SPOTLIGHT
Kids Can Fly— Serving a Critical Housing Need in North Texas
By Beverly Smirnis
K
Photography by Imagery Intelligence, LLC
ids Can Fly Foundation will soon open its first State-approved Emergency Shelter to house 13 boys aged 10 to 17. Riverson House in DeSoto will provide these boys a home environment where they will receive food, clothing, a bed to sleep in and school supplies while waiting to be reunited with their families or placed in a permanent foster home.
Sadly, there are some 6,000 kids on average, across the 16 counties that make up Region 3-North Texas that find themselves displaced and without a home, often due to a parent's death or incarceration. It is estimated that there are more than 28,000 children in the State of Texas in need of a facility like Riverson House. They typically arrive without anything but the clothes on their backs.
At Riverson House, kids will receive the essentials, but even more important, the love, care and compassion they desperately need in a time of extreme crisis in their lives. Being housed in a residential atmosphere not only provides a comfortable environment, but also allows an opportunity to teach life skills they may have never before learned. Kids will help prepare meals, do their part in keeping the home clean and straight, learn to live with others in a harmonious environment and be taught how to manage the monetary allowances they will receive while living at Riverson House.
Kids Can Fly is currently negotiating purchase of its next facility for girls, Hallie House, and has applied for State licensing for it to become the foundation's first Residential Treatment Center (RTC), where kids can be housed while receiving counseling and other medical treatment. The foundation plans to continue adding more Emergency Shelters and
Residential Treatment Centers across the North Texas region to answer to this pressing need in our state. In addition to kids being placed in the homes by the State, the foundation also anticipates being able to accommodate private pay kids from families going through a crisis causing a need to find alternative temporary housing for their kids.
The goal of Kids Can Fly Foundation is to provide a type of facility sorely lacking in our society and help prepare kids to have a better chance at a brighter future. Whether their permanent home ends up being back in their original home or with a new foster family, the goal is to make the transition for them and other family members smoother and more rewarding.
Building SAVVY Magazine is pleased to announce its support of Kids Can Fly. As a member of the board for this new foundation, our role will be to seek locations where new facilities can be built or identify existing properties which can be rehabbed to meet the State- mandated requirements to become Emergency Shelters or Residential Treatment Centers. We will also be seeking building material donations as well as volunteers to assist in construction and various educational and recreational activities we will help plan for the kids. Please watch for announcements on
kidscanflyfoundation.com as well as
buildingsavvy.com
Vol 4 2011 GREATER DFW METROPLEX BUILDING SAVVY MAGAZINE 11
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