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| ELIOT AND BARRY HOST SPECIALIZED ADOPTION EVENT AT ASSUMPTION COLLEGE |
Jordan's Furniture partners with agencies to recruit parents
| Continuing their commitment to the adoption community, Jordan's Furniture worked directly with the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) and the Department of Social Services (DSS) to create a very specialized adoption recruitment event…one that had never been organized before. It took place in July 2002 at Assumption College.
Guests included parents and families who have been home-studied and are ready to adopt a child now. The children who attended the event are currently in foster care and are between the ages of 6 and 16. In all, 110 approved families and 95 children in foster care attended the event.
"It made so much sense to us to bring together these two groups of people that need to find each other, approved families and children waiting to be adopted", said Eliot, president of Jordan's Furniture. His brother and CEO of the company, Barry, added "We created a very comfortable and fun atmosphere where adults and children could get to know each other throughout the day and, hopefully, some matches would be made."
The event, held on the campus of Assumption College in Worcester, was chosen because it is centrally located and would attract families from throughout the state. Likewise, the children in foster care came from as far as Springfield and Cape Cod to attend. The day began at 10am with breakfast, orientation, and a welcome by Eliot and Barry, followed by workshops on different adoption topics like Post-Adoption Services and Legal Procedures. At noon, children and their social workers arrived to enjoy a delicious outdoor bbq. The adults also attended the lunch.
The theme of the afternoon was fun! Complete with a giant slide, bungee run game, velcro wall, face-painting, old-fashioned photos, balloon artists, jugglers, magicians, and a 14-person dance troupe, the event boasted of a traveling carnival. It was during the afternoon hours that connections were made. Children laughed together. Parents and social workers conversed. Adoption staff workers answered questions.
It will take months of scheduled meetings between social workers, agencies, parents and children to evaluate the number of matches that were made on that beautiful, summer July afternoon at Assumption College. However, after compiling pages of feedback from many, many social workers who attended the event, one thing is for sure. Homes were found for some very deserving children.
Jordan's Furniture has been a proud supporter of MARE since 1998.
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