BEAUMONT, Texas — Amid an influx in child protective services cases and devastation from previous storms, caseworkers are asking for help so they can continue providing for children in Southeast Texas who have been abused and neglected.
Caseworkers said the supplies they need to care for area children are being stretched thin. One place they get supplies from is the Rainbow Room.
The Rainbow Room in Beaumont is an all-volunteer, in-house emergency supply center located inside the area Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Office.
With the Rainbow Room, caseworkers can stockpile on items such as clothing, diapers, car seats and other things a child might need when being brought into a foster home.
MORE ON: How to donate to the Rainbow Room
Euphemia Davis is a Rainbow Room board member and buyer. She said the room has not always been around and has made a huge difference in the community since it began.
“It was like a one-stop shop that the workers could come,” Davis said. “We didn’t waste time trying to go out in the community and find things. We could just come straight to this room and get everything we needed."
Hurricane Harvey devastated the Rainbow Room’s stock pile of supplies. That coupled with an increase in the volume of cases has left caseworkers in critical need.
“We were out of this room and this building for almost a year, so it’s taken awhile for us to get back in and get things stocked up again," Shari Pulliam, media specialist for the Texas DFPS, said.
In 2021, the Rainbow Room helped more than 450 children. As of September 2022, it has helped more the 301.
“A lot of times, when we remove a child from a home, we take them with nothing,” Pulliam said. “Only the clothes on their back, so it's a traumatic experience for the child and also for CPS case workers. The rainbow room serves as an actual rainbow to some of these children.”
The Rainbow Room is asking for diapers, infant and toddler clothing, baby formula, car seats, Walmart gift cards and more.
Those who would like to make a donation can contact the Rainbow Room via Facebook messenger or email to coordinate a pick up time.