Labor Day Event Benefits Gwinnett Children’s Shelter

The in Lawrenceville is the host site for the second annual tennis charity round robin event to benefit the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter. This event takes place on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. No pre-registration is required to participate and all levels of players are welcome.

Donations of $25 per player will be accepted and participants will receive a free t-shirt, food, drinks and a goody bag. One hundred percent of all proceeds from this event will benefit the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter.

The Gwinnett Children’s Shelter is a non-profit organization that serves over 200 adolescent youth per year. In the 24 years since  the shelter opened over 5,000 children have been cared for in residential care. The Gwinnett Children's Shleter is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Located on a 40 acre campus in Northern Gwinnett, the children’s shelter offers a short-term emergency shelter that can house up to 26 youth and a separate long term shelter for up to eight teenage boys. The Shelter plans to open a Second-Chance home for teen mothers on their campus in 2012. The children served by the shelter are typically children that have been removed from their homes due to physical and/or sexual abuse, abandonment or neglect. The average short term stay for a child at the shelter is five months and the average long term stay for teenage boys can be over two years.

Susie Ryan, the Director of Fund Development for the shelter, had the following to say in a phone interview regarding this charity event; “We would love for everyone to come out and participate in this Labor Day event. Here at the shelter we have a strong and very involved Board of Directors, currently under the leadership of Brand Morgan of Brand Properties and an excellent staff led by our Executive Director, Kim Phillips. Although the economy is slow to recover, we have amazing volunteers who step up to help us meet the needs of the children we serve. We would like to thank Tim and Crystal Mansour for volunteering the Collins Hill Athletic Club as the host site for our tennis fundraiser. The shelter currently needs to raise over $570,000 during 2011 and 2012 to cover basic operating expenses and it's not going to be an easy task. We have other fundraisers planned that will be coming up in the fall including a Golf Tournament on October 25 at Hamilton Mill in Dacula and a 5K, 10K planned for November 19 at Chateau Elan. When it comes down to the "why do we do what we do," it's because these children need a safe haven away from all the chaos that they've experienced and a place to heal from scars and burdens that are much too heavy for their young lives to carry. We help them find hope and direction."

If you are unable to participate in the Labor Day fundraiser you can donate or volunteer with the shelter. Visit the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter website for more information or contact Susie Ryan at 678-546-8770 ext. 226.