Programs

Little Hands Virginia’s largest program is providing individualized support to families for their young children. Working through our network of 60+ partners, Little Hands identifies families most in need of support and the specific items needed to ensure the youngest members of the family are clean, healthy and cared for.

Every item we provide serves a purpose – whether to provide comfort, support development, encourage early literacy, or promote safety.

Throughout the year we take in new and gently-used in-kind donations from the community which volunteers help to sort and store for us until needed. At Little Hands, one of our guiding mottos is “Quality is dignity.” We make sure that every item meets our quality standard.

We also purchase many items to keep our shelves stocked and make sure we have critically needed items through partnerships with wholesale companies including McKesson, and receive bulk donations of diapers and other items through our partnership with Baby2Baby.

Each request is carefully packed by a volunteer or staff member. In every request we make sure to include at least one age appropriate book and toy for the child. By doing so, we play a role in helping more economically disadvantaged children reach critical developmental milestones, including encouraging reading to children at a young age and learning through play.

In 2022, Little Hands filled over 1,600 direct requests for assistance from our partners. The vast majority of these requests were delivered directly to the family’s doorstep by our army of over 200 volunteers.

Delivery directly to families was a pivot we made during Covid when our partner’s offices closed but we knew because of the dramatic increase in need in our community that we needed to keep our program going. It’s a pivot we intend to keep. By delivering to the family and carefully placing at their door, we are reducing a huge barrier to receiving support – availability and transportation – while also showing the family that we care.

CHILD SAFETY FUND

Little Hands Virginia developed the Child Safety Fund in 2022 recognizing the need for an organization in Central Virginia to strategically distribute certain items that are a significant cost barrier to low-income families but are critical to keeping children safe – including pack n plays, car seats, strollers, and high chairs.

Little Hands has recently received grants from the Robins Foundation and the city of Richmond to directly support our child safety program and in 2023 and 2024 we will be strategically ramping up the distribution of these items to low-income families.

We are the region’s emergency supplier of car seats. While the Virginia Department of Health operates a low-income safety seat program (which provides one car seat for free to low-income families), not every family has access to this program for a variety of reasons.

We want to ensure every family is transporting their young children safely in the car. Reasons we often address car seat need include: newborns about to be discharged from the hospital; families identified by a police officer or sheriff’s deputy as being in need of a car seat; unable to attend the required class obtain a car seat; the program is unavailable in their locality; or, for another reason the parent unable to get one through their local health department but has verified by a social worker as need based.

We also want to make sure every child has a safe place to sleep at night. Pack n plays are one of our most requested “gear” items from partners to reduce the chance of SIDS and make sure young children sleep in an age appropriate environment. For most of the families we serve, pack n plays are a much more reasonable sleeping solution than a crib because of small or transitional living situations. Pack n plays also help provide a safe place to set a mobile child down for a small amount of time.

Strollers and highchairs are other critical gear items to increase safety and assist with reaching developmental milestones. The Greater RIchmond region is not a public transportation-friendly area and families who do ride the bus often have to walk far distances in one direction or the other. Strollers help families safely move their children from point A to point B, and also get out of the house and do things with their children. High chairs, and learning to eat and sit, are another big developmental milestone for children that we are helping reach.

If you are a partner or potential funder interested in learning more about the Child Safety Fund, please reach out to Taylor Keeney.