This week is the end of Love146’s fiscal year – we’re so grateful for your support that makes this life-changing work possible. As we move into a critical time of serving youth this summer, it’s important that there aren’t funding gaps or unmet needs. Your donation, before midnight June 30th, can be a game-changer for a child.
Your summer donation helps a child who is hungry.
Without easy access to school breakfast and lunch, youth can be vulnerable to victimization. In our Survivor Care, we do all kinds of activities with youth. In the summer, requests for visits to include food definitely go up. We also sometimes give grocery gift cards to families, and connect them with other community resources to address food insecurity, so youth don’t feel pressure to provide for their families or find other ways to get their basic needs met.
Your summer donation helps a child who is lonely.
School break means friends aren’t right there in person with you every day. It also means professionals like your guidance counselor, coach, or favorite teacher aren’t as available. Traffickers are very much aware that there are less eyes on children, and will often use that to their advantage. Love146 is a constant in the lives of survivors – even more so during summer months.
Your summer donation helps a child who needs stability.
Every day being different is hard for many people — that can be even more true for children with special needs, mental health issues, and/or trauma. Love146 keeps showing up throughout the changes summer brings, and we make a special effort to not make big changes to a youth’s care plan during summer months.
Your summer donation helps a child who feels like giving up.
For youth who’ve struggled, summer may bring anxiety about ending one year or starting another school year – and this is the time when, statistically, many teens drop out of school forever. When a survivor is wondering, “What if I don’t succeed?” your donations ensure that trepidation is met by somebody who can encourage them. With the help of Love146, many children in our Survivor Care also use summer as a time to get a job that builds confidence, security, and career skills.
Your summer donation helps a child who is bored and vulnerable.
Boredom might not seem like a serious problem on the surface, but for an adolescent, it can cause vulnerabilities. When youth don’t have things to do and healthy ways of getting an adrenaline rush (ropes courses, sports, etc.) they’ll sometimes explore riskier ways to seek excitement (like meeting someone they’ve been chatting with online.) Traffickers use a child’s boredom as an opportunity to engage, groom, and potentially exploit them. Our Survivor Care program pairs a child with a trauma-informed social worker who will help them find safe ways to have fun.
