Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association launches mobile program

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association says it will now be able to serve people across 24 counties with the launch of its Traveling Trunk program on Thursday.

The organization launched the mobile extension of its current Trunks program that provides clothing, hygiene items and other items to foster, adoptive, and kinship families across 24 mid-Missouri counties.

Executive Director Jill Quaid said the idea was created after reviewing results from a community assessment.

"We surveyed and we did forums with our stakeholders and partners and families in those counties and we gathered all that information and used it to come up with a really robust strategic plan," Quaid said at the ribbon-cutting event on Thursday.

CMFCAA has three locations in Jefferson City, Rolla and Osage Beach that already serve the community. Quaid said the new mobile trailer will allow the organization to serve more families in rural and underserved counties.

"We still found that the responses said that we needed more and so we put our heads together and of course, there's no way to have a trunk or clothing closet with those types of resources in every county," Quaid said. "We had some help from our board members and help of our staff, and we put together a good plan."