Monday, January 28, 2008
By Cindy V. Culp and Van Darden
Tribune-Herald staff writers

Imagine being a child removed from your house and being placed in a new home with the clothes on your back and precious little else.

Your old house may have been dirty, loud and occasionally violent, but at least it was home. Now you’re in a strange new house and all your clothes, toys and memories are stuffed in a plastic bag.

Hundreds of children in McLennan County face that sad reality, and Debbie Finley, a local mother and volunteer with the Texas Court Appointed Special Advocates program, is doing something to help ease the children’s difficult transition.

Finley recently organized a donation drive she calls “Project Suitcase.” On Sunday, she accepted suitcases in front of Dunlaps department store, and at one point, the line to donate stretched around the corner.

“I’ve been thinking about this problem since my husband and I became CASA volunteers,” Finley said. “So I sat down and wrote a letter on New Year’s Eve asking anyone who received it to donate clean, working suitcases to Child Protective Services.”

Finley said she sent the letter to family and friends and encouraged them to send it to whomever they wished. Within three weeks, she had collected more than 50 suitcases, some coming from relatives as far away as Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Now, barely a week later, Finley surveys a trailer bursting at the seams with backpacks, duffel bags and suitcases. As of Sunday afternoon, she had collected 927 pieces.

“This is incredible,” she says. “There’s probably more than a hundred in that trailer alone.”

Finley’s “Project Suitcase” is the first of its kind locally, said Staci Love, program director for substitute care at the Waco CPS office.

“The donated suitcases will mean a lot to the children they go to,” Love said, adding that CPS plans to distribute the suitcases to children who are moving from one foster placement to another.

“We are thrilled,” Love said. “It’s a wonderful gesture. It’s just another contribution to make the kids feel like any other child.”

At the end of December, more than 200 children in McLennan County were in foster care, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Susan Burt, program director for the CASA program of McLennan and Hill counties, said she is glad someone finally took charge of collecting suitcases.

For the seven years she has worked for CASA, officials have talked about the need for suitcases, but CASA workers are so busy with their routine duties, they don’t have time to organize such an effort, she said.

“It’s a huge need,” Burt said. “How would you feel if your stuff was in trash bags?”

Burt added that foster children who have suitcases often like to keep their belongings in them even when they are placed in a home. It gives them a sense of having their own space, she said.

Jennifer Strickland, a Waco foster mother, attended the Sunday drive and brought a few suitcases of her own.

“For the older kids who know what’s going on, they really appreciate efforts like this,” Strickland said. “It really does give them a sense of dignity in the face of all the turmoil.”

Finley said she plans to take the suitcases to CPS offices in McLennan, Falls, Bosque and Hill counties.

“But we’ll take them wherever they’re needed,” she said. “I think getting such a good response from people as far away as Colorado and Pennsylvania is a good sign. I want this to go clear across the nation.”

Finley said it’s never too late to donate clean, working suitcases to CASA and CPS. For more information, contact Burt at the CASA office at 752-9330, ext. 117.

cculp@wacotrib.com

757-5744

vdarden@wacotrib.com

757-5743

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/01/28/01282008wacSuitcase.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor