graphic and photo provided by RainbowDays