A Precious Child — a Broomfield nonprofit that recently capped off a $1 million fundraising campaign — is preparing for several more upcoming events while continuing to serve children and families in need.
In early April the nonprofit closed its doors after there was a report of a potential off-site exposure to coronavirus. Distributions of basic essentials, including emergency kits, was postponed through April 20.
Marketing Manager Jill Pascuito said the resource center is open and operating on limited hours.
A Precious Child is currently serving clients from 9 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is limiting clients to five families each half hour to manage social distancing guidelines. Clients are only able to have one person per family shop on the store floor to minimize the amount of people in our building, Courtney Wickberg, chief communications officer said.
“We have decreased the amount of families we serve each day to ensure we never have more than 10 people shopping in our Resource Center at one time,” she said. “Upon entering, each client has their temperature checked, asked to use hand sanitizer and have a face mask and gloves on (gloves are provided by A Precious Child). Each shopping cart is disinfected between each use.”
The nonprofit typically sees 9,200 volunteers annually, she said, but have minimized that number “immensely.” Groups are limited in size and volunteer areas are set up to encourage social distancing. Each volunteer has their temperature checked, masks are mandatory and gloves are provided to each volunteer when they enter, Wickberg said.
Of the clients who received emergency COVID-19 items through A Precious Child’s on-site distribution, 54% have lost their job and 80% have had a reduction in income due to the crisis, Grants Manager Sydney Cogdon said. Colorado’s unemployment rate is currently 10.2%, up from 2.5% in February.
“As the unemployment rate continues to rise, there will be more families unable to afford the basic essentials they need to thrive,” Cogdon said.
“We have ramped up our cleaning protocol so that we are wiping down commonly used areas throughout the day,” she said.
Families can qualify for assistance through different avenues, including qualifying for food stamps, which would also automatically qualify them as a client, Wickberg said. They can then contact their social worker or county services and ask for a referral. They would be given a voucher to schedule an appointment to shop for free for the items they need at A Precious Child.
A Precious Child is accepting COVID-19 response items such as cleaning supplies, hygiene items, diapers and wipes.
“We are also accepting clothing in all sizes, home good items, backpacks and school supplies,” Wickberg said. “With a decrease in volunteers to help sort through our donations, we ask for only high quality items that we can get right into the hands of the families and children in the most need.”
A full list of what A Precious Child is able to accept, and not accept, can be found by visiting apreciouschild.org/take-action/donate-goods.
Match 4 Mission Empower Campaign
The Match 4 Mission Empower Campaign, which ran from March 24 through June 24, raised $1 million.
Individual donors signed up to host their own fundraising page and set their own fundraising goal, and then sent links out to their friends, family and colleagues via social media platforms to raise the fund to meet their goal.
“We are incredibly grateful to our 22 devoted friends and supporters who rallied together and created a match, pledging $1 for $1 donations up to $550,000,” Founder and Executive Director Carina Martin said. “We are very appreciative to the amazing individuals who saw the enormous need in the community and stepped up to help us meet that need.”
Ball Corporation, a longtime partner of A Precious Child which Martin called pillars in the community, contributed $200,000 toward the match. Members of the nonprofit’s boards also donated significant funds.
“Our community is so generous and rose up to the challenge,” Martin said.
Those funds helped support COVID-19 relief efforts, which have helped more than 30,000 clients receive about 290,000 essential items such as soap, toiletries, disinfectants and diapers. According to the organization, the money also continues to provide funding for A Precious Child to sustain itself as an organization and the work staff and volunteers do for disadvantaged and displaced children and families in need.
Fill A Backpack
This week A Precious Child will kick-off it’s Fill A Backpack efforts, Pascuito said.
The organization has received requests from 65 agency partners this year, which range from schools, churches and at-risk youth centers to health and human services organization, across an eight-county service area.
“This year the need to provide these important supplies and backpacks is even greater than in years past,” Misti Wright, programs director, said. “We have received requests for more than 23,000 backpacks from our agency partners.”
This year A Precious Child will be hosting a distribution event at its location in Broomfield (7051 West 118th Ave., in Broomfield). Many of the agency partners will also host distribution events. However, due to the changing dynamics surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, specific details will be determined later in July on distributions, she said.
A Precious Child is working with many drive partners who are hosting virtual drives. The community can drop off backpacks and school supply donations at A Precious Child’s Broomfield facility Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. More public drop off locations will be determined and will be posted on the group’s website.
Amazon wish lists have been created for those who want to donate:
- Kindergarten through 2nd grade — amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1EGQFP6MPOA4J?ref_=wl_share
- 3rd through 5th — amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/M2NGTMAYM3JK?ref_=wl_share
- Middle school — amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/252H7KUOVJMQ9?ref_=wl_share
- High school — amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/252H7KUOVJMQ9?ref_=wl_share
Purchase complete backpack kits from bulk supplier by visiting educationalproducts.com/donate/loginlink.aspx?OrgId=APC001
To donate funds to A Precious Child to be used for the program, visit justgiving.com/campaign/fillabackpack.
Fill A Backpack drives will be taking place from July 6 to Aug. 7. Supporters can sign up to host a drive at any time by emailing programs@apreciouschild.org.
Golf 4 A Precious Child
The nonprofit will also host its 12th Annual Golf 4 A Precious Child Tournament, presented by Jaguar Land Rover Flatirons and Kirsty Martinez of Keller Williams Preferred Realty, on Aug. 17.
“We are thrilled to be able to provide our community with the opportunity to be able to come together and get back outdoors safely,” Martin said. “We are so thankful to our sponsors and donors who allow us to continue serving children who need our help now more than ever.”
The tournament will be at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club, 800 Eldorado Boulevard. Check-in is at 7:30 a.m. with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. For $250 per individual or $1,000 per foursome, golfers will get 18 holes of golf, contests, complimentary grab-and-go breakfast and lunch as well as a swag bag.
Omni and A Precious Child staff and volunteers will be required to wear masks during the golf tournament. Each golfer will be given hand sanitizer and a face mask at bag drop-off. Upon entering, every golfer, volunteer and staff will have their temperature checked, Wickberg said.
“To minimize contact, we will be providing a transaction free check-in process,” Wickberg said. “Check-in will have designated waiting spaces that will encourage social distancing. We will be forgoing our traditional welcome program and seated lunch and provide all golfers with a boxed lunch to go.”
As of Friday, the nonprofit determined it was able to hold 175 guests at the outdoor event.
“If social gathering restrictions are in place at any time leading up to the event that would cause a reduction in the amount of guests that can gather, we will move the event to a tee time event where golfers will receive their own tee time throughout the day as opposed to a shotgun start time,” Wickberg said.
There are currently foursomes and sponsorship available. For those interested in the event, visit apreciouschild.org/event/golf. The deadline to RSVP is Aug. 3 or until all slots are filled. To register for a foursome or to become a sponsor, visit APreciousChild.org/Golf.
