Volunteers Needed To Ready Children's Shelter

They aren't simply asking people to reach into their pockets for their wallets.

The board of directors of A Kid's Place also needs volunteers to help make beds, hang shower curtains and stock kitchen shelves in preparation for the April 3 grand opening of the Brandon center for abused, abandoned and neglected children.

In anticipation of the opening of the shelter, at 1715 Lithia-Pinecrest Road, Kids Charity of Tampa Bay will host a Move-In Day on March 28, starting at 10 a.m. Kids Charity board chairwoman Dottie Berger MacKinnon invites anyone interested in helping to come to the shelter to help get the five buildings ready for children who will call it home temporarily.

Publicity chairwoman Connie Smaldone said the nonprofit group is looking for volunteers to do everything from lifting heavy boxes to putting the finishing touches on the children's bedrooms.

A Kid's Place is registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target. Among the items needed are bedding, housewares, infant items and flatware.

Construction of the 60-bed emergency assessment center got under way on the 5-acre site in June at the urging of Circuit Judge Martha Cook of Brandon, who said she was continually seeing abused and abandoned children in her courtroom with no place to live.

Although she often requests that the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Child Protection Team take endangered children from their homes while the courts do 30-day assessments, foster homes available for the children are few and far between.

Cook approached MacKinnon, founder of the Joshua House, an emergency long-term foster care facility in Tampa, and asked her to look into establishing a temporary shelter. Cook wanted a place where siblings could be kept together.

The $5 million facility, funded through community donations, will house infants and children up to age 18.

WANT TO HELP?

To purchase items for the center from Bed, Bath & Beyond, order items using No. 6689332. At Target, Kids is listed as the first name and Charity as the last name in the registry.

To volunteer to help on Move-In Day, e-mail kidscharitytb @yahoo.com or call (813) 728-3165.