PORTSMOUTH, Va.- This will be the third year Building Resilience in Communities Incorporated will be hosting the event “It Takes a Village.” Their mission, to serve children whose parents are incarcerated, so they too can have a holiday filled with joy.
Three years ago, Quniana Futrell took the initiative to partner with Western Tidewater and Hampton Roads Regional Jails. Each year, they give her a list of children whose parents are there, locked up.
For Quniana, this list is personal.
“I grew up having two parents who were incarcerated and because of the pain I had to go through, growing up in that type of environment, I know all too well how sometimes people just forget about you," says Futrell.
Quniana says one and fourteen children in the United States has a parent behind bars. She says it’s something more people need to be talking about, and she’s proved she’s going to do more than that.
“When we go into these homes, many of them don’t have anything under the tree and we go in with all of these gifts that the community has really stepped up and donated," says Futrell.
The event and gift exchange will be on December 23rd at the Churchland Library in Portsmouth. There will be speakers to inspire children, and Santa Claus himself is expected to make a trip.
The BRC will be accepting gifts on Wednesday December 20th from 6-8 at Chesapeake Square Mall in the food court.
