This year FMCSB has chosen two worthwhile local programs for our 2024 Christmas Giving Tree. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and Hope Counseling Center.

CASA of Santa Barbara County serves children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect so severe they had to be removed from their homes for their own safety. The children may be placed in a foster home, with a relative, or with their biological family under the court’s supervision. Throughout the year, CASA volunteers offer consistency and individualized advocacy to ensure children are safe.

At Christmas time CASA social workers gather specific wishes for every child in the protective care of the court - over 600 local children. They pass that list onto wish granters (like you!) to fulfill. This year we want to focus on the often-neglected population of teenagers in foster care. You can help a child feel special this holiday season when they open up a gift meant just for them. CASA asks donors to use gift bags and label the gift with Giving Tree Tag for easy sorting.

Hope Counseling Center is a non-profit organization staffed by professionally trained and licensed therapists in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy and Clinical Psychology. Often the high cost of therapy sessions ($150 and upwards) can prevent people from securing the mental health support they desperately need. To this end, they have created the Fund for Therapy program. In this program, clients typically pay $50 per session (for up to 10 sessions) but can work with individual therapists to find solutions

if this reduced fee is not sustainable. This program was created to provide reduced cost therapy sessions to those in need while still being able to pay Hope therapists a livable wage. Providing reduced fees to clients is a team effort with the client, donors, and therapist all contributing to make these services affordable.

We will have gift tags on our Giving Tree labeled in increments of $25, $50 and $75 dollars to donate towards the Fund for Therapy. All funds raised go directly to provide mental health services at a reduced cost. Donations to Hope Counseling Center are tax deductible. You may put your donation in the offering (with “Hope” written on the memo line), drop it at the church office with your Giving Tree Tag, or give online or through our app, choosing Other Special Projects for the

Fund and putting “Hope Counseling Center” in the memo. If you would like to give an alternate amount, that is also permissible.

Please prayerfully consider how you might help bring hope and joy to people in need this Christmas.

“Above all, keep loving one another.”
1 Peter 4:8