With the holiday season in full swing, Atlanta-based mental health and family services nonprofit CHRIS 180 brought together children, staff, and employees for a luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton ballroom on Dec. 8.
The holiday luncheon featured crafts, decor, and a visit from Santa Claus, played by Fulton County Judge T. Jackson Bedford. While attendees dined, program participants shared their gratitude for CHRIS 180’s wraparound services. The luncheon is one of two annual events meant to connect participants with investors.
“It’s a little window into the scope of what we do,” CHRIS 180 CEO Kathy Colbenson said.
The sit-down meal is an extension of the nonprofit work, introducing young people to a new environment where they can practice eating out and interacting with strangers. Colbenson said the luncheon also helps with a season that can be difficult for many of their service recipients.
“I just want to acknowledge the holidays can be challenging times,” Colbenson said.
Formed in 1981, CHRIS 180 provides wraparound services with more than 40 programs throughout Metro Atlanta, including counseling, foster care, violence reduction initiatives, and housing for young adults transitioning out of foster care. Colbenson said many of the kids come from difficult backgrounds, particularly when it comes to family situations.
“It’s important to celebrate the season but to acknowledge they’re not always happy,” Colbenson said.
Program participants like 20-year-old Quamir Fletcher said the holidays are hard for him, but he’s grateful for the people at CHRIS 180. Fletcher joined years ago in need of housing and support.
“I just feel like I came a long way,” Fletcher said.
Now Fletcher is reunited with his mother, getting a GED and pursuing his passion for art. He says CHRIS 180 showed him the “skills and values” he has and helped him learn from his mistakes.
“It all made me kind of hard, like tough,” Fletcher said. “And I learned that I really couldn’t be that way because that’s not who I am; I was trying to act heartless because I was trying not to die.”
Through CHRIS 180, Fletcher secured housing and counseling services. He also developed a support system for staff members. He said one of his favorite staffers “really cares about what she does” and values his perspective.
CHRIS 180 employees Angela Green and Rashunda Williams said part of that care comes from the way they see their roles. Green is the director of residential programs, and Williams is the vice president of community residential services.
“I wake up to do this. This is not something you look to be paid for,” Green said. “I’m changing lives and making a difference.”
Williams prefers to call it her “mission” because she doesn’t really see her job as work. Both Green and Williams aim to bring hope to children and parents through foster and adoptive placements.
Williams said she’s completely “involved and committed to the success of home environments” by helping in every step of the adoption process.
Green finds CHRIS 180’s work comes down to working together and listening to the kids.
“We sit down with them, we hear their heart,” Green said.
CEO Colbenson sees that care as essential to CHRIS 180’s success. At the luncheon, it was reflected by the testimonials from program participants, particularly those who received counseling. One girl named Dakota said her therapist helped her “know certain triggers.” Another said their grades improved with the help of a counselor.
Colbenson said it’s about knowing ‘there’s somebody who always cares about you,” particularly when some kids don’t have other support systems. Through that care, CHRIS180 served over 18,000 people this year. In total, 2,684 people received intensive wraparound services, while 9,417 children and adults received counseling at different locations.
The CEO said that while people may consider the holiday an increased time of need, “the need exists throughout the year.” The thousands of people CHRIS 180 serves need help every day. Still, Colbenson pushed back against care that comes with “strings attached.”
She looked back on previous years where donors offered to bring gifts to the foster, but only if they could watch the children unwrap everything in front of them. Another offered to sponsor a family for the holiday season but wanted to be present the entire time.
The requests go against CHRIS 180’s goals, which focus on dignity for the family. They accept donations that parents can later comb through and choose for children, recreating a more traditional holiday experience.
“We say no if the price is too high — if the price is the dignity of the people we’re here to serve,” Colbenson said.
While she urged people to provide aid however possible, like the Georgia tax credit, which allocates funds for people transitioning out of foster care, she also said everybody can do something.
“It takes no money to give kindness and gratitude,” Colbenson said.
