Darlington County First Steps Joins the Global #GivingTuesday Movement
Darlington County First Steps (DCFS) has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide.
Occurring this year on November 28, #GivingTuesday is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the US) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kick off the holiday giving season, inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities, and to give back in impactful ways to the charities and causes they support.
Darlington County First Steps is participating in #GivingTuesday to provide additional resources to families such as diapers, wipes, children’s books, and other needed items because of the financial challenges parents often face. DCFS has identified diapers as a primary need. They believe no family should have to choose between purchasing diapers and a meal, which is sometimes the case. Diaper disparities can also lead to health problems for babies, depression in moms, and poor social and developmental outcomes for the child. Darlington County First Steps wants to avoid this and continue providing relief until families achieve stability.
#GivingTuesday will assist with the cost of children’s books as well.
“We promote early literacy every chance we can because studies show when children are introduced to books and build a love of reading at an early age, chances of academic success are very high. We give parents age-appropriate books after every service and we also include them in our Literacy Kits, also known as Welcome Baby Bags” said Darnell Byrd McPherson, Executive Director of DCFS. “We partner with Darlington Library System and Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center to provide bags to mothers who deliver newborn babies at the hospital. Bags are filled with books, Born Learning Booklets published by United Way, college savings plan information, library card forms, and other useful parenting information.”
Darlington County First Steps will accept in-kind and monetary gifts. Their fundraising goal is $2,000.
“We have been incredibly inspired by the generosity in time, efforts and ideas that have brought our concept for a worldwide movement into reality,” said Henry Timms, founder of #GivingTuesday. “As we embark on our sixth year of #GivingTuesday, we are encouraged by the early response from partners eager to continue making an impact in this global conversation.”
Those who are interested in joining Darlington County First Steps’s #GivingTuesday initiative can visit www.darlingtoncountyfirststeps.org/50. For more details about the #GivingTuesday movement, visit the #GivingTuesday website (www.givingtuesday.org).
Darlington County First Steps’ mission is to provide programs, services, and information to strengthen the families and communities of Darlington County.
