Help Local Homeless Children This Holiday Season

Help Homeless Children This Holiday Season

Donate, Play or Advocate

Middleboro, Massachusetts (November 10, 2016) - Horizons for Homeless Children will be hosting a Playspace Activity Leader Volunteer Training on Saturday, December 3rd in Middleboro. There is a critical need for trained volunteers, called Playspace Activity Leaders (PALs), to play with homeless children who reside in shelters in Kingston.

Each Playspace has two-hour volunteer shifts that occur throughout the week. For children living in a shelter, Playspace visits with PALs may be the only opportunity to listen to stories being read, create an artistic masterpiece, dress up as a superhero, play a musical instrument, and just have fun.

“There are homeless children that need help all across the state, not just in the city,” said Meagan Seaman, Statewide Director of the Playspace Program at Horizons for Homeless Children. “Our Playspace Program reaches these much-needed areas, and volunteers in areas like Plymouth are critical to making sure these opportunities continue for the children and the families living in our partner shelters.”

As the Holiday season approaches we ask you to help us support the 16,000 children under the age of 5 in Massachusetts who are homeless. You can support these children this holidays season by donating new toys from our wishlist to Horizons for Homeless Children. High need items include play dough, bubbles, Clorox wipes, paper towels, and baby rattles. To get a copy of our full wish list of high need items and toys or arrange a drop off, please call 508 510-3250 or email mschafer@horizonschildren.org.

Horizons for Homeless Children created the Playspace Program with the belief that play is essential to healthy childhood development, and every child has the right to play. To make healthy play possible for children living in shelters in Massachusetts, regional staff build and maintain developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed, “kid-friendly” spaces and stock them with books, toys, games and arts materials. Horizons’ Playspaces serve infants and young children who are living in homeless shelters. PALs lead play activities in the Playspaces to help each child heal from the trauma of homelessness and gain the cognitive, physical, and social/emotional skills essential to future social and academic success.

To learn more about the Horizons’ Playspace Program, or to sign up for either of this or other trainings, please visit www.horizonschildren.org/playspace or contact Meghan Schafer, Playspace Program Director, Southeast Region, at mschafer@horizonschildren.org.

About Horizons for Homeless Children

Horizons for Homeless Children is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of young homeless children and their families. Horizons provides high quality early education, opportunities for play, and comprehensive family support services. Today, Horizons serves more than 2,000 young homeless children each week in Massachusetts through three early education centers and more than 120 shelter-based Playspaces.For more information about Horizons for Homeless Children, please visit: www.horizonschildren.org.