StepStone Family and Youth Services will be hosting their annual Wrapped In Love blanket drive beginning on January 15, 2022. The event runs for exactly one month, culminating with an opportunity to provide a foster child with a blanket on Valentine’s Day. Wrapped In Love is a nationwide campaign to create a closer bond between the at-risk youth and the community they call home.
StepStone is a therapeutic foster care agency contracted with the state to provide foster homes for Kentucky’s abused and neglected youth. The organization is new in 2021 to the city of Owensboro and serves Daviess County at large, along with the bordering Kentucky counties.
According to the StepStone website, StepStone foster care believes in offering a caring place for children and youth, no matter their needs or challenges.
“Some of the children StepStone serves have different intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities,” the website reads. “Most are typically developing kids in need of a safer, more stable living environment. We specialize in matching the children we serve with dedicated and caring foster families.”
Jessica Adams is the Recruiter and Trainer for StepStone’s future foster parents. She says she loves to work with the families and youth she serves, including providing at-risk youth with blankets over the holidays.
“I love so much about my job,” Adams said. “Just having the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the families that we serve is amazing. I love offering support and training for foster parents and hosting and attending events to recruit prospective parents. I especially love the Wrapped In Love event, which collected over 1200 blankets last year across the state.”
Drop-off locations will be listed on the StepStone Facebook page as the event gets closer to kicking off.
Given that January of 2021 was StepStone’s first Wrapped In Love ever in Owensboro, coupled with the fact that the drive ran congruent to the conception of the Owensboro StepStone office, the response from the community was lower than the expectations of Adams and her co-workers. So, this year, they’ve decided to get started early to promote the event and “raise up” business partners in the greater Owensboro area.
“If you are a community partner or a business that would like to be a drop-off location, please reach out to us,” Adams said. “We need more locations to make this year better than last year! These blankets are meant to be a symbol of love and comfort, and donating is a great opportunity to show this same love and support to the disadvantaged children in our community.”
To learn more or participate in this good work, reach out to StepStone on Facebook, phone at 270-691-1090, or emailing [email protected].
