Thankfulness is simply the ability to recognize the good in your life. The ability to be thankful for whatever you have is something none of us should take for granted. For the children at A Kid’s Place, thankfulness isn’t something many of them are used to feeling. But our founder, Dottie Berger MacKinnon, had an answer for that: “No matter where they go from here, the children will know that while they were at A Kid’s Place, they were safe, they were loved, and they were protected.” To our many supporters who selfishly give of their time, their talents, and their resources, we say “Thank You!” Together, we are giving children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned a reason to feel thankful and recognize the good that is in their lives. That might sound easy to you and me, but for children who have witnessed trauma firsthand, who have cowered under the hand of violence or wondered when their parent might return home, being thankful is a hard pill to swallow.
We are thankful for people who have a heart for children. Our supporters may not know what it’s like to go to bed hungry or come home to an empty house where the utilities have been turned off and a parent is nowhere to be found. They may not have experienced domestic violence or witnessed viciousness right in their own home. But our children know this intimately, and their plight is something that all of us can sympathize with. We are thankful for donors who share monetary gifts so that we may provide programs for the children in our care. We are thankful for volunteers who give of their time so that our children may enjoy a library, pantry, and donation room stocked with gifts from community supporters. Most of all, we are thankful for the many people who do what they can to make a difference in the lives of foster children, shining their lights and giving hearts to make a child’s world a little brighter.