As the residents of Tampa Bay address the challenges of COVID-19, Champions for Children wants you to know that our thoughts are with you during these unprecedented and stressful times. We hope that all of you are able to stay safe and be healthy.
Our goal is continued service delivery: The Board of Directors of Champions for Children has resolved to do our part to help the community along with many organizations who are mobilizing a response. We have made the decision to cancel our April 29th fundraising luncheon for this year and are focusing all of our efforts on continuing service delivery. Champions’ mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing family education programs and support. Our work prepares families and children to buffer against major challenging events that happen in life. COVID-19 is an unprecedented event, and right now, our services are indispensable.
COVID-19 presents a crisis for families: Research and history tell us that disasters like the coronavirus place enormous stress on families, leading to increases in child abuse, neglect, and other long-lasting childhood trauma. Many of the families that Champions serves are already socially isolated, have limited access to resources and suffer from significant financial strain and other domestic stress. COVID-19 will worsen these conditions, putting children at great risk. Nowhere is this more true than in Hillsborough County, where more children are removed from their homes due to child abuse and neglect than anywhere else in Florida.
We want every family to know we’re here during COVID-19.The COVID-19 restrictions mean that we cannot deliver all of our programs in the usual manner. However, now is not the time to pull back, so we are taking several innovative steps to ensure we can still serve families in this time of great need, including:
- Deploying staff to personally call all families to check in on them, assess their needs, and connect them to the appropriate services and resources;
- Helping families cope with stress and social isolation by expanding individualized support via phone and video chat;
- Virtually delivering parent education classes for adults and educational playgroups;
- Increasing our distribution of key supplies like diapers that may be un-affordable for families at this time;
- Supporting positive parent-child interactions by moving up the launch of our new Talk Read Sing Tampa Bay website;
- And more measures described in detail on our blog.
Why we need your support right now: April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and our mission is now more critical than ever. During this time of stress and uncertainty, families need the kind of support Champions provides. With the cancellation of the Champions Luncheon on April 29th, we still need to raise $150,000 to support our mission and to maximize our ability to keep our community’s children safe and our families strong. Champions donors, sponsors, and friends have been extremely generous over our 43 years of serving families, and we ask for your continued support. Here are key ways you can make a difference:
1. Make a gift of any amount at www.cfctb.org/donate.
2. Make a contribution of $500 or more – the first $25,000 will be doubled by 1:1 matching funds! www.cfctb.org/donate
3. Re-purpose your existing Champions Luncheon gift or pledge by emailing Angela Green at agreen@cfcb.org or calling (813) 673-4646 x1113.
Thank you for your invaluable support. If you have any questions or wish to donate another way, please contact Jonathan Goodman, our Director of Development, at jgoodman@cfctb.org or (813) 673-4646 x1112.
Stay healthy and safe – our community has much work to do together!