Many Lights Foundation
Our mission is Healing the pain of abuse and neglect in children -Providing children in kinship and foster care with permanent homes in an inter-generational community.
Many Lights Foundation will create a neighborhood where adoptive families, kinship caregivers and seniors provide a loving home and supportive community for children in foster care.
Description:
Our philosophy stems from a simple belief that every child deserves to be nurtured in a loving home where they can develop life skills that assist them in becoming members of society-or as we like to say "many lights shining in the world".
In the state of Washington, nearly 10,000 children live in "out of home" placement. 1/3 of those children are cared for by relatives while the remaining 2/3 are placed with unrelated caregivers.
Many Lights Foundation expects to build the Hope Lights Community in King County. Hope Lights will provide much needed healing for Puget Sound area children ages 6-11 who are in foster care due to neglect and abuse and unable to be reunited with their birth parents. Older children who are part of sibling groups may also be part of the community.
Our concept of a supportive community consists of loving adoptive parents and kin relationships for 2-4 children per family. Surrogate grandparents, living in the same neighborhood, nurture and teach life lessons to these children while giving practical support to families.
Children finally find a place to call home. Elderly adults find meaning, fulfillment and joy in their senior years.
Our community and housing development plan consists of housing for 15 families. Our concept also includes a Quad-plex or other attached cottages for 35-45 senior volunteers, an inter-generational community center (ICC) for educational, training, social and community functions. The ICC will serve as a hub that fosters relationship building and community bonding.
We are planning additional space to support hospice and respite care rooms, a sustainable garden, and an administrative office that blends seamlessly into the community fabric.
Universal design principles, an environmentally considerate and eco-friendly community is a critical component of the final plan.
Hope Light Community programs available will be:
On site Counseling
Parenting Skills Classes
Non-violent communication
Relationship building exercises
Strengths and talent identification and development
Asset building skills education
Reading and Math tutoring
Art and music programs
Equine and small animal assisted therapy
Community Garden
History:
We formed our agency in Washington State in December, 2006. We became a tax exempt organization by IRS standards in May, 2009.
Our inspiration is the Hope Meadows community in Rantoul, IL which has been a model for foster care and adoption since 1994.
The vision for the Many Lights Foundation came from its founder whose passion and desire to put an end to the cycle of neglect and abuse supported her belief that healing is necessary before any victimized child can be a "light" in society and avoid repeating these destructive cycles.
Healing takes place on many levels, through many different people and using different methods. The inter-generational community model provides a strong foundation to support the healing process.
In order to begin this large project,we began by asking some interested parties to join us as volunteers, board members and advisers to move our mission and vision forward.
We are now in the process of expanding and developing our board to 20 members. As we expand the board, we are better able to manage fund-raising and volunteer efforts, develop our organizational infrastructure and develop community relationships.
Some key decisions were made regarding the populations we will serve (i.e children in foster and kinship care who have been in care for more than 1 year, are unable to reunite with their birth families, between 6-11 years of age or in case of sibling groups at least one child meets that criteria.)
We're looking for opportunities to locate Hope Lights Community in King County, WA. The state identifies several areas in King County as having high populations of kinship caregivers and children in foster care.
We hope to begin hiring staff in mid 2010. Currently all work is done on a voluntary basis.
We have set a goal to move in the first families by 2014.
Contact person: Helen Lakeru, Board President, (phone), (email)
Main office number:
(425) 246-2647Office fax number: (425) 255-3053
Address:
 |
14738 SE 83rd PlaceNewcastle, WA 98059 (See a map) |
Web Site: http://www.manylights.org
Directions:
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Take Interstate 405 to the Coal Creek Parkway exit (Exit #10). Head south onto Coal Creek Parkway for approximately 7 traffic lights until the intersection of Coal Creek and Newcastle Way. Turn left onto Newcastle Way. Go to the second. . . (more) |
Miscellaneous Information
| Liability |
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No
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| Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers? |
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Yes
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| Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18? |
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No
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| Last updated on November 17, 2009 |
