Offering a wide array of support, outreach and prevention services to children and families in need, The Children's Home Inc. has a 120-year history in the Tampa Bay community serving children from backgrounds of abuse, neglect or abandonment. Its programs and services help nearly 13,000 children and adults each year.
The Children's Home residential healing campus is "home" to approximately 50 children at any one time who receive therapeutic services and a corrective experience for the trauma they have experienced due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.
The HFF grant will augment the current partially state funded food meal plan with fresh ingredients such as fruits, vegetables and high protein foods that offer more wholesome nutrition than the existing meal offerings.
The Children's Home operates a full service kitchen with two full time staff who prepare and provide three meals and snacks each day. Due to tight funding, the quality of food products is limited to pre-packaged, bulk and frozen ingredients, which do not necessarily offer the most nutritious or well balanced options for the children being served.
"When I first came to The Children's Home I was very violent and afraid. After being at the Children's Home for a few weeks, I started to realize the staff was not going to give up on me. This was not like one of the 20 different foster homes I had been in. The Children's Home was not kicking me out for my behavior, and instead they worked with me," said Thomas Marvin Silver, a 14 year old former program participant and success story, who had been a victim of abuse and neglect since the age of 5. Prior to being adopted by a caring and loving single mother, Silver found in The Children's Home a safe haven that positively transformed his life in a secure and loving non-foster care setting.
The Casa Herbalife program was established in 2005 to help bring good nutrition to children living in orphanages, or participating in after school centers, and other non-profit facilities. This marks the 74th Casa Herbalife program worldwide and the 16th in Herbalife's North America region. After the initial grants made by HFF, the organizations receive local financial and volunteer support from Herbalife Independent Distributors and corporate employees.
HFF is a 501C(3), non-profit corporation dedicated to improving children's lives by helping organizations provide healthy nutrition to children at risk. Additionally, HFF often supports relief efforts in response to natural disasters.
