Canopy Children’s Solutions is grateful for its partnership with Walmart Corporation to support food programs at the Warren County Children’s Shelter (WCCS) in Vicksburg, and South Mississippi Children’s Center (SMCC) in Hattiesburg, which allows staff to meet the needs of children they serve.
WCCS and SMCC are co-educational, diagnostic children’s shelters which offer refuge to approximately 200 children each year. WCCS serves children from birth to age 17 and SMCC works with children ages nine to 20. The majority of children who come to the shelters have histories of abuse and neglect; however, the shelters also aid homeless and runaway children in need. Each child who comes to the shelter is given housing, clothing, three meals and two snacks each day, as well as medical and psychological evaluations.
A generous grant from the Walmart Foundation helps meet the day-to-day needs of the children. Canopy’s Chief Executive Officer, John D. Damon, Ph.D., participated in Walmart’s Mississippi Day of Giving on December 11, 2017 which included an official check presentation to each of the awarded organizations.
“Not a day goes by that the gift from Walmart is unappreciated or goes unnoticed,” said Cindy McCarley, Director of the WCCS. “This grant provides both our shelters with the opportunity to exceed in providing the things our children are lacking. Sam Walton would be proud to know that Walmart is paying it forward to assure that children don’t go without.”
The grant has helped the centers to purchase small kitchen appliances and a deep freezer in addition to food, household items and assistance with housing and program costs, including salary assistance and utilities.
Through the generosity of partners like Walmart, children in Mississippi have a safe place to turn when the unimaginable happens. Thank you for helping Canopy care for some of Mississippi’s most vulnerable children.