« Repentance (Kairos, 02/28/10)
Posted on March 2, 2010 in Parish News - 0 COMMENTS
A Desperate Plea from Trinity Foundation (formerly Trinity Children & Family Services)
by Rev Fr Chris Flesoras
Dear Friends of Trinity,
Around this time each year, our constituents, supporters and friends receive our annual Easter/Lenten appeal. This year is a year unlike any other in our 44 year history….
I have never had to write a letter like this before, and I can’t begin to fathom how poor my protocol may be, but in this endeavor I have little choice. More than 800 children - abused, neglected and abandoned, guide my hand as I search for the words to describe our situation. It is as simple and as complicated as this; Trinity Children’s Foundation and each of the entities we support, will soon be forced to close our doors and cease operations if we do not find a champion.
At Trinity, we care for children ages 0-18 who have been removed from their homes for unspeakable reasons; The infant who must be held constantly, around the clock in shifts, because she was born addicted to cocaine; The 7 year-old who hides food under his pillow, even now when he is safe and sound, because he so keenly remembers the hunger and the fear of not knowing when he would eat again; The 11 year-old who was molested repeatedly by her stepfather and her own older brother; The 15 year-old who has already been in juvenile detention for stealing a car, because he so desperately wanted to escape his violent mother and father. Eight hundred stories. Eight hundred young victims.
This is not your problem. You had nothing to do with these individual children. You had nothing to do with the State budget cuts or the unfunded mandates that have depleted our reserves. This is precisely why I am writing to you. You had nothing to do with our situation, but you can. You have the power to keep our programs open. You have the unique capability to keep 800 children in homes where they are fed and clothed, educated and mentored, cared for and yes, loved.
In black and white terms (or rather those of profit and loss), we are not a wise investment, but we do not deal in those terms. We deal in terms of children’s lives. For more than 40 years we have taken the children that society wishes they could sweep under the rug. These are not the doe-eyed orphans of Haiti, they are not the emaciated victims of starvation in Ethiopia, nor the grief-stricken children of Africa, to whom an entire generation of parents has been wiped away by AIDS. These are our children, American children. These are the children we would love to pretend do not exist in our own “Land of Opportunity.” They are our dirty laundry, the skeletons in our proverbial closet.
You don’t know these children. Their lives do not intersect with yours in any way. It would be incredibly simple to ignore their situations or pretend they don’t exist at all. It is not your problem, but you can be the solution.
Please consider lending us your support. I would love to sit with you and explain why we are worth your interest, and how your contribution can make the difference for these children, but we are out of time. I know that asking you for a substantial amount of money, without months of courting your attentions is unorthodox. I apologize for skipping the pleasantries that a good upbringing would have demanded, but I am not the product of a good upbringing. I was one of these children. I was raised in a home filled with anger and violence and depravity. I survived because a singular individual, completely unrelated to me, stepped in and saved my life. I cannot sit idly by and watch 800 children face displacement. I will not let them be abandoned one more time, not without doing all I can.
Please, we need your assistance. We need it now. We need a minimum of $1 million dollars to sustain our operational deficit while we liquidate the assets and consolidate programs that will solidify our viability. We have a plan in place, but must buy time to implement it.
Will you help us?
Please visit our website at http://www.trinitycf.org to make an immediate donation, or by mail, our address is:
Trinity Children’s Foundation
1470 E. Cooley Drive
Colton, CA 92324
For credit card donations, please call us at 800-KIDS-730
Again, I apologize for the boldness of my request, but I prefer this to apologizing to the 800 children in our care.
Humbly,
Cher Ofstedahl
Executive Director
Trinity Children’s Foundation of America
Supporting Trinity Youth Services, Advanced Education Services and Triad Family Service
