La La Full Court Life cast mates, Po Johnson and Candice “Dice” Dixon
(Amityville, NY) – On Thursday May 9th at 7pm the Precious Dreams Foundation and Reality Stars, Candice “Dice” Dixon and Po Johnson, share an inspirational message with the teen girls from Hope For Youth’s various programs. The event will be held at Christian Life Center Church located at 450 Bayview Avenue Amityville, NY. In addition, each young lady will receive a custom comfort gift bag complete with items to ease their transition from care at the agency to a foster care home or other alternative placement. The gift bags will be stuffed with pajamas, journals, stuffed animals and other items to provide comfort during a difficult time.
Nicole Russell, a daughter of Five Towns, started the Precious Dreams Foundation in 2012 after being inspired and moved by a little girl appropriately named Miracle. Miracle arrived at the home of Nicole’s parents who through adoption eventually became her forever family. She struggled with bedtime and Nicole recognized the impact comfort items provided Miracle to help improve her life and sought to give this same experience to other children in similar conditions. In Nicole’s own words, “We provide gift bags of bed-time comfort items to children in foster homes, foster care and poor communities. Whether a bear is held tight after a bad dream or a bedtime story leads to a happy imagination, we hope sleeping can be made easy, we hope to inspire Precious Dreams. We were very moved by Hope For Youth’s stories and inspired by all of the selfless work the staff does. It was an honor for me to come back to Long Island and give to the people who need the most help in this world, our children.”
Agencies like Hope For Youth provides comfort and stability for a young life during a traumatic period guiding them to a better tomorrow. When Dr. David Hegarty, Executive Director and CEO of Hope for Youth learned of the event and Miracle’s story, he said, “At Hope For Youth, we believe every child is a miracle. We are grateful to the Precious Dreams Foundation for taking action to reinforce a positive message of love and caring.”
On average youth in foster care have 4 or more placements while in care. Most arrive at our doors with a trash bag and a few precious possessions or nothing at all. The need for luggage and comfort items is a constant at Hope For Youth. We run an annual campaign called “Give Love, Give Luggage.” For more information or to donate, call (631) 782-6540.
Hope For Youth is dedicated to facilitating positive change in the lives of children, youth and families since 1969. We provide stable, nurturing, residential care, foster care, preventative and out-patient programs which educate, motivate and empower individuals to become self-sufficient and achieve their full potential.
