The community rallied in support of ForKids during the month of June and helped close a $250 thousand dollar funding gap.

The fiscal year ended June 30th and ForKids balanced its budget. Closing the year at a deficit would have resulted in cutting critical services to homeless families across the region.

More than 300 members of the community contributed in the month of June. In the final hour of the fiscal year, the ForKids Board of Directors joined together and increased their personal gifts to close the remaining $10k gap.

The groundswell of support included a strong foundation for the next fiscal year as Doma Technologies expanded its recent $20 thousand challenge gift to include an additional $60 thousand challenge through December, 2010. Several local foundations also made additional gifts to sustain programs over the next year.

ForKids CEO Thaler McCormick said, “I think it is amazing how everyone rallied to support homeless families in Hampton Roads. We have a tremendously giving community and, once we got the word out, they responded. That tells me that raising the awareness regarding homelessness needs to be a big part of our job all year long.”

ForKids has seen family homelessness explode in the past three years. In April 2007 ForKids assisted 66 individuals, including 36 children. In April 2010, ForKids assisted 610 individuals throughout Hampton Roads, including 459 children, but still turned away 248 people including 155 children. The number for homeless families will spike in the summer now that the school year has ended.

ForKids assists families from throughout South Hampton Roads with service locations in Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Suffolk.

Please call Priscilla Monti ForKids Media Relations Manager by cell phone to set up interviews with Thaler McCormick, ForKids families and ForKids donors. (757) 353-2683