Every month the Angels provide the Guardian ad Litem Foundation 30 Angel Birthday Bags that can be used for special occasions or first time meetings between the child and the Guardian volunteer. This program has been extremely successful and every month there is a waiting list for these bags. Children of all ages enjoy these Angel Bags filled with essentials, toys, hygiene items and a $20 gift card to buy something special.

 

We also provide the Guardian ad Litem with gas cards monthly to help these volunteers maintain this stable relationship they have with the children they advocate for.

Thanks to one of our generous Donors, Our Angel Resource Room is kept stocked for requested items like car seats, pac n plays, strollers, diapers, uniforms, school supplies, hygiene items, clothing and many other items that are requested by our community partners.

Since we are conveniently located near many of our Community Partners, it is only a phone call away to pick up items requested without any wait time.

Friends of the Children Mentoring Program relies on the Angels for school supplies, uniforms, tablets for learning, special requests and our Christmas Giving Program.

For the past several months since adding our Learning Center to our new space, FOTC have been utilizing this space for their monthly meetings in Pinellas County.

The Angels are proud to be a part of the FOTC program to assist these mentors in being the one stability in these children’s lives.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Child Protection Division has partnered with the Angels for many years. The Angels assist with items like the food pantry, car seats, pac n plays, uniforms, clothing needs for children when they are removed and just this year, we provided items for their Children’s Play Room to help make the children feel welcomed when going through such a tough time as part of our Christmas Giving Program as well as adopting 2 families for Christmas.

This year we partnered with Suncoast Voices for Children to help with some of the larger requested items like car seats and pac n plays to keep children safe. We also provided uniforms, school supplies and backpacks to assist with the many children in the foster care system.

The Kind Mouse is one of the programs that is near and dear to our hearts. Children going hungry in our community is at an all-time high and the thought of a child going to bed hungry breaks our hearts. We partnered with Gina Wilkins, Founder of The Kind Mouse, many years ago to assist with helping to feed the hungry children in our community. Child hunger has become an epidemic in our community and we are so proud to be a part of this amazing program.

The Kind Mouse is having to expand their operations with another large pantry and we are happy to be a part of their growing success.

The Angels have been providing assistance to Directions for Living for many years. Homelessness and prevention are at an all-time high in our community and the needs are great. Our Resource Room at the Angel Center has become an essential resource for Directions for Living. Our Christmas Giving Program has put smiles on the faces children and families for years. We also receive a lot of special request for families transitioning in hopes of keeping their children from removal.

Directions does so much for children at risk, families facing difficult times and children facing extreme challenges and we are proud to be a part of this organization.

The Angels have worked with Eckerd Connects, the Lead Agency in Pinellas/Pasco counties since 2008. Every year we assist with some of the needs for these children. Items like Uniforms, Pack n Plays, Car Seats, Strollers, Christmas giving, School Supplies and so much more. When a request comes our way, we always try to find a way to make it happen. Sometimes it is working with other organizations in finding ways to do matching funds depending on the type of request.

For 10 years the Angels hosted the Child Advocacy Expo as a tool for all the community leaders to have an event for networking with one another. This event became such a success over the past 10 years that it was taken over by Adoptive Related Services in 2019. The Angels participated this year to support this organization and it was such a great success. It was so wonderful to be able to pass the torch and keep an event going. The whole purpose of this event was to introduce all the community partners in our community and neighboring communities to work as a TEAM. Together we can accomplish so much more by working together.

Thank you Darla Starling for keeping the energy going!

Our famous Mad Hatter Tea Party was held annually in September to give a child a day of memories, joy and smiles. Two years ago when we opened the Angel Visitation Center, we decided to put our focus on the Center since it impacted children’s lives daily. Although we were sad to end our 7-year Mad Hatter Tea Party, we felt we could not do both. Thanks to the Kiwanis Club and our wonderful guy Angel, Allen Yergovich, the Mad Hatter Tea Party lived on. For the past two years, the Kiwanis Club has hosted this event at the Downtown Coliseum welcoming children as they run through the famous rabbit hole for a day of fun. Thank you Kiwanis for keeping this event going. We love helping and volunteering and seeing the joy in the children’s faces when they are greeted with all the fun characters and activities!

Since our journey began 13 years ago, the Sallie House has enjoyed the generosity of two amazing Angels with HUGE hearts! Many of the children in Foster Care would never know what it felt like to be treated special on their birthday or to have a party in their honor. Diana and Kerry Helinger have done just that for all these years paying attention to the details of what these children like. For years the Helingers have been the gift that keeps giving and these children have been so fortunate to have a day to carry them through their toughest times. Thank you Diana and Kerry for all you do every day in these children’s lives!

Maria Martinez Rivera and her family, This year we were part of a very special gift to a family who faced challenges and obstacles that lasted over 2 years. Recently this family of 8 was reunited but needing a great deal of assistance. Their prayers were answered thanks to one of our very generous donors who insisted on remaining anonymous with a $5000 donation to this family. The Angels also wanted to make a difference with supplies from the Resource Center and also Christmas Gifts for the entire family. It was such a good feeling to be a part of this family’s joy of being reunited. You can follow their link to learn more.

This family has been so grateful for their prayers being answsered. They said “they prayed for Angels and all of a sudden they were surrounded with them”!

SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND FLY!
Kick-off Meeting January 2020

Mark your calendar for the 2020 Blue Ribbon Gala, Saturday, April 4th, 2020. We will once again host this event at the St Pete Yacht Club, downtown St Petersburg, FL starting at 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm. You will not want to miss this AMAZING event! We are giving plenty of advance notice to make sure everyone can plan around this event that makes such a difference in the lives of the children and youth we advocate for 24/7. Thank you for all your support in giving these children HOPE for a better tomorrow.

April is just around the corner and we need your help to make this event the success it has been this year! We need silent auction items, live auction items, volunteers for setting up and tearing down. This is our only event that we have annually to help us to sustain our many programs that you have just read about. As a TEAM we can make this happen for 2020!