"We've Seen Kids Come Through Our Home Who Literally Had Nothing": A Precious Child Lifts Up Children In Poverty
BROOMFIELD, Colo. (CBS4) – About 150,000 Colorado children live in poverty. That puts them at risk for long-term side-effects on their health and education. A Broomfield organization, A Precious Child, is working to help even the playing field for those children and their families.
"Poverty is not a one-size fits all solution. Many of the families that we work with have very different and unique needs, so we have 8 programs that each focus on different gaps in the community, that we've seen, to really provide a holistic approach to the services that we offer," said Brittany Polinski, Vice President of Programs and Evaluation at A Precious Child.
The 8 programs include:
--Precious Essentials – provides clothing, coats, shoes and other basic essentials.
--Basics 4 Babies – provides baby gear, diapers, wipes, baby food & formula.
--Give Sports – provides sports equipment, as well as, scholarships to play sports.
--Give Arts – provides arts scholarships
--Fill A Backpack – provides backpacks filled with new school supplies.
--Precious Gift – provides gifts during the holidays and birthdays.
--Edussentials – provides educational scholarships
--Inspiring Minds – provides access to STEM activities.
"Each family, we want to follow them on their path to sufficiency, and try and make sure we're helping them get on that path to self-sufficiency," Polinski explained.
Nanette Bezjak has one of those families. Bezjak used to be a foster parent.
"We've had kids who've come with just a t-shirt on, not even pants," she said.
Bezjak adopted 4 children out of the foster care system.
"They are all amazing, and wonderful, and they're my super heroes. All four of them are special needs, and require a lot of extra additional care," Bezjak told CBS4.
A Precious Child, over the years, has provided Bezjak's family clothing, backpacks, diapers, all kinds of newborn things, swings, and birthday and Christmas presents. Bezjak feels so strongly about the organization that she volunteers there.
"Because we've seen kids come through our home who literally had nothing, and so we know how important it is to get a gift with your name on it, bought just for you," Bezjak explained.
A Precious Child is hosting a volunteer project during Xcel Energy's Day of Service on Saturday, September 7th. Volunteers will be working in the warehouse helping to sort through donated goods.
"We rely so heavily on volunteers. We're a very small staff here, and so we had more than 7,000 volunteers last year. Every single one of our programs requires volunteers to function. And so, the community coming together to support us, whether it's volunteering, or donating goods to us, is crucial for us to continue supporting kids," Polanski said.
