During this strange time of COVID-19, we are continuing our important work of helping children and families in need, many of whom need our services now more than ever: Our Intact Family Services caseworkers are still going into homes to assess at-risk situations (following strict safety protocols of course); our daycare staff is running daily activities for the children living at the Group Residence; the staff at Hephzibah Home are working 24/7 to care for the abused and neglected children who live there full-time; and our administrative staff is continuing their daily work to keep Hephzibah running as smoothly as possible during these strange times.
But the lives of the 26 young children living at Hephzibah Home has changed drastically since social distancing has been implemented! (as has the Residential Counselors, if you can imagine trying to entertain and occupy 26 kids under the age of 12 all-day, every day!).
The children now have chromebooks and supplies to transition to e-learning but they miss socializing. The Heartmate volunteers and Big Siblings can no longer spend time with the children, and the kids miss their teachers and friends from the schools they attend. As you can imagine from your own social distancing… they miss seeing the faces of the important people in their lives.
So they were extra excited last Friday, April 3, when a “parade” of 30 teachers from the schools the children attend, drove past Hephzibah Home honking and waving and laughing. The children were so excited to see their teachers!
“You could literally see the kids’ faces light up as the teachers started to pull into the drive—they were jumping up and down!,” said Volunteer Manager, Hannah Weigel. “For most of these kids, this is the first school that they feel safe at, have the support they need and the love from teachers who want to see them excel. This parade was just another testament as to how great of a support system the teachers are for our kids, they are going to remember this parade long after social distancing ends.”
And the parade wasn’t only extraordinary for the children; the teachers were also affected to see these special students who they’ve grown to love.
According to the parade organizer, “The staff are STILL saying how much fun they had and that they can’t stop smiling. When we all pulled into the lot to decorate our cars, there was such an energy!!! As soon as it was ‘go time’ we could hear the kids cheering and EVERYONE started honking!!! I have goosebumps just thinking about it! I thought a few kids were going to jump in my car, it was so sweet to see them in their party hats! EVERY. SINGLE. TEACHER that passed the kids were wiping tears off as they waved! We were all saying we needed this more than the kids!”
Hephzibah is so grateful to be surrounded by a community that loves and values us… and helps us so much as we work towards our mission of helping children thrive and families flourish. We will continue to keep you updated as we all adjust to our “new normal,” but we wanted to extend a special thank you from the bottom of our hearts to these teachers and everyone who continues to support our work every day. We couldn’t do it without you.
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