EVERY CHILD MATTERS

There are over 800 children in foster care in Stanislaus County. Unfortunately, after the age of FOUR, a child is considered unadoptable. 

Every year, Love Stanislaus County Kids Program facilitates a forum called "Every Child Matters" to help the community overcome damaging stigmas like this. 

At this forum, you will get to hear from a panel of former foster youth and resource parents about their experiences and how you can best support youth in foster care.

COMING SOON: MARCH 11, 2023 9:00-11:00 AM

The Weave, 820 H Street, Modesto, CA 95354

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How the Every Child Matters forum impacted attendees

Mandy Wilson

"There are so many preconceived notions about the foster system, and hearing from the panel and different agencies helped me overcome those thoughts and better understand how I can support foster youth and resource parents."

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Mandy Wilson

WITHOUT PERMISSION

Stanislaus County is located along several major corridors for human traffickers. Education and awareness are some of the best tools we have to keep traffickers OUT of our community and protect our kids.

Through collaborative partnerships with organizations like Love Waterford and Waterford Unified School District, Without Permission confronts the culture that promotes sex trafficking and brings valuable awareness education.

Love Waterford has invited Without Permission out to Waterford during National Night Out in 2021 and 2022, for a community presentation in 2021,  and for a Waterford USD presentation in 2022.

How the Without Permission forum impacted attendees

Jose Aldaco

"The Without Permission forum was powerful and engaging. Our teachers are better prepared to advocate for students and fight human trafficking after learning from Debbie."

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Jose Aldaco

TONY HOFFMAN

Love Waterford was privileged to partner with Waterford USD to facilitate a community presentation in Waterford featuring guest speaker Tony Hoffman.

Tony is a former BMX Elite Pro, an Olympic coach, an author, the founder of pH Wellness - a drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility - and one of the most respected and requested speakers in the country on the topics of mental health and substance misuse. His viral Goal cast video has been viewed over 12 million times. In November of 2022, Tony was invited out to Waterford to share his story, “From Prison to the Olympics," with our community. 

Tony gave a student presentation during the day to over 1,000 local students, and a community presentation later that evening to around 450 citizens. Tony's story was inspiring, and helped our community break through the preconceived beliefs and stigmas about substance misuse. 

How the "From Prison to the Olympics" impacted attendees

Tony Hoffman

"This is one of the largest community events I've ever done. It's great to see the community who is willing to talk about hard things."

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Tony Hoffman

Jose Aldaco

"Tony Hoffman shared his story to over 1,000 students during the school day, and with over 400 community members in the evening during a community forum. We had a number of supporting organizations come out in the evening to provide supplemental information to the community, and the BHRS gave out 200 units of Narcan."

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Jose Aldaco

Sheriff Jeff Dirske

"Fentanyl is changing the game. We lost 172 lives to overdose and opioid poisoning last year in Stanislaus County."

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Sheriff Jeff Dirske

Atendee

"It was great to see the schools leading this important conversation. Things have changed these days. Kids can't experiment like they used to. One time can kill you. We need to teach them about the dangers. Too many kids are dying from a single mistake."

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Atendee

Attendee

"We took home some of narcan that was being given out after the event. After hearing about how easy it is to overdose these days, we feel a lot better about having narcan on hand. Even if our kids never need it, a friend or stranger might."

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Attendee