As part of the Veterans Treatment Court program, participants identify a community engagement project of their choice aimed to help the community and achieve a sense of accomplishment. One participant recently took on supporting Toby’s House Crisis Nursery by organizing a baby shower.
Aneesa Coomer reports - watch:
The Veterans Treatment Court is an outpatient court-managed program for Veterans charged with a crime who have treatment issues that contributed to their involvement in the criminal justice system, often related to their military experience. Part of their mission is to promote lifelong stability for veteran offenders in the community.
The participant in the program, who chose to remain anonymous, set up boxes throughout the community to collect items for Toby’s House, including placing them at Double Barrel Coffee, Paniolo Cafe, Alliance For Youth, and the Office of Public Defenders.
Toby’s House Crisis Nursery director Mysten Price said of the participant, “There is a participant from the Vet Court Program and she just has such a passion for children in our community, she wanted to find a way to give back to children in the community and she chose Toby’s House, so she came up with all of this on her own, she’s wonderful.”
On Saturday, the participant hosted a baby shower at Alliance for Youth, where members of the community came together, bringing in gifts and even playing some baby shower games.
Toby’s House was presented with the gifted items, which will be given back out to the community to those in need, or utilized in-house for the children they serve for respite care.
The baby shower comes at an opportune time for Toby’s House, who has recently seen an increase in families relying on them for support.
Price says, “We have seen such an increase in need at Toby’s House the past several months, the month of December we just saw a massive influx of parents and families in the community who needed a little additional support whether that’s from formula, diapers, wipes, clothing for their children.”
Toby’s House was created in honor of October "Toby" Perez, a two-year-old girl who died at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend in Great Falls in 2011. The crisis nursery provides short-term care for children voluntarily brought there by a parent or legal guardian.
Toby’s House’s mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing accessible emergency child care for a number of reasons - for example, if the caregiver is resolving personal issues and cannot care for the child as they would like, emergency custody issues, medical emergencies, or for mental health or sobriety support.
As a nonprofit organization, Toby’s House relies on community donations and grants, and is always accepting donations of goods to provide for families in need or volunteers.
To learn more, volunteer, or donate, click here to visit the website, or click here to visit the Facebook page. You can also call 406-770-3191 or email admin@tobyshousemt.org.
