Suzan Vrba
Executive Assistant
DIY Fundraising Ideas
1) Crowdrise Fundraiser - Raise funds for your birthday, anniversary, special event, race, etc all through the convenience of our Crowdrise site!
2) Dimes for DABSJ - Every 12oz pop bottle filled with dimes provides a safe home for a child for one month.
3) Healthy Snack Bags - These snack bags will provide on healthy on-the-go snacks for the children we serve.
4) Sales - Do you have kids that love hosting lemonade stands? This is a great DIY fundraiser for them. Make a sign telling customers why you support D.A. Blodgett - St. John's and donate the proceeds to our agency. We would love to see your photos!
5) Drives - Host a "care bag" drive to collect items listed here. These bags are given to children ages infant to 17 entering foster care.
For more information
Fund Drives
Care Bag Drive
When children are removed from their biological parent’s home and care by Children’s Protective Services or the Police due to child abuse or neglect, they generally do not have time to pack their clothing and favorite toys and belongings. It is a very traumatic time for the children who range in age from newborn infants to youth under 18 years of age. Our goal is to make this transition from their family to a foster family as supportive as possible.
In the early 1990s we began giving the children a new backpack with clothing, personal care items, and a toy for them when they meet their foster family and move to their foster home, since the children have little, if anything, with them that is theirs. We have found that the children have found the Care Bag is comforting to them and gives them something that belongs to them as they experience the trauma of being removed from their home and family.
The Care Bags consist of new clothing, personal care items and a toy, book and/or blanket in a specific size and sex which are assembled and labeled. The information below provides suggestions on how to organize care bags.
Download our Care Bag Wish List (3 MB, PDF)
More Information
Contact us about Care Bag Drives.
Suzan Vrba
Executive Assistant
Start Packing! Backpack & School Supply Drive
Local businesses, churches, professional groups, and retirement homes invite their employees, members, and residents to purchase school supplies for children in need. The Marilyn J. Olson Guild at D.A. Blodgett - St. John’s collects, sorts, fills, and delivers the backpacks.
More than 600 children currently receiving services through D.A. Blodgett - St. John's through residential care, foster homes, shelter care, or whose families are simply in need of assistance will receive a new backpack filled with school supplies.
The first day of school can be stressful. Many children living in shelter care or in foster homes due to their parents’ abuse or neglect, have few possessions to call their own. Families living in poverty and those with a disabled child appreciate help getting children ready for school. A brand new, fully-stocked backpack helps any child feel more comfortable and confident on their first day of school.
• Purchase school supplies for a needy child from now until the third week of August.
• Invite your friends, co-workers, and customers to get involved!
• Set out a box or container for donations in a prominent place at your work place, church, or neighborhood.
• When the container is full, call (616) 451.2021. We’d be happy to pick it up!
• No time to shop? We’ll shop for you! Send a tax-deductible contribution to us and we’ll do the shopping for you.
The Marilyn J. Olson Guild is a group of dedicated volunteers who collect, sort, and distribute donations of clothing, toys, and other gifts to children in D.A. Blodgett - St. John’s programs throughout the year. Since their first Start Packing drive in 2006, the number of donations and children receiving school supplies has tripled.
• Spiral Notebooks
• Loose Leaf Paper: 3 Hole Punched or Wide & College Ruled
• 2 - Pocket Folders
• 1 Inch 3 Ring Binders
• Pencil Boxes/Pencil Bags
• Pencils – Colored and Black
• Pens – Red, Blue, Black
• Round Edged Scissors
• Highlighters
• Rulers - 6” and 12”
• Erasers
• Glue Sticks
• Crayons
• Colored Markers
• Graphing Calculators
• Back Packs for children ages 3 to 18 years old
In Kind Giving
We will gladly accept the following items for the children and families we serve:
Current Needs:
AS OF 7/22/22
- Infant: 0-3 month - all girl & boy clothes
- Older: sizes 5 & 6 - girl & boy clothes
- Baby bottles
- Nightlights
Ongoing Needs
- New clothing, infant – adult sizes
- Car seats, infant – toddler, new only (state approved)
- Holiday gifts – infant - teen – (contact Shelly Friend around the holiday season)
- Event tickets - such as Whitecaps, Griffins, Zoo passes, Museum passes, etc.
- New housing appliances (kitchen utensils, laundry supplies, bedding, etc.)
For more information on in-kind donations, please call 616.451.2021.
Suzan Vrba
Executive Assistant
We are excited to be partnering with the following organizations:
Choose D.A. Blodgett - St. John's on AmazonSmile and then shop as normal on Amazon.com! When choosing D.A. Blodgett - St. John's on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations.
Sydney Paige® -- For every product sold, another is donated to a student in need, right here in the U.S. Quality backpacks & other gear give confidence while our children's books bring age-appropriate reading into the home. When you shop through Sydney Paige, you can choose to have the bags donated directly to D.A. Blodgett - St. John's.
It's free, easy, and fast to donate a vehicle to D.A. Blodgett – St. Johns:
- Fill out the online form or call 1-888-205-3420 to donate.
- We pick up your car for free the next day.
- Your car donation makes a difference; you get a tax deduction.