As a member of the Leadership Greensboro group dedicated to starting the Comfort BackPack program for BackPack Beginnings, Kim McKone had a huge task ahead of her. BPB knew they wanted to start the program to serve children in crisis and transition, but they left the planning up to Kim and her team. Despite the overwhelming task, the group got down to work and helped set up the program as it still runs today. As the Director of Community Outreach for the YMCA of Greensboro, Kim was in a unique position to understand the needs and hurtles of the Comfort BackPack program.
Kim helped to establish which agencies would receive the bags and narrowed it down to ten agencies. All serve children who are entering the foster care system, have been victims of abuse, reside in homeless shelters or are refugees just entering our community. After determining the items that would be most beneficial to the children, she and her team then reached out to various sources of funding and established a way to make the backpacks come together with donations. The last step of the process was aiding BPB with the media launch for the Comfort Bag project so the Greensboro community would be aware of the important things BPB was doing to aid such an important population.
Though her time with Leadership Greensboro is over, she continues to volunteer with BPB. Through her roll at the YMCA, she is able to help in different ways. During one summer day camp at the Y, the children’s community outreach effort was collecting for the Comfort BackPack Program. They explained to the campers why they were collecting the items and their efforts resulted in several car loads worth of donations. Kim will also continue to talk up and support BPB anyway she personally can. As a mother, she understands why the Comfort BackPacks make such an impact on the children that receive them. They tell that child that during a difficult time “someone cares about me.”
Written on 10/8/2013 by Blogger Thea DeLoreto[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
