Spotlight: Little Lambs Foundation for Kids
by KATIE BROOKS
Children in foster care have little to call their own. Ted Chalfant remembered when he was young, his family hosted foster children, including some who had come with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
In 2014, Ted and Stefanee Chalfant founded Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, the nonprofit focuses on creating comfort kits for children who are in the Foster Care system, escaping domestic violence, experiencing homelessness, or living below the poverty line. A full comfort kit includes a backpack or tote bag, a blanket, a book, a toothbrush, toothpaste, other hygiene items, a snack, and a toy.“
Most of these children have nothing to call their own,” says Ted, “and many kids who do have a few belongings have to carry them in black trash bags. We don’t want these children to feel that they are trash or should be blamed for their situations. Instead, we want them to have comfort items to help them recover. We want them to know that the community cares about them.”
Many members of the surrounding communities have rallied around Little Lambs and its worthy cause. The nonprofit’s main facility has hosted product drives, fundraisers, and packing projects, and 450 –500 volunteers help out every year. Because of the unanticipated response from the community, the Little Lambs operation has been transformed into a lot of love.“
Our initial goal was to help 50 kids per year in the Cache Valley area,” Ted remembers. “But within 30 days, we were four counties wide. We are now in almost each of Utah’s counties, and we handed out 750 comfort kits in our first six months.”
The reach of Little Lambs Foundation for Kids has continued to grow at a fantastic rate. In 2015, the nonprofit delivered 1,001 comfort kits. In 2016, they delivered 1,700 kits and helped a total of 3,243 children. In 2017, the numbers rose again to 2,658 kits and 4,000–5,000 kids helped. In addition to the comfort kits, Little Lambs now gives school kits to all Foster Care children in Cache County and Ogden and puts together hospital kits for additional children.
But even such encouraging numbers aren’t the most important. Ted and Stefannee’s interactions with the children they’ve helped are proof that Little Lambs Foundation for Kids is truly making a difference. Ted remembers a particular meeting with a five-year-old girl in 2017. “She threw her arms around me and told me that she and her baby brother had been forced to leave their home. They’d had to leave their only toy behind and share a single blanket between them. ‘When we got our kits from you,’ the girl said, ‘I knew somebody loved me.’”
Little Lambs’ goal is to continue reaching more and more children like thisgirl. The organization’s efforts are funded entirely by members of the community, and continued expansion will require continued support. Anyone who would like to help should visit the Little Lambs Foundation for Kids website, where you can find volunteer opportunities or click the Donate Now button to contribute monetarily. The more help Little Lambs receives, the more lives they can change.