Coastal Bend Community Foundation awards grant $6K to buy bedroom items for The Ark

The Ark Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter for Youth in Calallen has received a $6,000 grant from the Coastal Bend Community Foundation.
 
The grant will improve conditions for the shelter's residents by increasing their safety through the purchase of bed rails, buying linen so they can sleep comfortably, and encouraging good hygienic practices by paying for wash cloths, wash towels, hand towels and clothes hampers with lids, said Delma Trejo, The Ark's executive director/administrator.

Other items the grant will pay for are twin flat sheets, twin fitted sheets, pillowcases, plastic pillowcases, twin comforters, crib/toddler bed fitted sheets, plastic mattress covers and skid resistant rugs. 

The goods "will make a difference in a child's life" and give the residents more dignity, said Sister Milagros Tormo, MJMJ, board president.    

The Coastal Bend Community Foundation was incorporated in 1981 with the mission of enhancing and improving the quality of life in the seven counties of the Coastal Bend. The foundation serves donors by providing a vehicle for the establishment of various types of charitable funds designed to fulfill their wishes. Since its inception, the foundation has distributed more than $77 million from donor contributions and revenues to scholarships to students and grants to nonprofit organizations.

The Ark, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, cares for children and youth who are removed from their homes by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) due to abuse or neglect by a parent or guardian. It is the only licensed facility within an 80-mile radius contracted by the state to provide assessment services and emergency shelter for up to 37 minors, ages 0 through 17. Everything required for the residents? well-being is supplied for up to 90 consecutive days while they are evaluated for placement in an appropriate long-term site. 

For more details, please call Trejo or Sister Tormo at (361) 241-6566. The agency's website -- www.ark4kids.com -- has additional information about the shelter.