Cobb County cares. It’s what makes living here so great. The people of Marietta, Kennesaw, Smyrna, Acworth, and all the towns and cities in Cobb County are full of people who want to make a difference when it comes to helping children in the Atlanta metro area and beyond.
Here is a list of seven charities in the area that we feel make a big impact on the lives of children. These organizations help kids facing troubled home lives, financial hardships, and many other challenges. To support any one of these organizations, visit their website and find out how you can donate time or money to help them continue their great work.
1. Girls Incorporated of Greater Atlanta
Girls Inc. is a charity organization that aims to inspire all young girls to be strong, bold, and smart through advocacy and service. The organization serves about 500 girls ranging between ages five to 18 through summer, in-school, and after-school programs. Girls Incorporated bring in trained professionals who focus on developing young females through proper guidance, mentorship, and support.
This pro-girl environment allows young girls to discover and develop their strengths and navigate the challenges unique to women. For example, their after-school programs offer engaging activities related to girl empowerment, healthy living, leadership, and more. At the summer camp, girls take part in four specialized camps: STEM, Dance, Sports, and Business and Entrepreneurship. In addition, they enjoy fun activities such as outdoor adventures, hiking, literacy, art, and wellness. Girls Inc. is the best program to develop young girls into independent, strong, and well-rounded young women.
2. Calvary Children’s Home
The Calvary Children’s Home aims to provide a long, safe Christian home to children that need to live apart from their families for reasons such as family death, trauma, abuse, or unstable household. This is a facility that houses about 35 to 40 children at a time. Since the beginning, they have offered their home to over 400 children. Their goal is to provide high-quality education, instill values, church, and community activities to each child to provide some semblance of normalcy to their lives.
Every year, they offer their community golf tournament to help support children in residential care, medical services, social services, spiritual development, educational opportunities, counseling services, and much more.
3. The Atlanta Children’s Shelter
Homelessness is a major issue all across the United States and the Atlanta and Cobb County area are no exception. The Atlanta Children’s Shelter strives to break the cycle of poverty by providing quality early childhood education. Specifically, their Early Childhood Education Program has become a full-fledged learning facility that inspires lifelong learning through various curriculums such as STEM, nutrition programs, health and wellness programs, and enrichment activities.
Helping a noble cause doesn’t have to be boring either. The Atlanta Children’s Shelters offers engaging events year-round for people to have fun while supporting young children. For example, their Bury Poverty 5K run and walk helped to serve homeless children and ended up raising over $85,000!
The power of a community can go a long way. It allows volunteers to organize fundraisers such as car washes, bake sales, black tie events, holiday parties, golf tournaments, store promotions, racing events, wine tastings, and others to bring more awareness and funds to helping children.
The Atlanta Children’s Shelter
4. Speedway Children’s Charities
Speedway Children’s Charities is a non-profit organization that organizes fundraisers for hundreds of other non-profit organizations throughout the U.S. that meet the needs of children. Since it began in 1994, the charity has granted over $4 million to children’s causes in the Metro Atlanta area.
The money is raised in many ways. Some of the hosted events include kart racing, clay shoots, 5K runs, golf tournaments, and more. Getting involved is an excellent way to get your entire family together for a competitive day of racing on the Speedway.
5. Atlanta Children’s Foundation
Over 14,000 children are in foster care in Georgia, and the number continues to grow. The Atlanta Children’s Foundation helps connect individuals, resources, and organizations to meet the cultural, educational, and physiological needs of children in foster care in Atlanta. The charity organization has partnered with many reputable organizations such as the NBA, Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club, the YMCA, the University of Georgia, Boys Scout of America, and more.
There are three programs that the foundation offers: residential and continuum of care, the crisis card program, and entrepreneurial training and development. The residential care is a 250-acre village campus that provides children and youth ages six through 21 with therapeutic programming, a continuum of care, and experiential learning.
With the help from the sponsors, the Crisis Card Program aids young adults who have aged out of foster care by providing them with emergency shelter, clothing, and food. With the Youth Entrepreneurs program, young people are equipped with the knowledge and training to develop the hands-on experience to pursue their dreams.
6. The Center for Children & Young Adults
Without the proper financial, emotional and social support, children may not get the help they need. The Center for Children and Young Adults offers youth development activities and safe housing services for at-risk homeless youth who have been neglected, abused, sexually exploited, or abandoned. They provide many programs and services to ensure these children live the life they deserve. CCYA accommodates their basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and supervision. In addition, there are educational courses and support offered, including SAT and ACT test prep classes, GED home school literacy program, after-school tutoring, basic computer-skill courses, and college and vocational school counseling.
The center partners with many community agencies to offer extracurricular activities such as Jrotc, Choir and Band, Dance Team, Photography club, and more. There are even on-site therapeutic services such as Metro Music Therapy and Northstar Psychological Services to help children deal with stress, depression, and anxiety.
7. Pebble Tossers
The Pebble Tossers is a non-profit organization that makes it easy to help children through service. Currently, 1,175 registered members are serving the organization, and over 46,909 total hours have been served. In 2020, Pebble Tossers made a significant impact on the community with volunteers collecting over 40,700 pounds of mulch that were installed in parks to reduce waste and pollution. Also, weekly meals were delivered to 300 homebound elderly, and 3,550 meals were prepared and served to insecure families.
Pebble Tossers allows you to make an impact in many ways. Contributors may serve the community with an annual membership fee of $35 per individual or $100 per family. Or, if you have the expertise to share, you can be a speaker and adviser on topics such as volunteerism, philanthropy, and youth service. They also have a wealth of resources for the youth to partake in, such as toolkits, workshops, and HowTo sheets. If you’re short on time, you may contribute through donation or sponsorship.
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