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SAFE & SOUND INTIATIVE
The Safe & Sound Initiative works to provide programs, partnerships and campaigns to address our crisis plan for the Mckinney-vento students, unaccounted for, Foster care children, mental health and emergency housing children in need.
The mission of this initiative is to inform, educate, provide warning signs, prevention and local resources to keep our local children in crisis become: Safe & Sound.
Our local children in crisis include the homeless, in transitional housing, doubled up, underprivileged, foster and financially burdened. The local children in crisis are also those affected by bullying, abandonment, abuse and neglect. These children are at a higher risk and higher exposure rate to danger and crisis situations that they need to be prepared for.
This year we are creating partnerships specific to helping the local children in crisis. This initiative can be powerful and instrumental in preventing trauma while providing resources for those experiencing trauma.
Mckinney-Vento Students Foster Care Unaccounted Lost Displaced Underserved Trauma Treatment
WE NEED YOUR HELP
2026 "CLOTHE THE KIDZ"
The Warren County Public Schools has referred over 250 local students in need to our organization for our back to school new and choice clothing program. Our goal deadline for all drop off donations is July 31st.
We provide private online shopping for the middle and high school students for clothing and backpacks. We distribute community donated hygiene and school supplies along with the online orders on August 8th with volunteers.
We provide the 200 elementary students with a seasonal wardrobe from Boxes of Basics and a $100 gift card to choose new clothing with volunteers. These students need a new backpack they are excited about, as well as school supplies and hygiene items. There will be in store shopping days and a pick up day on August 8th for remaining items that you can sign up to volunteer for.
In order for the budget we have to cover the new and choice items, we need to collect as many school supplies. hygiene items and variety elementary backpacks as possible.
We are asking for your help to complete the community donation drive by July 31st. We are also asking the community and groups to sign up to help us as we take on a seven day challenge to complete all of the above in time for school. Distribution preparation, in store shopping, and distribution for over 250 students takes a lot of man power and energy.
How you can help:
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Visit our Amazon wish list, choose items that will ship to us directly.
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Donate directly to us monetarily and we will do the shopping.
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Pick up a Lowe's Mystery Bucket (there are more available now)
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Drop your mystery bucket off as soon as you are able to with your receipt request form filled out.
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Sign up to volunteer as a group, business, organization or individual on our sign up link below. We really need the hands.
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Purchase elementary backpacks our students can choose from and drop them off at one of our community collection sites:
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Hike Kidz Foundation 417 North Royal Ave.
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Warren County Veterinary Clinic (both locations)
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Good Lions Royal Plaza Shopping Center
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City National Bank South Royal Ave.
The Budget:
Middle & High School students:
Each student is given a budget of $350 to select new a choice clothing, backpack, water bottle and accessories for the new school year. We have been referred 58 students. Boxes of Basics provide up to size 16y, requiring a larger budget for the older students. In addition, the middle and high school students are under more pressure to to feel prepared and equal with self image, as well as the costs are higher for their age group.
Cost $20,330
Elementary students:
Each elementary student is receiving a back to school "Box Of Basics" box through our Boxes Of Basics partnership, which includes:
4 Play outfits, 4 School outfits, 1 Pair of Pajamas, 1 dressy outfit, new Shoes, socks and underwear, 2 age appropriate books, and a dental hygiene kit. All clothing items are gently worn.
Cost $10, 000 (Donation to covers some of the organization's costs)
Each elementary student also receives a $100 budget for a shopping trip assisted by community volunteers with their guardian. These funds make sure they have the same opportunity to choose new and choice clothing. The budget includes a new and choice backpack, which average $25-30. In order to ensure they spend as much of the $100 on clothing we have created a backpack drive for elementary.
Cost: $20,000
School Supplies, & Hygiene items:
Our committee member managing the school supplies is a retired teacher. She has carefully created a basic school supply list and hygiene inventory list. These items are separated into mystery Lowe's buckets and an Amazon wish list.
Elementary School Backpacks
We have put backpacks on our Amazon wish list as well as we have partnered with drop off locations (listed above).
The cost of 200 new and choice backpacks is $6000.
The average family spends $264 on on clothing each season. This amount does not cover the backpacks, water bottle, school supplies, and hygiene items.
Funds for our Clothe the Kidz initiative are made possible by our Dueling Disco yearly fundraiser and in community in kind donations. Our mission is to provide the local children with the basic needs to thrive, equally. We know that having confidence when you walk into school is a life changing opportunity we, together with the community can provide to those in need.
Please learn more about the Disco by watching the video or reading the article below.
All donations are tax deductible and we kindly ask that when you make a drop off in kind donation that you fill out the provided receipt or the on online form:
HIKE KIDZ FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH
DR. MATHEW ROSARIO.
Together with our community leaders we will help address the mental health crisis and fill the gaps with his trauma and youth focused leadership.
