ForKids charity faces possible cuts

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - At the ForKids end of the school year party, one mother and daughter celebrated the start of something big. After four months, Shonda and her mom Sandy are moving out of the ForKids Haven House in Norfolk.

"It will be good to be by ourself with no more families around," said Sandy.

The pair is just one of the hundreds For Kids programs have helped end the cycle of homelessness, said CEO Thaler McCormick.

"For the parents, we're focusing on education services and GED services," he said. "We teach budgeting and life skill services. We provide family therapy and we provide every deep tutoring and educational services so we're catching them up in school and making sure they don't fall behind their peers."

But the families at the party are the lucky ones. Tough economic times caused the homeless population to climb.

"ForKids was serving about 65 people a month three years ago, and this last April we served over 610 people throughout our programs," said McCormick.

ForKids now faces a cut in local and state funding and the charity has until June 30 to fill a $250,000 gap.

Tuesday, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim donated $50,000 and donors Norfolk Southern and The Simon Family Foundation each contributed $25,000. Wednesday, students from Nansemond Suffolk Academy's multicultural club donated $210.

Every copper penny and silver dime is worth it to foot the bill for programs Sandy believes are priceless.

"I am proud for hanging in there and they helped me at the time I needed," she said. "Just being here, it was great."

Click here to donate:
www.homesforkids.org/content/main.html