Echelon Pittsburgh Hosts Back-to-School Barnyard Bash
Current residents and families who recently stayed at The Salvation Army’s Family Caring Center had an exciting, fun-filled barnyard-themed bash to mark the start of the new school year. The Salvation Army rounded up volunteers from Echelon Pittsburgh, who donned their cowboy hats and boots to make the barnyard blast a success. Echelon seeks to mobilize the next generation for The Salvation Army by providing opportunities for young professionals to engage through fellowship and networking, donations and fundraising, and service and volunteering.
The event kicked off with a delicious pizza lunch, an array of hearty fruits and veggies, along with custom-decorated barnyard animal shaped cookies, created by a talented member of Echelon. Once everyone was well fed, the kids saddled up to play pretend horse racing, and rowdy games of duck, duck, goose, Jenga, pin the tail on the farm animal, balloon ball and limbo. For those who love to show their creative side, there were crafts tables where families could create keepsake pieces of art to mark the new school year.
As the party wrapped up, the kids had one final activity: picking out their backpacks and supplies for an amazing school year! To help them remember an incredible day, the families took commemorative photos in front of a “legen-dairy” photo wall, complete with a flying cow balloon arch.
Typical shelters for those experiencing homelessness are often gender specific, allowing either women and children or men only. The Salvation Army’s Family Caring Center, located in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood, accepts entire family units, offering a unique, family-focused program. The Family Caring Center has 18 individual rooms with a total of 85 beds for families in apartment-style units allowing the family to remain together in a safe, secure environment with three meals a day and specialized programming to help them get back on their feet. Children’s activities are supervised while guardians attend classes in parenting, budgeting, resume-building and job skills, all with the intention of transforming their lives and transitioning them back into the community.
Visit salvationarmywpa.org/FCC for program or volunteer information. Through the new Renovation Hope project, The Salvation Army is working to transform the Family Caring Center into a true home-like atmosphere. Visit salvationarmywpa.org/RenoHope to learn how you can help turn this vision into a reality.