Our Kids - Helping Children in Need in Our Small Community

"Our Kids" - Program helping thousands of children a year.

Here in my small home town in Arkansas there is a program called "Our Kids" that provides assistance to children in Baxter County who need medical treatment, medicine and other necessities when there is no other source of assistance available. Their objective is to make sure no child goes without life's necessities.

"Our Kids" began in 92 and is co-sponsored by the Mountain Home Kiwanis Club, an organization that provides many scholarships for area high school students attending college and college students continuing their education and the Baxter Bulletin newspaper, in cooperation with our local Dept. of Human Services, the Baxter County Health Unit and Baxter County Schools. "Our Kids" is funded entirely by the donations from our community.

"Our Kids" has helped more than 7,000 children since 1992. It has also assisted many others to obtain services through available government programs such as Medicaid, Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) and Arkansas Department of Health programs in addition to those they have helped directly. This program is very well received and supported by our community because it makes a difference in many children's lives.

They serve the children of families in need and the family in need of this assistance can be referred to the project by anyone including school teachers, health professionals as well as the anyone in the community.

You can receive this assistance by filling out a very simple application and giving it to the Baxter County Department of Human Services or the Health Unit. The information on the application is used to establish eligibility for existing state or federal programs. If your child is eligible for any of these, services are expedited. If your child is not eligible, existing community resources are called on. If there is no other help available, your child is considered by the "Our Kids" committee at the meeting they hold every other week. The members of this committee are representatives of the sponsoring agencies and community volunteers. Each child's need is discussed and they make a decision on the best way to help.

The great thing about this program is how aware they make the community of how the needs are being met for these certain situations. The Baxter Bulletin (our local newspaper) keeps the community aware of the committee's activities after each meeting they have. The children's names are not disclosed but rather they inform us about the situations and what is being done to meet the needs of these children. They also request donations of specific items such as a baby bed or wheelchair, from the community.

If you have a program like this in your area, I think it's a great solution to those people that need the assistance but cannot receive it elsewhere. If you live in this area and have not heard of this, check it out, you'll be glad you did.