See Beautiful Grant Applicant: Little Lambs Foundation for Kids

The feature below is brought to you by Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. 
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To learn more about Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, please visit their website page: here.

How Little Lambs Sees Beautiful

Little Lambs Foundation for Kids sees beautiful daily by helping children and families who are in desperate need of everyday necessities. Throughout their three main programs, Little Lambs reaches out to low-income families and foster youth to help them during their most difficult times. Little Lambs Foundation for Kids is a 501c(3) nonprofit foundation headquartered in Logan, Utah. Through their Comfort Kit Program, Little Lambs is making a difference in the lives of thousands of children throughout the state of Utah who are transitioning into foster care and emergency shelters. 

In addition, they also help low-income families with supplemental diapers and baby supplies through their Diaper Bank Program and children in school with clothing, hygiene items, and school supplies. Little Lambs currently provides for over 50 partnering agencies statewide and stocks local emergency safe houses and the Division of Child and Family Services offices with hands-on resources to distribute to children and families in desperate need.

The Little Lambs Comfort Kit Program makes sure that infants, children, and teens entering the foster care system receive a hopeful start by giving them new care bags to replace items they were forced to leave behind or never had to begin with. Comfort Kits help children to adapt to their new surroundings at an extremely vulnerable time in their lives. The overall goal of the Little Lambs Comfort Kit Program is to distribute a backpack of necessities to every child being placed into foster care and emergency shelters in our distribution locations.

(1) Provide new belongings, comfort and hope to children who must be rescued from abuse, neglect, and abandonment.

(2) Address the immediate physical and emotional needs of rescued children and help support the agencies caring for them.

(3) Provide a sense of self-worth and self-confidence by giving foster children a backpack of new items that now belong to them and them alone.

Little Lambs Diaper Bank exists to fill an unmet critical need for diapers among the most vulnerable in our community. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, 1 in 3 families have to choose between diapers and other basic needs like food. Without an adequate supply of diapers, children can’t attend daycare, making it impossible for parents to work or continue their education. An inadequate amount of diapers forces parents to have to leave their child in a soiled diaper longer, which often leads to diaper rash and can cause staph and urinary tract infections. An insufficient supply of diapers is not only a risk for poor infant and child health, but also for maternal mental health. Every baby deserves to be happy, healthy and dry. Little Lambs Foundation for Kids is dedicated to providing these basic necessities that no child should ever have to go without.

Little Lambs prepares to help hundreds of children in the community with clothing, hygiene items, and school supplies every August. With a 25.4% poverty rate in Logan City, it is heartbreaking to see children go to school without these basic necessities. Little Lambs provides school supply kits, pajamas, and family hygiene kits every year for children who are in foster care, emergency shelters, and for low-income families. 

Little Lambs sees beautiful by helping children with these basic necessities so they can attend school and can focus on learning and growing. Without the basic necessities like clothing, hygiene items, and school supplies children can experience stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Instead of being able to focus on school they are faced with a multitude of challenges, including difficulty in school and bullying. Little Lambs sees beautiful in supporting children going to school, making friends, and learning. By having the proper tools to succeed, children can feel a sense of belonging, feel confident and be prepared to learn and succeed.

From assembling comfort kits for foster children to distributing diapers and hygiene items, to helping children feel prepared to learn, Little Lambs has an important role in the lives of thousands of children and families. Little Lambs believes with their whole heart that by giving to others in need we can add and see beautiful in the world around us.

Written by: ​Edward Chalfant

Executive Director, Little Lambs Foundation for Kids