Hawaiian Grill will help kids, parents

Foster children in the area will benefit from Earth Fare's Hawaiian Grill from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.

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The event will feature samples of meat, a Father's Day craft and an ice cream sundae bar. The sampling and crafts are free; the sundae bar costs $5. Twenty percent of the proceeds will go to Kids Restart.

"Our primary service is to provide supervised visits for children in foster care," said Kids Restart Program Director Daniela Whitaker. "We are currently the only supervised-visit facility in the CSRA."

In addition to providing supervised visits, Kids Restart provides transportation to the center and home again for the foster children. Each visit, according to Whitaker, lasts about two hours.

"We provide hands-on parenting during the visit," Whitaker said.

"When children return home, we want the family to stay together," she said.

The agency also provides divorced co-parenting classes and individual parenting courses.

In addition to Hawaiian Grill, Kids Restart will receive 5 cents for every bag that is recycled at Earth Fare during June.

"You're not only helping the environment, but also helping Kids Restart," Whitaker said.

A Kids Restart display board, brochures and a volunteer sign-up sheet are on display at Earth Fare. Whitaker said she will be at the store Saturday to answer questions.

Kids Restart has a federal grant that it must match at 25 percent.

The money earned through Earth Fare's efforts will be used toward that grant, which pays for arts and crafts for the children and transportation costs.

"If we didn't provide transportation, 90 to 95 percent of these visits wouldn't occur," Whitaker said.

The facility supervises an average of 17 visits per week, with families waiting to get into the program.

"We have more demand than we have funding for," she said.

To get more information about Kids Restart, or to enroll in one of their parenting classes, call (706) 828-0180.