Vernon girl fills backpacks with school supplies for charity

VERNON — Hannah Van Blarcom is an amazing young woman with a big heart.
On August 18, she and volunteers filled around 29 backpacks with school supplies for Ginnie's House children and siblings. Ginnie's House is a Children's Advocacy Center for Sussex County residents, based in Newton.
Three “Kohl's Cares Program” associates also volunteered their time: Colin Locke, Greg Hennion, and Isabella Senor.
Hannah, former eighth-grade vice president of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), organized the required service project throughout her eighth-grade year.
Justine, her mother, said Hannah came home and told her she wanted to do something for abused children.
Hannah explained, as a seventh grader, she had helped organize the raising of around 2,000 pencils for Nepal. Thus, she said, she wanted to do something similar with back-to-school supplies, for kids who would not receive any.
Hannah said she spoke to the kindergartners and first-graders at Walnut Ridge about her service project and put posters around at other Vernon schools.
In order to fill the packs, she said, she asked each grade to donate one or two specific items, so they would have an even amount.
Ginnie's House Volunteer and Event Coordinator Maryane Mitchell and Executive Director Rhona Beadle also helped fill the packs.
Beadle explained Ginnie's House provides services to child abuse victims and education about child abuse to county residents. She said the backpacks will alleviate some additional back-to-school stress placed on parents right before school starts.
Beadle said they provide trauma therapy to the children and their non-offending caregivers. Sometimes, she said, they even help the non-offending caregivers process their own childhood trauma, so they can really be there for their child.
She also said it is important work; and all of them have a very clear mission, which makes their work a vocation, not just a job. She added, they have been providing services for 18 years, and “People don't want to talk about what we do.”
Beadle explained Ginnie's House children do not fall under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Children Protection and Permanency, formerly called DYFS. She added, when a child is abused by someone who is not in a care-taking role, the family has to find and pay for their own services.
When Beadle saw the need, she learned to write grants. She said they now have a grant to provide therapy for families who fall outside of DCP&P.