Captain Hope's Kids was founded in 1989 as The Hope Foundation for the Homeless. Our original mission was to provide emergency grants to shelters for critical operating needs. During the 1990s a disturbing trend emerged: Mothers with babies and children became one of the fastest-growing segments of the homeless population. In addition, more babies were being born into homelessness. In response to this problem, the Hope Foundation's Board of Directors chose to focus its resources toward helping homeless children in North Texas.
In 1994 we changed our name to Captain Hope's Kids and changed our mission to meeting the critical needs of homeless children.
A 2010 census of Dallas County's homeless showed that women and children made up 47% of the known homeless population. On any given night in North Texas, more than 1,100 children will fall asleep in homeless and domestic violence shelters. Sixty-six percent will be under the age of nine and thirty-one percent are infants and toddlers under the age three years.
In 2009, Captain Hope’s Kids received and distributed 513,743 critically needed items to approximately 32,000 homeless children valued at $689,665 in
collaboration with 38 different agencies which included an estimated $471,959 worth of in-kind donations. We are extremely proud to report that 89% in 2008 (87% in 2007) of the funds we collected went directly to programs that help the children.
Through our programs, events and partnerships, we aim to better the lives of every homeless child in North Texas, and eventually the rest of the United States. We are the only organization of our kind, which is why donations of goods, time and money are so important — because we can help children everywhere, and so can you.
Please contact our office to help fill these needs immediately. You can reach us by email and phone, or you can make a donation now on our secure donation website and tell us which needs you wish to meet. Thank you.
