The Organized Community Action Program donated $500 to the Foster Parent Program at the Department of Human Resources yesterday.

The Foster Parent Program is geared towards the needs of foster children.

“We supply foster children with birthday gifts, extra curricular needs and several other needs,” Director Lesa Syler said. “We just want to make them feel normal in the midst of all the chaos going on in their lives.”

Syler said that the program is helping a lot with kids that are playing baseball this season.

“They are very busy right now because it is the middle of baseball season,” Syler said. “So this donation helps out a lot for that.”

The Foster Parent Program also provides school supplies for foster children.

“It is that time of year when we are looking forward to next year’s school year,” Syler said. “We want to prepare them for school, because most of the kids don’t have anything at all, so we provide them with all the necessary supplies.”

Syler said that these donations are added support for the program.

“We seriously appreciate this donation,” Syler said. “Every little donation goes a long way, and we appreciate the support of the community.”

Elizabeth Seay, from OCAP, said that helping children is just one of the things that OCAP does.

“We see a need for help coming from the foster care system, so we just want to help where we can,” Seay said.

OCAP is a federally funded program designed to help low-income households with their home energy bills.

DHR is also holding its annual Foster Parent Night Out on Sat., May 12.

“Since it is Foster Care Awareness month, we want foster parents to be able to have a little time for themselves,” Syler said. “So we take care of the kids while they are able to go out to eat or relax for a while.”