Thirty foster carers and their children from community-based not-for-profit service Althea Projects had a special place with the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday night.
The group enjoyed a night out together to support their favourite team in the round 26 home game against the Titans as part of the Cowboys Field of Dreams program, with the support of 4TO FM.
Each game day, a Field of Dreams partner donates 30 home game tickets to a local charity in recognition of their valuable contributions to our local community.
Since it began, Field of Dreams has given over 2,500 special individuals the opportunity to attend a Cowboys game to watch their heroes live in action.
"Althea Projects’ mission is to support and strengthen families so children and young people can reach their full potential," CEO Mandy Thompson said.
"Sadly there are too many Queensland kids who can’t live at home because it's not safe for them to do so. To paint a picture, 9,269 children were subject to protective court orders during 2014-15 – of those, 8,812 were also placed in out-of-home care.
"These are the children whom we place with our foster carers through our shared family care program, in which we recruit, train and support foster carers in the Townsville, Burdekin and Charters Towers regions.
"Fostering is a challenging and rewarding way to contribute to the community and our program is there to support our foster carers and provide the highest standards of care and love that abused children need.
"The Field of Dreams program is a fantastic initiative and the generosity of 4TO FM in providing game tickets meant that these kids and their carers could relax and spend some extra social time together,” Ms Thompson said.
Established in 1974 and formerly known as Wee Care Family Incorporated, Althea Projects also provides 24-hour, 7 days a week emergency accommodation for children up to and including 11 years of age, as well as support for families in financial stress.
For more information, contact Althea Projects on tel 4779 3332 or visit altheaprojects.org.au.
