It has now been 14 days since the fire destroyed the Open Arms Home for Children and we are pleased to communicate that our girls are safe and sound, our staff is working their normal shifts, and our search for what will be the next phase of housing for our girls is well underway. We are working diligently with state and local agencies, who have all been extremely helpful and responsive, to get our girls out of their current housing and into “their home” for Christmas. As you can imagine, this is a daunting task to pull off in a total of 24 days, but with incredible support from the Blue Ridge community, Gilmer, Union and Towns County, many friends from Atlanta, Florida and states all over the country, we have a plan coming together that we hope will have these girls snuggled up in a warm and cozy home, filled with furniture, cloths, food and Christmas cheer by the 23rd of December.

In an effort to make this happen, we will need continued support from those who are willing to donate their time, their expertise, items that are on our needs list and monetarily. The support we have received so far has been nothing short of incredible. We thank everyone who has called, emailed and messaged us, as well as those who have given us time, money, clothing, and other items that provide love and support ….we wouldn’t be where we are today without you….so THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO GET US THIS FAR SO QUICKLY

We are formulating a logistical plan now that will, given we receive approval from the state, a furnished home, filled with nutritional food, clothing and some well deserved Christmas cheer in the next 12 days. For those who have reached out to us already, with specific items to donate, we will get back to you with next steps as soon as we get thumbs up from the state. For those who are interested in donating a household item or furniture, we will be posting an updated donation wish list later this week. We ask that you stay close to us on Facebook and visit our website often to view these updates.

This will be a very busy week and we will do our best to keep you updated on our progress. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. The Open Arms Board of Directors.