January 2021 Newsletter
Happy New Year!
 
It is hard to believe we are celebrating our 11-year anniversary! Best Foot Forward started with just two volunteers and one idea, and now has 18 team members, many volunteers, hundreds of students and thousands of supporters. So many people have helped us grow into the strong, relevant and impactful organization that BFF is today.

Thank you so much for making this dream a reality. We appreciate each and every one of you!
THE HOLIDAYS AT BFF
The holidays are a difficult time for children in foster care, who miss their biological families and often feel sad and lonely. To make sure our students felt special and important, our coaches drove all over the county to personally deliver their holiday packages to them!

We would like to thank everyone who participated in making the holiday season such a success for our kids: our Best Foot Forward volunteers, Spirit of Giving, Campus Management, The Giving Tree of Temple Beth El, Light E.N.T., Mark & Kristin Stampini "Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty", Marriott's BeachPlace Towers, In Jacob's Shoes, AvalonBay Communities, Inc., Lotus Cove Wellness, and so many others.

LEARNING TO GIVE
There is an ancient saying, It's better to give than to receive. Children in foster care rarely have the opportunity to give something to someone else, and miss out on learning that wonderful feeling. Research shows that giving can have positive long-lasting physical and psychological benefits.

One of our very first programs, BF ELF, was designed specifically to help the kids experience the joy of giving. Each student chooses a gift and a special person that they would like to give it to (we have seen them choose a foster parent, a sibling, a bus driver, and even a BFF staff member). The student is then paired with a donor, who purchases the gift for the student. Our coaches bring the gifts to the kids, along with wrapping paper, ribbons and cards, so they can also learn how to wrap their gifts.
 
It is one of our most beloved programs, and we are very proud to provide special opportunities, like this one, to better our students' lives. Thank you to everyone who participated in BF ELF!
VALENTINE'S DAY HELP NEEDED!
Would you like to help create candy and toy bags for our students for Valentine's day? Our coaches will be delivering packages to our students and we could use some help preparing them, as well as food packages for our students living on their own.
If you would like to volunteer on January 28th, please click the link and sign up for a time of your choice.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We will be celebrating A Decade of Change at our BASH event on March 13, 2021 at 6:30PM. We had big plans to commemorate our 10-year anniversary last year, but with the COVID pandemic, we never had the chance. So we decided to celebrate 10 years of changing lives and making an impact on foster children in our community this year!

It will be virtual, giving us an opportunity to reach more people than ever before. Watch for more information coming soon.
Please SAVE the DATE!