Charleston, W.Va. (April 17, 2017) – With more than 4,000 West Virginia children in out-of-home-care and 1,200 children in need of adoption, the West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association today launched their 7th Annual Every Child Deserves A Loving Home Campaign to raise funds to help children and families in crisis across the state.
"The Children's Home Society of West Virginia, which has offices and child shelters throughout the state, works to protect and nurture children and families in crisis," said Jan Vineyard, president of OMEGA. "The Every Child Deserves a Loving Home Campaign was developed to provide needed funding to help West Virginia's children and families and we ask the public to join us in doing just that."
All funds raised through this statewide effort will go towards the Children's Home Society's assistance programs, which include; emergency child shelters, foster care, adoption support, mentoring, early intervention and numerous other family support programs.
Vineyard said brightly-colored, Mother's Day themed, paper flowers will be sold for one dollar apiece at nearly 500 OMEGA-member convenience and grocery stores throughout the state, including: Little General Store, Inc., Par Mar Stores, Go-Mart, BFS Foods, R. M. Roach & Sons/ROCS, Petersburg Oil Company, DeFazio Oil Company and TWJ, Inc. Foodland. The campaign runs through Mother's Day, May 14.
"This effort not only gives back to the communities where our members operate, but demonstrates the true philanthropic nature of our industry and our members," Vineyard said. "We encourage individuals across the state to assist in this effort by visiting their local participating convenience or grocery store."
Mary White, chief operations officer for the Children's Home Society, said "Our organization assisted over 13,000 children from 13 locations last year and the need for help continues to be overwhelming. The West Virginia Oil Marketers and Grocer's Association's "Every Child Deserves a Loving Home" campaign has become paramount to the well-being of West Virginia's children and families. The continued dedication and support enables the Children's Home Society to find homes for children, support families and change their lives forever."
OMEGA raised more than $75,000 during this effort last year and nearly $2.3 million dollars since 2003 for charities that improve the health, safety and well-being of West Virginia children.
About the Children's Home Society of West Virginia:
The Children's Home Society of West Virginia is a private, non-profit child welfare organization founded in 1896. The Society is a participatory organization consisting of employees, foster families, adoptive families, volunteers, Board members, Directors Emeriti, advisory council members, donors, benefactors, supporters, and friends. They are governed by a volunteer Board of Directors that is representative of the communities they serve from around the state. They are licensed to provide child welfare and behavioral health services in West Virginia. They are a member agency of the West Virginia Alliance for Children, the Child Welfare League of America and are fully accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children. Comprehensive child welfare, behavioral health, social casework and advocacy services are provided to over 10,000 children each year from thirteen primary locations throughout the state. Some of their current programs are adoption, foster care, in-home and in-community services for children and families, emergency shelter care, respite, mediation, parent education training, prenatal and early childhood services, volunteer and mentoring, youth services, visitation and reunification, school based social work, day care and comprehensive assessment services.
