- The Alice Rainbow Room and the Jim Wells County Child Welfare Board are working together to provide basic needs of children in foster care.
- Magda Luna - president of the Jim Wells County Child Welfare Board - said while they recently received donations they are always in need.
In the Alice community - like many others in the Coastal Bend - the foster care system is stressed.
But the Jim Wells County Child Welfare Board and the Rainbow Room are working together to help give foster children what they need faster.
Madga Luna and Consuelo Vega both volunteer their time in two difference agencies with a similar mission: To provide care for foster children in Jim Wells County.
“To them it’s very traumatic to leave their home,” Luna said.
Both volunteers give their time to the foster care system under The Rainbow Room and The Jim Wells County Child Welfare Board.
Luna is the president of the Jim Wells County Child Welfare Board.
“We’re designated to provide funds and support for children who are in substitute care,”” she said.
Luna is one of several people who work in the foster care system that make a stop in the Rainbow Room.
The Rainbow Room is a resource center where hundreds of children have made a stop to get clothes, hygiene products, school supplies and even comfort items that could help in difficult times.
She said that in some situations, children are often removed from their homes with only the clothes on their back.
“When they go into a home, and they have to remove a child - say it’s a dangerous situation. It’s abuse or neglect going on - they do not take any of the children’s clothing. They just take the child the way – the way the child is clothed,” she said.
As of March, 56 children have been placed in the foster care system in the county, according to Vega.
“The reason we need donations is because it’s an ongoing thing,” Luna said.
Luna said they’ve recently received donations, but unfortunately, their need is never-ending.
“The Rainbow Room is always ready to take in donations monetarily as well,” Luna said.
As a mother, grandmother, and most importantly, a human – her heart goes out to children, especially those who she comes across as a volunteer.
“(One) little girl decided she was going to hang to my leg … because she was scared,” Luna said. “(So) From here until God calls me, I’ll probably serve."
The JWC Child Welfare Board President said there is always a need for volunteers to help foster children.
To find out how you can help send an email to Consuelo.vega3@dfps.texas.gov.
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