20 YEARS IN THE MAKING
OUR TOWN GWINNETT
In March 2022, Community Connections will celebrate 20 years of helping place local children in loving foster homes, with some eventually moving on to being adopted into their forever homes.
Karen Jackson, Executive Director, co-founded and established Community Connections in 2002, having extensive experience in the child welfare realm since 1994. Community Connections serves as the middleman between the Division of Family and Children Services and individual foster homes where children are placed. The mission of Community Connections is to support Georgia’s children in foster care by providing comprehensive services and transformative partnerships with families and the larger community.
Read the full article, published by Our Town Gwinnett in March 2022, on page 21 at the link here!
FOSTER PARENT SPOTLIGHT
William & Lola Campbell
GWINNETT DAILY POST
Although a Loganville couple has been making children in foster care feel at home for the last 14 years, they have been particularly drawn to those with medical challenges.
William Campbell and his wife, Lola, have impacted the lives of many young people through Community Connections, a Stone Mountain-based nonprofit child placing agency. The organization finds adoptive homes and supportive services for children in temporary legal custody of the Division of Family and Children Services.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
The Gooddines and Sunshine on a Ranney Day
Through nonprofit Sunshine on a Ranney Day, Richard and Sherry Gooddine were provided with an accessible bathroom and a therapy room that allows them to better serve children in foster care with medically fragile needs. The Gooddines have been foster parents with Community Connections since 2002, and they are wonderful caretakers and advocates for the children placed in their home.
Thanks goes to the Gooddines and Sunshine on a Ranney Day for their incredible work benefitting children with medically fragile needs.
MAIN EVENT SPONSORS A SUMMER OF FUN FOR TEN FAMILIES
Our foster parents are never sure how long a child might be placed in their home, so it’s important to make every day count. Thanks to a generous donation from Main Event, ten of our foster families will have the opportunity to do just that with free Summer Season Passes to Main Event facilities! With these passes, our foster families will have unlimited access to laser tag, bowling, virtual reality games, and more all summer long.
“We are so grateful that our foster families will be able to make wonderful memories this summer with help from Main Event,” commented Karen Jackson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Community Connections. After a year of being cooped inside, the prospect of safely enjoying family-friendly entertainment is certainly an exciting one.
Between the ten families, 55 passes were awarded, making the donation a whopping 4400 dollar value. It can be difficult planning activities for large households, so we are happy for any help we can pass on to our Community Connections foster homes. Foster parent Beverly Jordan, pictured above, has provided permanency for two children in foster care through adoption and guardianship and currently has one child in foster care under her roof, and now her whole household will get to enjoy Main Event together.
According to Emily Stone, Community Engagement Specialist, “Our foster parents work hard every day loving and taking care of the wonderful children in their homes, so it was great to hear their excitement after letting them know about the Main Event passes.” A summer of fun is under way for Community Connections foster families thanks to Main Event!
FINALIZED ADOPTIONS
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