THE SPARK
Highlighting outstanding donor and volunteer impact
throughout Center For Family Services. 

To Our Donors and Partners
All of us at Center For Family Services are thinking of you and your family. We hope everyone is staying healthy and safe during this unique time.
  

You are the Spark
Thank you for being part of The Spark for positive change. Your support changes lives

While the national health crisis is affecting everyone in our nation, many children, individuals and families are especially at risk. Children, teens, and moms and their babies are waking up in the care of Center For Family Services every day, including during these unprecedented times. Our staff are on the front lines, providing exceptional care to those in need. Our safe houses and hotlines are fully operational , and we implemented TeleHealth to continue to provide counseling services across the board. Plus , we have staff doing food deliveries to the homes of the children and families in our preschool network. With your continued investment, support will remain available to those who need it most.

The need for services during this u nique time far exceeds the current level of services available in our community.  Your help is needed now more than ever.

Your gift will support the immediate needs of the children and teens living in our care and of local families during the national health crisis, including assistance with :
  • Grocery gift cards for families in crisis
  • Toiletry kits, food packs, basic baby items, and healing kits
  • Games, arts and crafts and movie nights at our homes
  • Computers to support job readiness and at-home learning
  • Rent payments and electric/utilities bills
  • Increased social supports and connection to resources

The need for your help has never been greater, and your investment will improve lives.

It starts with one. It starts with you.

 
Your Gifts in Action

Thank you to all of you fo r your recent online donations.  Your online gifts  are being put  to immediate use to meet urgent needs in caring for the children and teens living in our 20 homes across the region. Thanks to your donations, our teens can have some fun filling the time while everyone is asked to remain at home. Here are some of the things that were made possible thanks to your donations: new pots and pans for cooking and baking, arts and crafts supplies, new games such as Escape Room, and pizza and movie nights. 
Gift Cards Fill Our Hearts!
Thank you, Juliet and M ichael Barr and Patricia and Richard Heinrichs  for immediately jumping into action when COVID-19 isolated residents in our safe homes. The gift cards you sent meant so much to our families and our staff who were able to surprise them with comfort items and essentials.

You are the kind of friends we all need during tough times. Thank you for sending a message of hope to our families.
Cookies Sweeten our Safe Homes!
Thank you to Amy Rom aine, her daughter, and the Fairmount Park area Girl Scouts  for donating seven cases of Girl Scout Cookies for the teens in our homes to enjoy. This donation could not have come at a better time! With the teens in our homes all day, every day due to the national health crisis, the cookies help to brighten everyone's mood!  Plus ,  it makes everyone feel special to have a treat that is universally beloved but not always easy for them to come by. You really brightened the day! Thank you for the sweet treats!
Warriors for a Great Cause!
Thank you to the local dragon boat team, the Wicked Warriors of East Greenwich, for selecting SERV to benefit from your fundraising efforts. Together you collected toiletries, diapers, books, clothes, and other necessities for families living in safe housing. What an incredible donation that is sustaining families coping with isolation in our safe homes. While ongoing support is needed for survivors of violence, your gift could not have come at a better time when there is an increased need for domestic violence services in our community.

Thank you to all of your 200+ members, and a special shout out to  Michelle Qawasmy, a Wicked Warrior and SERV staff member for sharing our work with your team!
Dedication to Service
Shout out to our AmeriCorps VISTA and Recovery Corps volunteers who continue to serve in our communities. From identifying funding opportunities to hosting recovery groups online, you are a model of creativity and dedication for all of us. Thank you for meeting the needs across our community through national service during  these unprecedented times. 

Caring Across the Community
Many thanks to Mark and Jamie Moore for all you continue to do to change lives in our community. From providing help to youth in foster care to hosting collections to support teens living in emergency shelters, to raising awareness and increasing services for youth who identify as LGBTQ+, you are amazing people to know and our community is lucky to have you.
Thank You to our Corporate Partners
 A huge thank you to these corporate partners for your support. Thanks to your recent investment, immediate support is available to those who need it most right now. Thank you to:
- Recovery Centers of America
- Wyanoke Group
- Edmund Optics
- Brown and Brown Insurance
- WSFS Community Foundation
-Comcast

Bringing Us Together
We love our vendors! Thank you to Mike and Jeff at TGI Office Automations for donating a new, flat screen TV to Center For Family Services. The TV will soon be installed at one of our homes in South Jersey for the teens to enjoy! With schools closed, our teens are involved in remote learning all day long and are especially in need of some fun activities afterwards! Your donation of a TV provides the opportunity for our teens to watch movies together, play video games, and feel extra special. Thank you for bringing people together. We appreciate having you as a partner in our work!
An Uplifting Renovation
While this has been a stressful time for everyone in our community, one local family is enjoying a home transformation, and it could not have come at a better time. Simply Staged owners - Mindy Del Duca and RoseAnn Casey - again combined amazing style and expertise in the staging business with generous donations to refurnish the home of one of the families in our  care.

Thank you Mindy and Roseann for your time and energy in rallying donations from across the community from friends, family and clients and for selecting just the right pieces to make this apartment into a home for this hard working single mom. You spent many long hours to transform the space and fill it with love! This is a truly amazing gift for this family who has been fraught with some difficult times in their life.

A Driving Force of Hope
Thanks to Holman Automotive in partnership with Allstate and through the National Auto Body Council Recycled Rides nationwide program, a refurbished Honda is being donated to one of the moms who recently receive d suppor t.
Boys Pajama Drive
Cozy pajamas are a help now more than ever. With the stay-at-home effort in place, families need routines now more than ever. A bedtime routine that includes cozy pajamas and story time can make all the difference and thanks to  Will  (Bubba) Burrough, hundreds of families in need have help and their children are going to bed with cozy pajamas! Bubba - thank you for rallying friends and family and your network at St. Joseph's University to help families in keeping kids warm and cozy at bedtime.
Happening at our Homes - Thanks to you  

With the stay at home order in effect, children and teens are involved in remote learning at our homes across South Jersey. Breaks, evenings and weekends are spent playing games both indoor and outdoor. Your gifts make a huge difference providing support to the kids living in our homes!

Telehealth is Available 
Center For Family Services is providing services through TeleHealth for new and returning patients. If you or someone you care about needs help dealing with life's challenges, you can call our Access line to schedule an appointment for counseling, therapeutic and psychiatric services. It's easy to schedule an appointment. 

Call our Access Line at 1.877.922.2377 during the hours of Monday-Thursday 9am to 8pm or Friday 9am to 4pm or email [email protected].
We're Still Here, and We're Still Helping

Our staff are ensuring our 24/7 services are fully operational to support those in our care.

Your Support Changes Lives
The need in our community continues to exceed the current level of services. Children and families are in need of your help. Your online gift will change lives. It's easy to make a donation online. With your online gift, you can select the "monthly gift" option and enter your information one time to continue to make impact throughout the year.
 
As a monthly sustainer, you can:
  • Set it and forget it - After you set up your gift, you can continue to change lives all year long.
  • Give at a level that's right for you - You get to choose just how much you want to support every month.
  • Grow your impact - Your monthly gift makes emergency funding immediately available to help change lives.
For more information and to donate online, visit centerffs.org/get-involved/donate and choose "monthly donation". It starts with one, it starts with you. Your gift changes everything.