NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
August 1, 2008

Contact: Caryl Hallberg, Executive Director
challberg@covenanttocare.org
860-243-1806 x18

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts helps to preserve family unity

RMHC donates $10,000 to Covenant to Care for Children’s Adopt a Social Worker Program for the purchase of emergency child care items.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts has recently granted $10,000 to Covenant to Care for Children in support of their Adopt a Social Worker Program. The specific funds included in this donation will be used to purchase items such as beds and cribs for children referred by a social worker from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Thanks to RMHC’s generosity, social workers will be able to provide the children, and their families, with the emergency goods that are necessary to allow the families to remain intact.

The focus of Covenant to Care for Children’s Adopt a Social Worker Program is to unite social workers with caring, generous faith-based communities. The social worker can rely on the members of the faith-based community for material donations to support the children in the social worker’s case load. However, sometimes even the generosity of these communities of faith is not enough to meet the critical needs of those struggling families. In certain situations, the State of Connecticut orders parent and child to be separated if the child is not provided with a bed or crib in which to sleep. In such cases, the Adopt a Social Worker Program depends on the philanthropy of charitable organizations such as Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts for the money needed to purchase those emergency goods.

Though much work has yet to be done in the effort to care for Connecticut’s children, Covenant to Care for Children has been making progress. A statewide, non-profit organization based in Bloomfield, CCC serves the neglected and at-risk children of our state through programs such as mentoring and providing critical goods such as furniture and clothing. Caryl Hallberg, Executive Director of Covenant to Care for Children, is grateful for RMHC’s support of CCC’s efforts to ensure that all Connecticut children are able to grow up under the care of their own parents. “Ronald McDonald House Charities here in Connecticut has led the way in helping us bridge the gap between need and capacity for these families. What they help us do can make the difference in a child’s entire future,” said Ms. Hallberg.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts is a local chapter of the worldwide Ronald McDonald House Charities. The organization receives donations from a variety of sources, including individual McDonald’s restaurants, and focuses on improving the health and well-being of children everywhere.

Covenant to Care for Children mobilizes and channels caring and faithful people to advocate for, mentor, and provide direct assistance to Connecticut’s children and youth who are abused, neglected or at-risk. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.covenanttocare.org or call the main office at 860-243-1806.