A Present For A Future

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

A Present For A Future (NAPSA)—Take a look at the chil- dren you care about. Then picture them far from family andfriends,in foster care, and with very little in the way of luxury or even stuff they can call their own. ‘That was the situation eighth grader Latasha “Tash” Haynes was in when a special organization helped change her life forever by buying her a camera—her first one. “T didnt get a lot of Christmas gifts” said Haynes, now 35.“I didn’t grow up asking for things and getting what I wanted, so thatfirst camera was a hugedeal.” { Tash Haynes and her husband, Ike, here with their daughter, Wisdom, are professional photographers, thanks in part to along ago Christmasgift. Now a professional photographer, she travels the country with her hus- band, Ike, also a photographer, and their daughter, Wisdom. ‘The nonprofit that helped Haynes, Treehouse, has grown as well. It now provides thousands of children with meaningful holiday presents, such as bikes andtablets, each year. HowElse It Helps In addition, the groups Little Wishes program givesfinancial support for extracurricularactivities and other experiences essential to any child’s development. ‘The game changer for manykids, however, has been something called Graduation Success, explained Janis Avery, Tree- house’s CEO. ‘The average youth in foster care, she said, changes placements three times, and each time, he or she loses four to six months of academic progress. “When the program first started, the graduation rate for youth in foster care was less than 50 percent. Our five-year graduation rate is now 82 percent, match- ing the rate forall students,’ Averysaid. Learn More Visit www.treehouseforkids.org/take action to donate time or money, or to find out about other ways to help these kids. pe ee ee eee eee eee Qpler = Editors’ Note: Treehouse helps youth in foster care throughout Washington State and consults nationally.

--- PHOTOS ---

File: 20190816-181853-20190816-181852-85877.pdf.jpg

--- FILES ---

File: 20190816-181852-85877.pdf