Rainbow Days, Inc.
Address: 8150 N. Central Expressway Suite M1003, Dallas TX, 75206
Phone: 214-887-0726
Website: www.RainbowDays.org
Organization Contact: Kelly Wierzbinski, Director of the Family Connection Program
Phone/Email: 214-217-3817 / kellyw@rainbowdays.org
POP Liaison: Emily Dzurisin, EDzurisin@popplano.org
Hours of Operation: Rainbow Days’ offices are open Monday – Friday 9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m. (Please note that all services to children & youth are held off-site at local community-based sites throughout the day and evening)
Organization Profile: Rainbow Days mission is to help children and youth in adversity build coping skills and resilience to create positive futures. When children experience adversity -- whether abuse, dysfunction, homelessness or poverty, there are lifelong effects for them, their families and communities. Rainbow Days breaks these cycles by creating supportive communities -- through support groups, mentored experiences, summer camps and training for other providers. Children learn and practice healthy self-management, relationship and decision-making skills with positive adult role models. By being equipped with better coping abilities and resilience, they can rise above life's challenges to create promising futures.
Rainbow Days partners with over 80+ local schools, shelters and other community-based organizations to provide high- quality evidence-based services to students, ages 4-17. Through weekly Curriculum-Based Support Groups (CBSGs®),
Classroom Presentations, Summer Day Camps, Mentored Experiences, Family Outings and other services designed to
meet children’s emotional, social, educational and tangible needs, Rainbow Days serves over 11,000 children and youth in Dallas each year.
Rainbow Days is proud to have a proven and effective track record of 36 years of success in providing evidence-based and life changing programs to over 211,000 at risk children and youth in the Dallas community and millions more throughout the U.S. through our training services.
Needs on an ongoing basis: Rainbow Days is grateful for the hundreds of in-kind supporters who make our programs possible. In-kind donations of all kinds, including: tangible items (new backpacks, school supplies, school uniforms and snacks), supplies (such as crafts and office products), or services (such as printing or consulting). Financial donors and sponsorships are always welcomed!
Items the organization will NOT accept: Any Used items – including clothing, shoes or toys.
Items the organization will accept: Only New items from our list below:
Backpacks, School Supplies & New School Uniforms: We need school supplies for children ages 4-15, backpacks and new school uniforms to help give over 500 children from area shelters a fresh start to the new school year. This is a great project for a family or groups of friends, neighbors, coworkers or Sunday school class members. Items are given out at Rainbow Days big Back-to-School Celebration held each August for our homeless families residing at partner shelters in Dallas.
Lunch for Campers – We hold 5 weeks of summer camp for homeless children. We rely on the generosity of local restaurants, individuals and organizations in the community to donate lunch to help feed our hungry campers. Lunch is needed during June, July and August each year for up to 175 kids on selected dates. If you have the ability to get food donated by a restaurant, or gather a group together to purchase, prepare, and deliver food to camp, please email Kelly Wierzbinski to coordinate, kellyw@rainbowdays.org
Snacks – We need individually wrapped snacks (i.e. granola bars, fruit snacks, applesauce pouches, chips/crackers, and similar items) to feed hungry tummies during the summer at camp and all year-round at our support groups and after-school program.
Small Toys and Prizes –We need small toys and prizes to reward positive behavior during support group, camp and at other activities throughout the year (i.e. bouncy balls, play dough, stickers, small dolls and action figures, toy cars, etc. Tip: Check out the dollar sections of Target, Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, Party City, etc. for bulk options.
Learning Tool Kit Supplies: We need donations of new children’s scissors, construction paper, crayons, glue sticks, markers, pencils, plastic baggies, plus the financial/in-kind resources to get our printed materials professionally printed for these portable educational tool kits.
Auction Items: To raise funds to support the work that we do, we hold an annual silent auction each year which raises over $40,000 for our programs. We need items of all values, shapes and sizes to help make the Auction a success. Please consider how you or your business could help by donating an item to be placed in our auction. Past items have included: Airline Tickets, Bath Products, Dining & Entertainment Gift Certificates, Golf & Hotel Packages, Home Décor & Jewelry, Spa & Salon Packages, Sports Memorabilia, Stationary & Gift Items and more.
Pick-up/Delivery/Storage Schedules if any: Please call for arrangements
Seasonal Needs:
Swimsuits, trunks, beach towels, flip-flops for boys and girls - all sizes (serving children ages 4-15), girls' suits must be ONE-PIECE ONLY and boys' suits must be swim trunks.
Backpacks, school supplies, plain white socks (boys and girls, all shoe sizes for children/youth ages 4-15). Check website at www.rainbowdays.org for the school supply list for the current year.
Bilingual: We have a limited bilingual Spanish staff, so volunteers with bilingual skills are always appreciated.
Volunteer Needs: For a complete list of our Volunteer needs, please visit our website: https://rainbowdays.org/more- ways-to-help/volunteer/