Cowboy Boots & Community Roots Helping Hands Happy Hour raises more than $8,000 for Better Together
The Floridant/10322496

TAMPA, Fla. - Floridant -- The Cowboy Boots & Community Roots Helping Hands Happy Hour, hosted by the Centre Club in Tampa, recently raised $8,151 for Better Together.

The western-themed event on Oct. 9 brought together community supporters and Centre Club members to learn about Better Together's mission and how the volunteer-powered organization provides a safety net to help families in need. The evening, sponsored by ReliaQuest Bowl, consisted of cocktails, games, prize drawings and community.

Better Together works to prevent the need for foster care by building strong families and communities. When a parent needs support – due to homelessness, a medical emergency, or other crisis – Better Together volunteer host families provide a safe, loving home for the children short term, while staff and mentors empower the parents to secure employment, housing and other needs. Because job loss is at the root of most family crises, Better Together's workforce program provides opportunities for all job seekers through relational job fairs and volunteer job coaches.

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During the event, Isis LaRose, Better Together's vice president of strategic partnerships and market development, provided a powerful demonstration.

"If you had a medical emergency right this minute and you opened your phone's contact list, is there one person that you could call that would drop everything," she asked. "All of us have emergencies, but not all of us have someone to call. The heart of our mission is to help families build that support network so that they can thrive well into the future."

To date, Better Together has served more than 15,000 children, and 98% of children served through mentoring and hosting remain out of the foster care system. The nonprofit has also connected more than 46,000 job seekers to employment opportunities through church-based job fairs across 24 states.

To learn more about Better Together, visit BetterTogetherUS.org.