Like Home for the Holidays

The Space Coast chapter of GE Volunteers made the Holidays special for Children’s Home Society and Hacienda Girl’s Ranch. The residence is a home for girls that have been placed in protective care as result of being removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.

Toy Drive

We received 40 ‘Wish Lists’ from Children’s Home Society for local foster kids. We decorated a Christmas tree in our cafeteria with the wish lists. Employees selected a child’s wish list and brought in their gifts

Hacienda Girl’s Ranch

We met at Hacienda Girls Ranch before Thanksgiving to make it feel more like home for the girls. We hung Christmas lights on two of the buildings and cooked sides and desserts for their Thanksgiving meal.

Celeste created the wish list decorations

Celeste cre

ated the wish list decorations

We decorated the Wish List Tree

Candy Canes

Collecting the gifts

Home-Cooking for Thanksgiving

Happy Cooks!

Pies!

Spreading the Light of the Season

How many volunteers does it take to hang a light bulb?

Children’s Home Society- Brevard Division History

1902: Children's Home Society of Florida was founded in Jacksonville, amidst a nationwide effort to find safe homes and

loving families for children orphaned by industrial and farm accidents and epidemics such as tuberculosis.

1920: CHS began expanding to meet the needs of Florida's growing population, opening its first division office in Pensacola. Eleven more divisions were established over the next 80 years.

1991: Brevard Division was established

Children’s Home Society- Brevard Division Programs

• Protective supervision to ensure the safety of children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect

• Safe shelter for abused or neglected teen girls at the Hacienda Girls Ranch

• Transitional living home to provide young women ages 18 and over, who have recently aged out of the foster care system or who are homeless, with a safe, affordable place to live as they begin their adult lives.

• Healthy Start, to assist pregnant women with healthy birth outcomes and help new mothers learn proper care for their infants

• Mental and behavioral health care services for children and their families

What would grant funds be used for?

• Create an internal dry pantry to address emergency food and essential needs for client families

• Build an outdoor meditation area that would serve as a haven for the girls residing on campus

• Add an additional staff member which would allow CHS to expand the Independent Living Program to leverage and administer community support (to coordinate volunteer services such as mentoring, transportation, community involvement, enrichment classes, personal finance classes, nutrition training)

• Purchase maintenance equipment to maintain property, providing a safe and pleasing environment for the kids

GE Volunteers - Making a Holiday Difference for Brevard County’s Most Vulnerable Children!

Continued Support

GE Volunteers hope to serve Children’s Home Society and Hacienda Girl’s Ranch for many more years.• Yearly Holiday Toy drive • Yearly School Supply Drive• Landscaping and maintenance as needed• Serve at fund raising functions• Cooking!