Everyone 18+ will be given 2 free raffle tickets. You many put one ticket in the raffle for either the iPod or Nook. The other ticket may go into the raffle of your choosing for any of the other items. You need to be present during the speaking part of the event to win the iPod and Nook. You will be notified by phone or email about whether you win the other items. Additional items will be available for pickup beginning May 6 during normal business hours at Thoroughbred Nissan.

Someone has to win, why not you??

Click Here for the Tucson foster/adoptive parent orientation schedule

UPDATES

It’s 2012, and preparations for the Annual Tucson Blue Ribbon Event are well underway. The event will be held, as usual, on the first Saturday in May (the 5th) at Thoroughbred Nissan from 4-7pm. There will be food, fun, entertainment, face painting, a speaking event, and a special balloon release to honor the children in foster care. This year, there will also be a very SPECIAL GALLERY of pictures of children right here in Tucson who are waiting for their forever family.

Although the purpose of this event is to honor the children in foster care and the families who love them, it is also an opportunity to bring to light the fact that Arizona needs more foster and adoptive homes. There is a great need for families of all kinds to love and care for the children in foster care, and a vast need for families who are willing to care for them or to call them their own.

The F.A.C.T. (Foster and Adoptive Council of Tucson) website has been updated with a fresh new look, more content, a user-friendly interface, and includes a special gallery of children in Tucson looking for their forever families. You can learn more about foster care, adoption, the licensing process and view these photos by visiting :

http://fosterandadoptivecounciloftucson.org 

The Tucson Blue Ribbon Event website was also updated to reflect a similar style to the new F.A.C.T. site. We hope you enjoy the changes.

If we could have, we would have have represented every foster child in the state of Arizona. Sadly, the number of children in state care is close to 10,000 children, a number that includes kids in foster care, group homes, and shelters. Children in care range from birth to young adulthood. They come from all areas of Arizona, and all walks of life, but what they are have in common is the need for a safe and stable home environment. Some children are reunited with their biological parents, others are placed with family members, others are placed for adoption and still others end up ‘aging out’ of the system with no family at all.

The state of Arizona is in great need of of foster and/or adoptive parents – especially those willing to take in sibling groups and teenagers. Being separated from your siblings can be as traumatizing as being taken from your parents; and accepting the reality – as a teenager – that no one wants you is extremely damaging to a teen’s self-esteem and sense of self-worth.

Could you the person to ‘change a lifetime’? Will you open your home and heart to a child and become a foster parent? You can find out more information about the agencies that license foster/adoptive parents in Tucson here. You can view the orientation schedule – where you will hear about the process of licensing and visit with agency representatives – here.

As you view these pictures, try to imagine a face on each one of these balloons:

If you can believe it, planning for the 2012 Tucson Blue Ribbon Event will begin this summer! And do we have plans for next year! Keep checking the website for memories from the 2011 event and updates and plans for the 2012 event.

Don’t forget: the event begins at 4pm and end at 7pm. There will be hot food, cold drinks, entertainment for the kids, music, face painting, popcorn, cotton candy and much more. The event is indoor/outdoor  – so if it’s scorching outside you can take advantage of the air conditioning inside! There will be tables set up to learn more about foster care and adoption and photos displayed of children who are awaiting their forever homes. At 6pm, there will be a special speaking event during which you will hear from several foster care youth and foster care alumni. Raffle prizes will be given out immediately following the speaking event. The evening will end with a balloon release – each balloon released will represent a child in foster care in Pima County. It is not only a beautiful sight to see, but a tribute to all those courageous children in foster care.

The event (raffle, parking – everything) is FREE, so bring the family and have a great time!

We want to say a special thanks to Thoroughbred for hosting the event for the fourth year, to the community supporters who donated $1 or more to honor a child with a balloon, and to all the business who donated raffle prizes:

Bookmans Entertainment Exchange
Design Photography
Gap (Tucson/Park Mall)
Holmes Tuttle Ford
Mary Kay (Suzan Cospich)
Outback Steakhouse
Papa Murphy’s
Pastiche Modern Eatery
University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film & Television
Wildcat Exterminating

A Child Like Me?
With saddened eyes and head bent low,
It’s damaged goods most see.
With my unclear past and broken heart,
Who would want a child like me?
I watch her walk into the room.
From a distance I can see.
But dare I take a closer step?
Who would want a child like me?
And then I see her look my way.
She smiles so tenderly.
But do I even dare to dream,
She would want a child like me?
And then, as if I spoke out loud,
She approaches cautiously.
I try so hard to once believe,
She will want a child like me.
But dare I once let down my guard,
And trust that she will see,
Hiding beneath this old stained shirt,
Is a beautiful child like me?
My smile, they say, lights up a room.
I’ll be good as good can be.
Oh, please, dear God, let her want
A special child like me.
I feel her hand reach out for mine,
And within her eyes I see,
A single, tiny, shining tear.
Could she want a child like me?
And when she takes me in her arms,
With a warmth so pure and new,
She says the words I’ve prayed to hear,
“The child I want is you”
~Written by: Lisa J Schlitt