Bright Futures - Carthage

Our first Welcome Wednesday at the CIC is in the books! Thank you to the Carthage Royal Tigerettes Dance Team for helping us welcome students this morning with smiles, hellos, high fives and of course pom-poms!! We loved getting to see all the smiling faces of our 4th and 5th graders!!!

Together, we're making a difference! 🌟 With your incredible support, the Bright Futures team has been able to bring hope and help to our school district during the first quarter. We're overwhelmed with gratitude for the kindness that pours in and blessed by every single interaction! 💕

If you're inspired to lend a hand, join us every Tuesday morning at 8:15 to pack Snack Packs - come once or come every week! 📦 We have more opportunities to make a difference, so reach out! And if you'd like to support Bright Futures financially, your generosity will fuel our mission (we rely solely on donations and grants). You can mail your gift to 710 Lyon, Carthage, or stop by our office at 800 Grant - we can't wait to share our passion with you! ❤️

Update: we have a mattress, still need a crib. Thank you!!

Our Parents As Teachers staff have let us know of a need in our district. If you have a crib and /or a crib mattress you would be willing to donate to a family, we sure could use one! Please reach out to the office at 417-758-0899 or by email at [email protected] to arrange delivery/pick up. We appreciate the community for stepping up to help, as always!! Thank you!

On Tuesdays we pack snack packs, but on the 1st Wednesday of the month we pack diapers for the McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation! If you need diapers, you can sign up for free for the Happy Bottoms program and get 3 packs of diapers monthly for your child. It’s a great program, and an amazing service for Carthage and the surrounding area!!

We're overwhelmed with gratitude to Precious Moments Chapel and Gift Shoppe for choosing Bright Futures as the beneficiary of their community fundraiser at their recent Family Reunion! Our coordinator, Kim Bausinger, was given the incredible opportunity to share the life-changing work of Bright Futures with those attending. Their generosity was truly inspiring, with 8 boxes of essential hygiene products and a cash donation to launch and stock a Caring Closet in both our Junior High and 6th Grade Center. Now, our students will have access to vital necessities like shampoo, soap, deodorant, socks, toothbrushes, and more whenever they need them! It's moments like these that remind us of the power of community coming together to make a profound impact on the lives of our Carthage R-9 students!

How do you make a Bright Futures Coordinator cry happy tears on a Friday afternoon? Deliver her 2 pallets of yogurt!!

We now have shelf stable yogurt cups, from Backpack Yogurt, for our weekend snack packs!! 2 pallets equals 8,736 cups of yogurt. Which will last us about half the school year!

Thank you to Bob and Jeremy from the maintenance dept for moving my pallets onto the porch. Thank you to Jeff and Jennifer along with Brandon from Mercy for helping move it all inside, as well as a lot of belly laughs!! It’s a great day at Bright Futures!!🧡💙🧡

❤Did you know that the YMCA Youth Activity Center serves FREE DINNER to anyone 18 and under EVERY WEEKDAY from 4-5pm? 400 S. Maple St. Just one more way we are making sure our students have plenty to eat!🍽

Students 5th grade and under must be accompanied by an adult. Contact Fair Acres YMCA if you have any questions!

When the $15 backpacks are on clearance for $3, do you buy them all? Yes, yes you do!! Never too early to plan for next year! 💙🩶💙

We had a great first week of packing snack packs! 503 bags will go home with students, full of food for the weekend! We have the best volunteers too!! Many hands make light work!💙🧡💙