x-sender: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com x-receiver: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com Received: from mail pickup service by sc.lmhostediq.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sun, 31 Jul 2016 21:06:29 -0400 thread-index: AdHrkO9XfOY5VN2WT9qf0WMpe/Rbtw== Thread-Topic: Requesting assistance advertising Blessing and Dressing, a student led program to collect clothing, etc. for foster children in Richland County From: To: Subject: Requesting assistance advertising Blessing and Dressing, a student led program to collect clothing, etc. for foster children in Richland County Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2016 21:06:29 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Importance: normal Priority: normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.1.7601.17609 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 01 Aug 2016 01:06:29.0534 (UTC) FILETIME=[EF6F93E0:01D1EB90] CUSTOM Mr. Shaun W Thompson Blessing and Dressing 121 Hurlingham Dr Columbia SC 29223 swthompson22@gmail.com 8035778911 8035778911 PRESS Requesting assistance advertising Blessing and Dressing, a student led program to collect clothing, etc. for foster children in Richland County 98.25.247.0 Dear Governor Haley and Staff, My name is Shaun W. Thompson and I am a public high school student at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, SC. Our family has been a licensed SC DSS foster care family in Richland County, SC for the past four years, and licensed by SC DSS for adoption for over a decade now. I have witnessed first hand the difficulties involved in transitioning a child (or children) into a foster home and the challenges my family has faced trying to adopt through SC DSS and trying to help children in the foster care system of our state. While the system continues to have challenges to improve, the children are in need 24/7 throughout the year. Children often arrive at a foster home with the shirt on their back and without necessary items that would ease the transition into foster care (such as a change of clothing). I believe our state has many generous families that would love to be part of the solution if they understood how they could help foster children and foster families. I have been organizing a service project entitled "Blessings and Dressings" to collect items for foster children. Our goal is to have families in Richland County and surrounding communities to donate gently used or new items so that we may provide care packages to foster children immediately after placement into a foster home. This will assist foster children and foster parents in this difficult time of transition. We are holding a collection drive this weekend 8/6/16 and hope that families will donate outgrown children's items as they clean out their closets to go school shopping. We also are looking for community volunteers to assist in the endeavor during and after the collection drive. I am asking for your support of my project. Would you be willing to advertise my project on your facebook page to allow families who would like to donate clothing, baby/toddler items, etc. to know about our upcoming collection drive on Saturday 8/6/16 from 10am-2pm at the Sam's Club at 5426 Forest Drive in Columbia? I would also like to invite Ms. Susan Alford but I do not have access to an email for her. I was wondering if your staff could send her an invitation on my behalf to the event. This is a non-denominational student led volunteer project that will benefit SC DSS foster children in Richland county and surrounding communities (SC Region II DSS). Ms. Amber Peeples SC DSS Foster Care Family Licensing and Support Unit is aware of our project. If you have any questions you can contact me at (803) 577-8911, view our facebook page at : www.facebook.com/blessinganddressing/ or please see our advertisement in Go Columbia, Events Section, of the State Newspaper. I would be honored to email your staff our flyer regarding our upcoming collection drive. Our foster family appreciates all that you have done to improve the lives of the foster children in our state. We hope to partner with you and the community in tackling the ongoing challenges involved in foster care. My parents Drs. Charlotte and Scott Thompson and myself would love the opportunity to discuss with you and/or Ms. Alford at your convenience, the challenges faced by foster parents and the difficulty recruiting foster parents in our region. Thank you in advance for any support that you and Ms. Alford can provide to advertising my endeavor. Sincerely, Shaun W. Thompson