As the holiday season approached, our agency looked for ways to bring joy and cheer to our resource families, who work tirelessly to provide a safe and loving home for foster youth in our community. This year, we partnered with the Turtle Bay Exploration Center to offer our families a magical night at the Redding Garden of Lights. On December 12th, 2022, we welcomed about 73 of our resource parents from Siskiyou, Shasta, and Tehama counties, along with a total of around 300 attendees, including employees and their families, for a night of fun and festivities.

We are incredibly grateful to the Redding Garden of Lights at Turtle Bay for welcoming us and working with us to make this event inclusive and special for our resource families and foster youth. The Garden Festival of Lights was a true delight, with beautiful light displays, seasonal music, and a joyful atmosphere that our families and youth thoroughly enjoyed.

We would like to extend a special thank you to the various community organizations who partnered with us to make this event possible. With their support, we were able to provide gifts, drinks, and food to our families and foster youth, and collectively thank them for their compassionate and dedicated care to foster youth who have been abused or neglected. It was heartwarming to see so many members of our community come together to show their appreciation for our resource families.

For the past three years, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for our resource families. Despite the difficulties, they have continued to persevere and provide exceptional care to foster youth in our community. It is our hope that events like the Redding Garden of Lights at Turtle Bay will provide them with an opportunity to relax, enjoy the holiday season, and create cherished memories with the youth in their care.

In conclusion, the Redding Garden of Lights at Turtle Bay was a memorable and enjoyable event for our resource families and foster youth. We are grateful to everyone who made it possible, and we hope that this is just the beginning of more opportunities to celebrate and support our resource families in the future.