Backpacks donated for foster care

A number of backpacks, each containing needed items for foster children, donated by members of the congregation of California's St. Paul's Lutheran Church, are shown before being picked up by Sue Engelage, back row at the right, the Program Coordinator of Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association (CMFCAA). In the photo, from left, are Beth Jungmeyer, Caydence Cooper, Alexis Diehl, Jack Lake, Engelage, Lawson Hays and Landon Hays.
A number of backpacks, each containing needed items for foster children, donated by members of the congregation of California's St. Paul's Lutheran Church, are shown before being picked up by Sue Engelage, back row at the right, the Program Coordinator of Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association (CMFCAA). In the photo, from left, are Beth Jungmeyer, Caydence Cooper, Alexis Diehl, Jack Lake, Engelage, Lawson Hays and Landon Hays.

Members of California St. Paul's Lutheran Church donated backpacks for the Begin Again Backpack program of the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association (CMFCAA).

The program aims to present every child, who enters foster care in the Central Missouri area, with a backpack filled with toiletry, school, and personal items that will help ease the transition process that they experience when moving from their biological home to a new foster home.

Children entering foster care are often not allowed to bring their personal belongings with them. Some must leave the only home they have ever known with just the clothing on their back and whatever they could fit in a trash bag. This adds to the trauma experienced by the newly-homeless child.

It is the goal of the CMFCAA to reduce the traumatic event and provide each foster child with something they can consider their own, in this case a backpack with needed items. The program is to support, protect and nurture the children.

To help with this program, call 573-298-0258 or send email to [email protected]. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1505, Jefferson City, Mo., 65102.