Just in Time for Foster Youth Launches My First Home for the Holidays campaign for Transitioning Youth

Campaign helps dozens of foster youth transform empty apartments into safe comfortable homes

San Diego, CA -- Just in Time for Foster Youth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of foster care by helping youth obtain essential community support as they leave the foster care system, is holding its annual My First Home for the Holidays campaign to transform over 100 empty apartments into safe, comfortable homes for transitioning youth. The goal of this campaign, taking place now through January 15, 2015, is to collect over $125,000 in needed cash, gift cards, and in-kind donations of new household items such as pots and pans, small kitchen appliances, lamps, and bedding.

HOW TO DONATE:

• Donate Cash Online at www.jitfosteryouth.org
• Purchase a $25 gift card to a department store such as Target, Walmart, or Macy’s and drop it off or mail it to the Just in Time for Foster Youth office, located at 3878 Old Town Avenue Suite 200 San Diego, CA 92110, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
• Host your own Mini Drive involving friends, family, work, club, or church. Collect new household items such as: sets of silverware, glassware, dishware, pots & pans, bath towels, full sheets and comforters, pillows, and blankets.
• Visit the wish list registry for Just in Time at Wal-Mart, Target or Macy’s

For additional information, please contact: Jamie Inarda, (760) 505-2891 or email jamie@jitfosteryouth.org

About Just in Time for Foster Youth:

Just in Time for Foster Youth engages a caring community to help transitioning foster youth achieve self-sufficiency and well-being.

We envision a future in which every youth leaving the foster care system has a community of caring adults waiting for them after 18. We believe consistent, long-term help from the heart is the foundation for the success of our youth so that they can thrive and enjoy productive, satisfying lives.

Without family support, young adults are at risk of being homeless, unemployed, and under-educated. Only too often they plunge onto a path of lifelong dependence or prison.

In fact, 70% of the inmates in California state prisons were once in the foster care system. One former foster youth inmate in a California prison for 9 years ($47,000/year) costs taxpayers a total of $423,000.

One transitioning foster youth with JIT from 18-26 ($2,000/year) cost $18,000 and helps break the cycle of foster care.

To make our vision a reality, JIT mobilizes a caring community as an extended family for transitioning foster youth. This is done through consistent relationships and emergency resources provided by individuals, agencies, businesses and foundations that share our core values and mission.

While other programs might assist with support such as transitional housing or college scholarships, JIT looks where there is a critical need and fills that gap to ensure that motivated youth reach their goal of self-sufficient adulthood. We also fill the most important gap of all: connections to caring adults, who then become a lifelong support system and the consistent community for the youth we serve.

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Just in Time for Foster Youth engages a caring community to help transitioning foster youth achieve self-sufficiency and well-being. We envision a future in which every youth leaving the foster care system has a community of caring adults waiting for them after 18. We believe consistent, long-term help from the heart is the foundation for the success of our youth so that they can thrive and enjoy productive, satisfying lives. Without family support, young adults are at risk of being homeless, unemployed, and under-educated. Only too often they plunge onto a path of lifelong dependence or prison. To make our vision a reality, JIT mobilizes a caring community as an extended family for transitioning foster youth. This is done through consistent relationships and emergency resources provided by individuals, agencies, businesses and foundations that share our core values and mission.

While other programs might assist with support such as transitional housing or college scholarships, JIT looks where there is a critical need and fills that gap to ensure that motivated youth reach their goal of self-sufficient adulthood. We also fill the most important gap of all: connections to caring adults, who then become a lifelong support system and the consistent community for the youth we serve. For more information, please visit www.jitfosteryouth.org.

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