Note from Rep. Gara: A Helping Hand: Our Holiday Laptops For Foster Youth Drive
November 25, 2015
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
I’d like you to know about our Holiday “Laptops for Foster Youth Drive”, which has become even more important with the alarming increase in the number of foster youth in Alaska, from less than 1,800 five years ago to over 2,800 today. The following press release lets you know about many ways you can help, from donating a laptop, to becoming: a foster youth mentor through a program we started at Big Brothers Big Sisters; a foster parent; or an adoptive parent for a foster youth.
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NEWS: Holiday “Laptops for Foster Youth” Drive Launched by Rep. Gara and Facing Foster Care in Alaska
November 24, 2015
ANCHORAGE – Five years ago Representative Les Gara (D-Anchorage) and Amanda Metivier, Executive Director of Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA), sat down to try to figure out how to make the lives of Alaska’s foster youth better without waiting on legislative action. As a result, they started a volunteer effort called “Laptops for Foster Youth.” This week they are launching a “Holiday Drive” seeking donated laptop computers. New or donated laptops can be especially useful for foster youth because they often move frequently on short notice.
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NEWS: Back to School Laptop Drive Aims to Increase Foster Youth Success
September 15, 2015
ANCHORAGE – Today, Representative Les Gara (D-Anchorage) and Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA) are launching a “Back to School” laptop donation drive for foster youth. The Laptops for Foster Youth effort works to match gently used and new laptop computers with the over 2,500 foster youth in Alaska. To date, over 600 new and used laptop computers have been matched with foster youth since Rep. Gara and Amanda Metivier of Facing Foster Care in Alaska began this community effort.
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Press Conference: Holiday Laptop Drive Launched to Help the Growing Number of Foster Youth in Alaska
December 18, 2014
(ANCHORAGE) – Today, Representative Les Gara (D-Anchorage) and Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA) are launching a Laptops for Foster Youth Holiday Drive with a press conference at 11 a.m. They will announce the drive, which will be augmented by a recent $20,000 donation, at the Dimond Center in Anchorage. The press conference will take place at the entrance just west of Best Buy. Following the press conference Rep. Gara and Facing Foster Care in Alaska co-founder Amanda Metivier will purchase discounted computers at local stores.
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Note from Rep. Gara: Foster Care Numbers Spike, Need for Laptops Rises; Good East High Stadium Progress
June 25, 2014
As you know, we’ve spearheaded a volunteer effort with Facing Foster Care in Alaska to get the word out that foster youth face yet another disadvantage in life. Many of them – probably most – don’t have a computer to do school work with. We want foster youth to succeed. That’s both our job as the legal guardian of Alaska’s foster youth, and the moral thing to do.
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