Backpack Donation | Giving Update

From backpack donation to distribution, students in the foster care system were able to start the school year prepared and excited. This year's backpack donation also helped foster families feel loved and supported! 

Ali Caliendo, the executive director of Foster Kinship, works with an incredible team to raise awareness and equitable service to all kids and families in need of support. She shared how Foster Kinship's partnership with Canyon Ridge significantly impacts supporting relatives raising their kids by giving access to things otherwise unavailable and unaffordable. 

"Canyon Ridge is a huge support throughout the year, providing hospitality to make [kinship and foster families] feel welcome, that they're not alone, and don't have to feel ashamed to ask for help."

Backpack donations are special because kids get to pick out backpacks that don't feel like a handout but are instead picked intentionally for them. "It was so special to see both the faces of the kids so excited for the cool character backpacks and the relief on the caregiver's faces knowing they don't have to go without a meal to provide [for a new backpack for the school year]."

The unique mission of Foster Kinship is that kinship families are often the ones who don't step up by choice but by circumstance. "Kinship families are the ones that get a call in the middle of the night for the kid that [they're] related to, making a decision so fast that they're often unprepared and don't have resources. And, by not becoming a foster parent by choice, they haven't yet built up a cohort of support."

That's where your generosity steps in, as Canyon Ridge can collectively support families through Foster Kinship. "You need people to walk alongside you because it is really hard. Having support, like getting a backpack, is special and feels like "I can keep going..."

Thank you for your generosity which makes partnerships with local organizations like Foster Kinship possible! Thank you for bringing life to students and their families in Las Vegas and beyond.