Kid's Cup, with a mission of loving neighbors and offering hope, helps children with stability and security.
When a church friend asked Janice Nazerian to carpool children with no transportation to Sunday evening activities, she wasn't keen about the idea. But it was convenient since she was driving her own children every week. After four years of carpooling, she grew to love those children and wanted to do more.
She now realizes it was the first step on a longer journey that led her to help create Kid's Cup, a resource closet for children in Dublin, GA, whose lives have been rocked by family crisis. Kid's Cup provides clothing and other necessities to foster children and other children in need.
"God kept putting things in my path," Janice says of the journey. "He reconnected me with a childhood neighbor I had not seen in more than 30 years, Pam Otts, a former foster parent who is currently raising her 13-year-old grandson. We both feel God put us together, along with many others, to help create awareness about hurting children and love our neighbors."
Her job as a property appraiser revealed a potential way to help when a cute property became available.
"We knew we'd do something with the property for children, but we weren't sure what," says Janice, who is taking a break from her work as an appraiser to devote her attention to Kid's Cup. When Janice and Pam decided on a resource closet, they announced their intentions on social media. And the help poured in: The list includes Tara Bradshaw, Dylan Pettis, Gayle Marshall, and so many more. "Every step of the way, God is putting the perfect people in place."
The closet has been open less than a year, but the impact is already felt in the community. Nearly 300 children have been helped, and plans are to double that number in the next six months, Janice says.
Children receive a new pillow and pillowcase, a new blanket, clothing, toiletries, books, toys, school supplies and a Bible.
As Janice and a team of volunteers were planning the resource closet, they read something about what fills a child's emotional cup and what depletes a child's emotional cup. "We decided we wanted to fill the cups of all who enter with love, hope, peace and joy," she says. "Now everything we do seeks to fill that cup."
Learn more at kidscupcloset.org.
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About Circle & Shield
Cingo means to surround and secure — to protect. That's what we do. And we have a lot of respect for those who take it upon themselves to make protection a part of what they do, too. That's why we've launched Circle & Shield, our award to a member of the community who helps make the world a better place, a safer place.
Click here to nominate someone for Cingo's Circle & Shield. We'll do the rest.
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About Cingo: Cingo provides home protection services throughout Georgia and South Carolina, including Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Douglas, Dublin, Milledgeville, Savannah, Vidalia, Waycross and all points in between. Cingo was named a Best Place to Work in Georgia by Georgia Trend Magazine and listed as a National Best & Brightest Company to Work For. Learn more at www.cingohome.com.