Youth Villages needs help providing backpacks and school supplies to children in families it serves and their siblings.
The deadline for putting together the backpacks for distribution is the end of the day Monday.
Kim Rossie of Youth Villages’ Memphis office said 49 children are currently being served out of the Greenwood office, and 27 still need school supplies, most of them middle-schoolers. A few in the elementary grades need backpacks and supplies as well.
Those children are part of Mississippi Youth Programs Around the Clock (MYPAC), a program developed with the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to provide help to troubled children and families in their homes.
Under MYPAC, Youth Villages provides children’s mental health services and coordinates all other services needed by the child and the family to help improve behaviors and avoid placement in a residential treatment facility.
Across Mississippi, 342 children receive these services.
“We want to make sure every kid in our program has everything they need to start school, because every kid deserves that,” Rossie said.
Youth Villages was founded in Memphis in 1986 and opened its Greenwood office in 2012. In addition to MYPAC, the staff offers foster care support and transitional living services for young adults aging out of foster care.
The nonprofit also has offices in Jackson, Hernando, Tupelo, Biloxi and Hattiesburg.
In 2001, Youth Villages was cited in a national report by the American Youth Policy Forum as one of eight “guiding light” models in the United States with programs that successfully reduce the incidence of juvenile crime. The White House recognized Youth Villages as a “high-impact, results-oriented” organization in May 2009.
The local office is at 1600 U.S. 82 West in the rear Suite 100, behind the Shell station across from Kirk Brothers.
Anyone planning to deliver a donation may call 459-2240 and press 0 when prompted to get a staff member. Questions can be directed to Kashea Johnson at (601) 842-5120.
For more information about Youth Villages, visit www.youthvillages.org.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
