I had lunch with someone I used to work with (back in my retail days) this week and she told me about this local charity that she’s volunteering with this season.

Thought you might be interested in hearing what it’s all about.

It’s called Bags Of Hope New England and my friend was telling me that the woman behind the organization started it after becoming a foster parent and seeing that kids would arrive at her house with their belongings stuffed in trash bags.

Finding this upsetting on so many levels, she decided to start making bags for children and teens in foster care that would replace those, also personalizing them with their names (not an easy undertaking, I might add).

From there, it has grown tremendously!

Since being established in 2011 as a 501(c)3 charity, BOH has given out over 10K of their monogrammed duffle bags to youngsters in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

The bags are also filled with things like blankets or journals (depending on the age of the recipient) that are meant to provide comfort during the difficult transition of being uprooted and moved into a foster home.

There are a number of ways you can support the Bags Of Hope NE mission this holiday, from picking up an ornament for your tree (photo above) or donating your time (Volunteers are hard at work in nearby Seekonk.) to making a monetary donation.

For more information, click over to BagsOfHopeNE.org.