Yesterday I had to go to a meeting, and it is the type of meeting where everyone involved in a case gets together, so everyone doesn’t really want to talk to each other but they all get stuck in one room.

Yeah, I hate those meetings.

Mostly because, I have a big mouth. I mean, you probably knew that from reading this blog, but I am a rather opinionated person and it KILLS me to sit there and keep my mouth shut.

I have to, because really nothing I would say would be at all constructive or helpful. But it is so hard to hear people say things that just are so wrong or so far from the reality of the situation. Man, it drives me nuts. Things that are personal jabs at me, things that make you want to roll your eyes.

Anyway, I don’t know why I’m writing about this, other than the fact that it drives me bonkers.

Instead of talking about that, I’d rather talk about something that doesn’t suck.

I know there are some of you who have been reading my blog for several years. If you have, you know that I always like to talk about the “Little Wishes” project.

Back when we did the blogathon, I talked about the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition. They try to find homes for children in foster care. They provide support to foster parents and foster children.

One of their big projects is the Little Wishes campaign. Little Wishes provides gifts to children in foster care. Some foster parents don’t have the resources to provide a lot of gifts for their foster children, even if they want to. Lots of foster parents only receive $300 a month for caring for a child, and that is supposed to cover ALL of their expenses for that entire month. Where does Christmas fit in? DFS might provide a gift or two for the foster children, but for the most part, foster parents are on their own to provide Christmas presents out of their own pockets.

And remember, many foster homes have multiple children. If I spend $100 on each of my kids (which, lets be honest, doesn’t buy a lot of presents), I’m already up to $400 before I buy stockings, or outfits for the Christmas play, or pictures with Santa or airline tickets to fly all your foster kids to visit Aunt Nancy in Idaho.

What about the kids who aren’t in a foster home? What about kids like Bug, who spent Christmas in a residential treatment facility? Her parent’s had their rights terminated, the state was legally her parents, and she had nobody to bring her anything. What about the kids who have to spend the holiday in a psychiatric hospital? Or a group home?

When you go to the Little Wishes website, you can pick a child and grant their wish.

What about 1 year old Angel, who wants a Playskool Walk N Ride? How about 9 year old Amber who wants an American Girl Sleepover Kit? 17 year old Aaron who wants to go to Prom? 18 year old Jennifer who wants a class ring? 15 year old Virginia who wants music lessons? 12 year old Angelina who wants to go to the theatre?

You can search by the type of gift, the cost, or even by a child’s name.

I know that during Christmas/holiday time you get hit up by a lot of different organizations. I know that money is tight for a lot of people.

But please, consider helping out this very worthy cause. Imagine spending Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate in foster care. We can show these kids that someone cares.

To grant a Little Wish, click here.

(Also, if you have a blog, link to this post about Little Wishes. Everyone who does will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Spread the word about this program!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.