Transcription:
Kim Cole: Hi everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I’m Kim Cole, President of the Community Foundation of Morgan County, and I have two special guests with me today from Department of Child Services here in Morgan County, Harold and Tammy. Welcome. Thanks for being on the show today.
Harold Drake and Tammy Whaley: Thank you, Kim. Thank you.
Kim: I can’t believe it’s already November, and coming up next month, you all have a very important event. You have a Christmas party for all the kids that you all are serving in Morgan County, correct? For our viewers that aren’t familiar with DCS, as you’re commonly referred to, can one of you tell us a little bit about what does DCS do?
Harold: We investigate reports regarding child abuse and neglect. Tammy is one of our assessment workers who does that job in our office, and then there are times we continue to work with children and to reunify children with their parents or continue to monitor them through an open case, and we have another set of workers who do that in our office.
Kim: Okay. All right. So how many children currently are you serving?
Harold: Morgan County is currently serving over 100 children.
Kim: Okay. Wow. Okay. And is that pretty, is there a seasonal effect to that data, or is it just pretty constant?
Harold: I would say it’s pretty constant.
Kim: Okay. Okay. So, with Christmas coming up, you’re going to have an event, have a big Christmas party, December 10th at a local church, and this is for the kiddos and their foster parents or the families that they’re staying with, correct?
Harold: That is correct. That party is for the kids. There’s dinner, and it’s a way to celebrate with the kids that are in our care, their foster parents, relative placements, whoever it is that the children may be staying with.
Kim: Fantastic.
Harold: That is December 10th.
Kim: Okay.
Harold: We’ve done this sort of thing every year that I’ve been with the Department of Child Services in Morgan County over 10 years. I have definitely seen the numbers grow over that time, but it’s a really good event. We’ve got activities, games, Santa Claus comes, helps us out, helps us pass out gifts.
Kim: Sure. Of course, Santa’s coming!
Harold: And we also provide a great dinner for the families that are there.
Kim: That’s fantastic. So, I’m assuming that you all need help with gifts because that’s a lot of kids and everybody wants kids to know that they’re getting Christmas gifts. So how can people help?
Harold: We do have a lot of need for gifts for kids, and we also reach out to community organizations that help us out a lot. And as case managers or supervisors or workers in our office, we oftentimes sponsor a kid too. But we could always use help for that, whether it’s helping to sponsor an individual child who’s made their Christmas list or just sponsoring the event in general, which helps to pay for the meal, the decorations, the Santa Claus, all the activities that come along with it.
Kim: So, you ask the kids to make out a Christmas list, and I’m assuming that oftentimes there are kids with siblings. So, it’s…Sibling groups. So, for anybody watching and for when we’re out and about talking about it, people can get a Christmas list or the family, the group of the siblings also. So, one or more and help out that way. Also, I know you mentioned oftentimes, because you are always actively investigating and taking placements, if you take one on December 22nd or 23rd, you got to have Christmas for them, right? So, I can’t imagine how challenging that is. And so, Walmart gift cards, Target gift cards, gift cards where you guys could run out quickly and get some gifts would be hugely helpful.
Harold: Yes, for sure.
Kim: Okay, great. And then so you do also need sponsors for the party. So, we could look to the business community in Morgan County and maybe get some sponsors to help with that.
Harold: That would be great.
Kim: Right. And I know Community Foundation, we always want to sponsor families around Christmas time. Every kid needs to have Christmas. So, we’re going to be taking some Christmas list and taking some of our funding and putting it there. And I’m hoping that with you all being on the podcast today that enlightens people, and we could get the word out.
Tammy: Thank you.
Harold: That sounds great. We’ll give you all of our information on who to contact. I would guess probably the information that we’re giving you would be better to start out with a text to say, hey, I’m so-and-so looking to sponsor a child at Christmas. And Amy’s the reach out, the contact person. She will get back to you as soon as possible.
Kim: And Amy is?
Harold: Amy is a supervisor with the Morgan County Department of Child Services.
Kim: Perfect. And for anybody else watching, if you have any questions after you watch this podcast, feel free to contact Community Foundation. I’m Kim Cole. You can contact me or Michelle Keller. That number is 765-318-0003. And thank you both for being here today. This is a great event. You’re helping a lot of kids; a lot of families enjoy the Christmas season. So, thank you.
Harold and Tammy: Thank you for having us.
