Perdue Farms is supporting Iowa Family Crisis Centers with a $25,000 grant funded through the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation as a commitment to improve the quality of life in its communities. The donation from Perdue’s charitable giving arm, a part of the company’s Delivering Hope to Our Neighbors initiative focused on building strong communities, will support a family visitation and exchange center.

With no local facilities available for visitation, foster children spend two hours a week trying to connect with their biological parents in grocery stores and at public libraries, said Jessica Rohrs, executive director for Family Crisis Centers.

“This creates challenges for foster parents and social workers,” she said. “Biological parents have no opportunity to enjoy a meaningful connection with their children in a semi-private setting. We’re grateful to have the support of Perdue Farms and to help remove barriers so families can spend quality time together.”

The new family visitation and exchange center will help families and foster families in the region by offering space for supervised visits with professional staff and a safe place to drop off and pick up children for custody exchanges. The renovation will include creating child-friendly spaces with full kitchens and enhancing security features to ensure the safety of all parties involved.

The center expects to serve 150 families, about 450 people, during its first full year of operation following construction.

Kim Nechay, executive director of the Perdue Foundation, applauded the work of Family Crisis Centers. “The visitation and exchange center is such a valuable resource for parents, foster families and especially the children,” she said. “Perdue is proud to support this program.”

Family Crisis Centers is a victim-service agency for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, homicide and other violent crimes. The housing assistance program helps survivors of violent crime who are homeless, providing them financial assistance and/or transitional housing services to guide them to self-sufficiency and permanent housing. FCC’s Iowa Victim Service Call Center, a statewide call center, also serves survivors of any crime. Last year, over 44,000 calls were answered at the call center. All these services are free, confidential and available 24/7. In 2022, FCC served over 2,000 individuals, including children, with in-person services.

Source: Perdue Farms