Grace Epperly, development coordinator for Wesley House Family Services, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.
Wesley House is the Child Welfare nonprofit agency in Monroe County.
Epperly said, “We provide foster care for children who have to be removed from their homes to keep them safe. We do foster parent licensing in Monroe County, we have a Healthy Families Monroe program, which is open to anyone. It’s a free, voluntary program open to anyone who is pregnant or their children are three months or less in age, they’re eligible to join. We then work with the family until that enrolled child is five years old. So it’s a wonderful support system, focusing on parent/child relationships and child development and just making sure that the child is progressing as they should. Then we have our Inez Martin preschool in Key West that serves ages two to five. That’s how Wesley House got started nearly 100 years ago, and all of our services have grown from there. In addition, we do adoptions for children in foster care who are not able to be reunified with their families. And then we have an independent living skills program. We work with youth in foster care from ages 13 to 18, when they age out, and just help them gain those skills to be independent in society.”
The Holiday Village and BeLighted Bike Ride is coming up on December 5 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater.
Epperly said, “This is one of my personal favorite events of all the events that we do. All of this information is available on our website. For $20 it gets you entry into the Holiday Village, includes complimentary photos with Santa. Five to seven is going to be Santa photos on the grand stage. Then we’ll have some community performances, high school marching, drum line, and Bahama Village music choir. Then also the Coffee Mill dance studio will do a few performances. So it’s going to be a lot of fun. We have over 20 community booths that will provide games, crafts, activities for the kids, and then we have food trucks and pony rides, and I think it might even snow in Key West. So we’re super, super excited about that. At eight o’clock, the BeLighted bike ride kicks off. It leaves the amphitheater, and then it will travel Whitehead to Duvall, and go the full length of Duval from United to Front. Then it’ll turn back on the Whitehead, and it’ll end at our official after party, which is Hank’s Hair of the Dog saloon, and then we’ll post on our website and our Facebook page and our social media what their drink special will be, that you will be able to get the drink special with the Holiday Village and BeLighted Bike Ride wristband. So you will need that wristband to get that drink special. It’s definitely worth it to buy your tickets in advance. And again, you can do that on our website. We’re very, very grateful for all of the sponsors that help make this event possible and the volunteers. It takes a bunch of volunteers, and we are still looking for volunteers, if any would would like to help us out. It’s a fun event to do that, or if you have kids in high school that need community service hours, we will gladly take their help as well. There’s a sign up link on the holiday village page on our website.”
The Share the Love online auction is from February 4 through the 14.
Epperly said, “We are still looking for donations for our Keys wide online auction. Wesley House has historically done this auction in person for over 40 years, and then post COVID, we took it online last year, we transitioned it to a Keys wide online auction, and it was really successful. It garners bidders from all over the country. So it’s a great way to showcase your businesses, and it’s a really nice way to support us in a small way that has a huge impact. So if you can make a donation for an auction item. We will arrange to pick it up and just it’s a big help, and we’d really appreciate it.”
The Valentine’s Gala will be on February 14 in Key Largo.
Epperly said, “Sponsorships are available for the Valentine’s Gala, and that information is on our website. We have sent all gift information to the sponsors that have signed up for our Adopt a Family campaign, and we’re very grateful for them, and we know that they’re already shopping just to make the holidays special. It’s going to be a good Christmas. We’re excited. We would love to have as many people as possible come to the Holiday Village. It’s going to be so much fun. It’s all about the kids. It’s great way to kick off the holiday season.”
For more information, click here: https://www.wesleyhouse.org