Earlier this week, our very own Erin McCarty toured Providence House in Shreveport and saw a need. Right now there are about twenty-seven families in residence with roughly seventy children.

With Valentine's Day this weekend, Erin wanted to make sure that all of these kids had Valentines to trade today with the rest of the kids at school. After all, they shouldn't have to miss out on what the other kids are doing just because their families hit hard times!

Erin saw the need and shot an email out to several of our staffers. Greg Atoms on 99X went into action and by Tuesday afternoon we had two huge trash bags of Valentines for the kids at Providence. We were amazed by our listeners generosity.

McCarty wasn't done there. She started looking ahead and Wednesday on our show, we asked for help making sure these same children had Easter baskets. Could you imagine being a kid and having the Easter bunny miss you?!?!?

We threw the challenge out on air and we've already been given commitments to make sure that each of these twenty-seven families receive an Easter basket and then some!

Thank you so much to Traci Breazeale and the team at United Petroleum Transports for your generosity. Not only did they provide us with tons of Valentines, they've committed to covering multiple Easter baskets for the families at Providence House. Lia Holland reached out as well and she and her Cub Scouts have pledged to take care of two families. Additionally, Georgia Holland reach out after getting with her council chair and Pack 91 and Troop 48 are working together to provide twenty-seven baskets as well!

You know what this means! It means that we'll be able to take care of even more families as needed through the Providence House. I have to tell you, after receiving these emails and chatting back and forth with these ladies, I am amazed by the generosity of our listeners. In a time where many despair about the future of our country, I feel confident our community is stronger and more supportive than ever! Thank you from both myself and Erin McCarty on behalf of the staff and families of Providence House.

If you're not familiar with Providence House and what they do, here's more from their website:

Our vision: Imagine: "A Community Where No Family is Homeless.” Providence House has worked “in the trenches” for more than 20 years to help homeless families with children shed the bonds of extreme poverty and homelessness. The Providence House program initiates systemic change that transforms families and ultimately communities!

The singular aim of the program is to break the cycle of homelessness by helping families gain the resources necessary to move permanently to independent living.

Providence House understands and addresses the root cause of homelessness, identifying long-term solutions through systemic change. The problems that homeless families face are complex but can be solved with time and comprehensive programs. Our approach uses the system of care provided by Providence House, which links with local service providers in order to be good stewards of our funds and community resources. We expect accountability and responsibility from both the families and ourselves in order to achieve our goals.

The program measures its success ultimately by the number, frequency, and continued success rate of families graduating from the program.

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