As the world turns. Or to be more accurate, as the world makes its way elliptically around the sun, we come to another season. This one, in ILYA parlance, is called NEW APARTMENT.

When I joined the church in 2018, ILYA was the program that attracted me the most. It is planted in my heart, and more practically, in my basement where we store iterations of the over 50 essential items that make up a basket. It’s there that ILYA volunteers pack up the baskets and there that Independent Living Caseworkers pick them up for their kids.

Let me explain. When the young adults graduate and leave their foster homes they must find housing on their own. For obvious reasons, money is a huge concern. Leaving their foster home with only a grocery bag of personal effects, they need everything. The State of Delaware Independent Living program will provide a mattress and some bedding and a small stipend but for anyone who has every been in charge of a household knows, basic things like toilet paper and cleaning products take a bite out of the budget. And you can’t eat them.

Although the items cost little individually, a young adult faced with furnishing an empty kitchen and bathroom would likely need $200 to bathe, prepare meals, eat at home, and keep everything clean.

To sustain the success of this project, we start with an appeal to our fellow congregants, friends and family to donate the items we need.

June 24th (Saturday) we will be in the back parking lot at First U from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for a goods collection. You can click on this link to see what we need and to sign up for a donation.

If you can’t or don’t want to use the application to sign up for a donation, you can just email me at stepcloud@verizon.net and I will do it for you.

Thank you for your support!

Stephanie Cloud