Dr. Matthew Rosario, PsyD., M.S., CSOTP, CSAC, LRIC, C-DBT, CH-C, A-CRA
LOCAL YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS
Hike Kidz Foundation is proud to announce a partnership with Dr. Matthew Rosario as part of the launch of the Safe and Sound Initiative in Front Royal, Virginia. As a trusted advisor and respected mental health advocate for change, Dr. Rosario will work with our team and partners to confront the growing crisis affecting mental heath, emergency housing, and foster care reaching our McKinney-Vento Students, Foster children and our unaccounted for. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to creating safe, responsive, and supportive environments for children and families by bridging gaps.
We are developing a trauma-focused response plan that prioritizes crisis stabilization, safety planning, and emotional support for children experiencing distress or uncertainty. This approach will involve working closely with educators, caregivers, service providers, and child advocates to ensure that all children—especially those impacted by trauma—receive timely, culturally competent care in times of crisis. In Warren County and across Virginia, youth mental health needs are rising at alarming rates. According to recent statewide data, 38% of high school students reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless, and more than 20% seriously considered suicide. Rural areas like Front Royal often face added challenges in access and resources—making local solutions more critical than ever. The Safe and Sound Initiative will roll out in phases, beginning with the formation of a local task force for the development of community-based crisis support services, led by Dr. Rosario and our partners who represent and advocate for the well-being of our children.
CLOTHE THE KIDZ: 2025 PILOT
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A-Z School Shopping Expierence
This program will be facilitated through the Warren County Public School's special services department. Hike Kidz Foundation will be working directly with the special services liason, who will also be working directly with each school. Once the parent/child have worked with the department, Hike Kidz Foundation will take the received forms provided.
Supporting school supplies
If your child is in need of the basic school supplies and even clothing, we will be gathering these items to provide over the summer. Check back soon for a form to fill out and for an event date where these items will be provided based on donations to The Hike Kidz Foundation.
This program reaches our McKinney-Vento Students, Foster children and our unaccounted for.
UNBURDEN THE TEACHERS UNBURDEN THE CHILDREN PROGRAM
The Hike Kidz Foundation, Unburden The Teachers, Unburden The Children Initiative was established to provide ongoing financial and community support for teachers to directly assist the local children facing poverty and lacking basic necessities. This program reaches our unaccounted for population that are in need, directly.
Inspired by the teachers who we trust with our children daily. This Initiative makes immediate help possible for the teacher and child in need of relief.
When you continue to donate to this initiative, your funds will go directly to the local schools to distribute to the teachers within the established program. This continual support will help in many ways, providing encouragement and empowerment to the teachers and children.
take some time and stay with me.
LOCAL FOSTER CARE AWARENESS
LOVE WINS
WHEN YOU FOSTER A CHILD
The ballooning number of foster children in Warren County has reached the level of crisis. There are 52 children in foster care in Warren County, nearly double 2021-2023. The rate of foster children in Warren County is two times higher than the state average. The increased number of children has far outpaced the number of foster parents. This forces the Department of Social Services to ship these children to Therapeutic Foster Care homes all over the state at nearly quadruple the cost (NVD). Having local children spread across the state creates multiple problems. It adds to an already traumatic experience for the child, removing them from their home, school, teams, friends and families. The added distance between children and their parents/caretakers also hinders the likelihood of reunification. It adds more burden on an already overburdened system with social workers having to follow up on and keep tabs on the welfare of these children who are spread across the state.
WE HAVE A LOCAL FOSTER CARE CRISIS
54% of Children are under the age of 9 years old.
14% of children will spend 3-4 years in the Foster Care System.
Only 3 children put into the foster care system were able to placed with relatives.
There are 52 children in Warren County Foster Care, twice the rate of the STATE average.
EMERGENCY HOUSING CRISIS
There are currently 73 children that we know of that homeless and enrolled in the Federal Mckinney Vento program. That number is likely double that when accounting for those who may scared or ashamed to communicate their circumstance. There are 52 children in foster care, a number that is double the amount of previous years. That number has overwhelmed the current capacity forcing children to be sent all over the state. It is disheartening when considering the number of children in troubling situations to no fault of their own, and the countless more only a circumstance away from trouble. Unfortunately for these children there is little support. In Warren County there are no family shelters or transitional housing options, there are no foster or group homes, and there are not enough foster parents to answer there call.
We do not have an emergency shelter for teens, for foster children, or for the teens that cannot go home and have no place to come forward to stay in crisis/shelter.
Solutions
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Market hard to potential foster parents
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Add incentives and support for foster parents
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Support efforts to create well run shelters that can house children, and families with children
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Educate families on the resources that are available. Only 1 in 5 households who qualify for Housing Choice Vouchers take advantage of them (housinginitiative.org)
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Support partnerships between Virginia Housing and Developers to bring transitional and affordable housing to the area
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Develop supportive transitional housing units that educate on budgeting and help support families getting back on their feet