Kim Carman, right, in light blue shirt, and other staff members from Community Hospital South pose in November with the socks, backpacks, suitcases, books and other items collected to support foster children through Firefly Children and Family Alliance. Carman, director of material management at Community Health Network, has fostered and adopted two children, and felt compelled to help other kids in need during the holidays. SUBMITTED PHOTO
The black trash bag was a lifeline for a scared kid in foster care.
Kim Carman had heard it herself from her own adopted children who had moved through the foster system. When a child is taken to a new home, that bag, filled with clothes, socks, books and other items became so important.
During a stressful and frightening time, those bags were a touch of comfort.
“Hearing my boys’ stories about how much that black trash bag meant to them as they moved from place to place, it just broke my heart,” she said.
Carman went to work. She started a drive to collect socks, underwear and other basics that oftentimes, foster children don’t have. Through her job as director of material management at Community Health Network, her mission resonated with the staff at Community Hospital South, who joined her efforts in November.
Over the course of two weeks, the collection drive brought in 634 items, which were donated to Firefly Children & Family Alliance.
“It’s a really warming feeling when you can leave there and know that every kid who needed socks or underwear or a blanket got one,” Carman said. “It’s a very humbling experience to volunteer with them, especially knowing the other side of those kids’ stories.”
The collection drive was born out of a Community Health Network program called Serve360. Community employees are presented with a wide variety of volunteer and service opportunities to take advantage of.
One of those opportunities was to help Firefly, a nonprofit offering a wealth of resources and programs aimed at supporting and building stronger families and communities. The organization is involved in a wealth of activities supporting children and families, from child abuse prevention to foster care and adoption to mental health resources.
“We’re here to make sure that families are equipped to provide the best lives they can for their children, and that the adults are as healthy as they can be,” said Tim Ardillo, chief development officer for Firefly Children & Family Alliance.
Carman relied on Firefly’s resources through the process of fostering and adopting her two sons, Nicholas and Joshua. She and her husband, Doug, have two biological daughters of their own. But about five years ago, they were inspired to start their own adoption journey.
The family was on a service excursion in the Dominican Republic, volunteering at an orphanage. The experience touched their hearts.
“I just thought, we are not done. Working with those little ones, we’re going to do more,” she said.
They decided to pursue adoption once they returned to Indiana. The entire car ride back from vacation, they planned and researched how to make it happen.
The Carmans looked into different agencies and groups to find children in need. They were connected with Nicholas in 2019, and his brother Joshua in 2022.
“I was very familiar with Firefly with my boys, so there was a natural attraction for me to help them,” Carman said.
Through Community’s Serve360 program, Carman and two other staff members had been volunteering at Firefly every other Monday. They do whatever the organization needs, from packing emergency supplies for foster kids to arranging items in storage.
During one of their volunteer sessions, they made a startling discovery.
“We were trying to pull together some emergent needs for kiddos, and there were no socks. There were very few pairs of underwear. There was a lot of stuff that was missing,” Carman said.
She sent an email out to her small team at Community, asking to donate whatever they could to support foster children — even if that was just a pair of socks. Community Hospital South responded in force, making the collection of those basic items a campus-wide initiative.
Over the course of two weeks, the hospital collected 108 pairs of socks, 167 books, 21 backpacks, 11 roller bags, plus shoes, underwear, health and hygiene products.
“They took it to another level,” Carman said.
Those items would be used by Firefly caseworkers all over the state who, working with children or a family, find they have a need for items such as toys, books, socks and more.
“We receive all of those donations and organize them. We have a ‘shopping list’ from those caseworkers, and our volunteers come in and ‘shop’ to put together supplies to send back out to those families,” Ardillo said. ”It’s something added we can do, whether it’s therapy or case management or however we’re supporting those families, to go above and beyond.”
In early December, Carman and other Community volunteers dropped the donated items off at Firefly, sorting and organizing everything. The supplies they brought in went immediately to children.
“It was definitely one of those cry-on-the-way-home kind of experience,” she said.
To be able to do something for kids who are struggling was a special feeling, Carman said. Having so many other people at Community join her on the journey only made it more emotional.
“I know what my boys received, and have wondered how many times they didn’t get what they needed. So to know that this time, every kid did makes an impact in my heart,” she said. “I know that whatever that kid is going through, they’ve at least got the basic essentials they need to make it through tomorrow.”
