On April 20, The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh held its “Growing Families Through Adoption” awareness and matching event. It was the 17th such event that The Children’s Institute has hosted, and it welcomed 80 attendees. The Children’s Institute’s Older Child Matching Initiative and the SWAN Services division of its family support services put on the event, which was sponsored by Crothall Healthcare. It included a guest speaker presentation by Jamie Brownfield, an adoptive mother, mental health counselor and high school transition counselor. During the event, Rachel Beals, owner of Rachel Beals Photographer and a SWAN technical assistant, received the John A. Wilson Shining STAR Award for advocating foster care, as she donates her time to photograph waiting children and youth.

On April 9, local nonprofit Wesley Family Services’ ParentWISE program, along with the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, held a breakfast and networking event at the Fred Rogers Institute in Latrobe. The event’s subject matter was about child abuse prevention efforts in the state. The event included presentations from WFS, Fred Rogers Institute and PFSA leadership.

On April 17, local business Sabika Jewelry hosted a fundraising event alongside Family Resources, a local agency that aims to prevent child abuse. The event was held at The Hollander in Braddock and Gisele Fetterman, wife of Pennsylvania U.S. Senator John Fetterman, was in attendance and served as host. At the event, 50% of proceeds from each sale of a Sabika piece of jewelry was donated to Family Resources. Sabika said that it will also be donating 10% of the proceeds from every sale of a piece in its Sabika Cares collection to Family Resources throughout the month of April.

If you have photos to submit to Around Town, please reach out to Jordyn Hronec at [email protected].

From Pittsburgh Business Times, April 26, 2024