SPRUCE PINE — Hollifield’s Christian Child Care Center donated 100 purple tote bags to the Mitchell County Department of Social Services on Thursday, Sept. 24.
The tote bags will go to children in foster care and entering DSS custody so they don’t have to use trash bags to move their belongings.
“This means so much to us and to the children we serve,” said Donna Davis, an adoption and licensing worker for DSS. “It’s such a negative experience for a child to have to put their things in a trash bag in the process of having to leave home when coming into DSS custody.”
Davis said she and DSS Program Manager Shawn Block are always looking to make sure they have something else for children to use when they enter their custody instead of trash bags, so this donation will definitely be used.
Donna Woody, the director at the childcare center, is a foster parent in Mitchell County and said it is hard seeing foster children bringing their belongings to her home in trash bags.
“It just breaks your heart when you see it,” Woody said. “I don’t want them to have the perception that they are trash. You never want that. With this, we felt led to help and give children a little bit of support.”
Davis added the department is always looking for new foster parents in the county.
“We are always recruiting for foster homes in Mitchell County, hoping to keep children closer to home and their community, preventing multiple moves,” Davis said. “We know going through the foster system is so hard on these children, so the closer to the home they know, the better.”
Davis said anyone who is interested in helping, by becoming a foster parent or helping in other ways, can contact her at 766-6793 or 537-1664.
Bobby and Glenda Hollifield, owners of Hollifield’s Christian Child Care Center, purchased the tote bags.