On Saturday, Sept. 26th the South Sioux Falls Kiwanis club volunteered at the Sioux Falls Visitation Center during an all city volunteer day sponsored by the Help Line Center. The Theme for the day was "One Day. One Community. Hundreds of Hands."
Our project involved collecting teddy bears for the children passing through the Center, painting a reception room, providing wall art for the room, as well as general clean up around the building. Over the course of the month over 900 teddy bears were collected, cleaned and then delivered on Sept. 26th. The club was assisted by members of Sioux Falls East Kiwanis Club as well as Circle K members from Augustana College.
The visitation Center provides a safe environment for the children who are being transferred between parents involved in pre or post divorce proceedings. As a part of the program each child is able to select a teddy bear or safty bear to be with during this change of custody. Once the visitation is completed, the teddy bear is returned to the center with the child. The bear then remains in the center until the next scheduled visitation.
Twenty-six Kiwanians met to paint and sort and place the teddy bears in the Bear Collection Room. There were two shifts during the day. At the end of the day all involved were thankful that they had had the opportunity to provide this service to a local agency helping young children and families through sometimes trying times.
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