God’s Blessings Plan is holding their inaugural Holiday Blessings Tour for children and families in need in Suffolk County with over half a million dollars’ worth of basic necessities for the holidays. The Tour will have stops every Saturday in December providing items to the four areas of greatest need as noted through God’s Blessings Plan’s work with the Suffolk County Dept of Social Services. The stops are Brentwood, Dix Hills (serving Wyandanch), Huntington Station and Riverhead. God’s Blessings Plan is partnering with Feed the Children, True North Community Church, Flexible Systems and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield alongside other sponsors to bring food, toiletries, toys, socks, diapers, wipes, laundry detergent and more as well as having onsite health and dental screenings. Local nonprofits are joining the tour to showcase their programs and services to approximately 600 families or 2,400 people, per location. Over the course of 4 weeks, the tour will serve 2,400 families or almost 10,000 people.
According to DataUSA, roughly 94,000 Suffolk County residents live below the federal poverty line. The Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Social Services of Suffolk County has stated that 68% of the cases Child Protective Services deals with are directly related to poverty and families not having the resources they need for everyday living. Upon hearing these statistics Kiora Johnson, Founder and Executive Director of God’s Blessings Plan, was inspired to organize the tour to highlight the resources available to struggling Long Islanders. “We want families to become more aware of what is available to them throughout the year.” Johnson begins. “Our desire is to join forces with local communities to help children and families in need during the holiday season as well as create a ripple effect to free up resources to protect those children facing daily danger in their homes.” Johnson explains. The Holiday Blessings Tour kicks off as an invite only event for those most in need at Brentwood High School on December 2nd followed by a series of open events at Upper Room Church December 9th, Walt Whitman High School December 16th and closes out at M&T Bank – Riverhead branch on December 23rd. Each event runs from 10am to 2pm and registration is open now through EventBrite. To learn more about sponsoring the event or to volunteer please contact Kiora Johnson.
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