COVID-19 Recovery
A Letter From Our CEO
Friends,
Have you been inspired by others as we respond to this life-changing pandemic? I have many times, and I am profoundly grateful that many of those instances have come from Youth In Need clients and staff rising to the challenge.
When our emergency shelter and transitional living group home had to make plans for a full quarantine, the program director worried about what staff would stay if a client fell ill and they had to live at Youth In Need 24/7. She needn’t have worried.
“Every single person I talked to said, ‘we’ve got this, we will be there throughout this pandemic, we are committed, and the thought of our youth not having us is scarier than the pandemic.’”
Every day, our staff is staying focused on our clients, and our clients are demonstrating their own strengths and determination.
- Youth in our residential programs creating cards to send to a senior citizen home to cheer up isolated elders
- Children jumping into new “telehealth” technology so they can talk to their Youth In Need counselor who they used to see at school (and parents who make sure it happens!)
- Families in our early learning programs feeling empowered to teach their children at home and grateful for the ongoing support from our staff
Youth In Need is open for business and continuing the critical work of serving kids and families, especially when they need it most. The most marginalized children, youth and families are being hit the hardest by this epic epidemic. Our commitment to them is stronger than ever. It has to be.
Then, there’s you, our community of supporters. You’ve made masks, delivered meals, organized diaper drives and dropped off supplies. Thank you! We will continue to need this support.
We also will need your continued financial support as we move from responding to the pandemic to helping our clients recover from it. Getting through this crisis will continue to be costly. We are paying our frontline heroes more. We are improving our IT systems to better serve clients remotely. Our residential programs are spending more for food, cleaning supplies, and, yes, toilet paper.
Will you join us and help the children, youth and families who need us the most right now? We can’t do this alone. Our clients cannot do it alone.
Whether it’s a gift of $10, $100 or $1,000, we need you right now.
In this together and #YINThisTogether,
P.S. When you make an online gift (thank you!), you can also leave a personal note for our staff (just leave it in the “comments” section) to let them know how much their efforts are appreciated. We’ll make sure they see them!
