COBYS Family Services relies on generous support from individuals, churches, businesses, foundations, and others to fund our ministries. We welcome your help through financial contributions, in kind donations, volunteering, our innovative cartridge and cell phone recycling plan, and Internet searches through goodsearch.com. While we receive funding from a mix of public and private sources, support from people like you is essential for the health of our ministries. Donations to COBYS are tax-deductible.
Cash donations are the easiest and most common way that donors support COBYS Family Services. Remember, each cash donation is fully tax deductible (up to 50% of your adjusted gross income). You can make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!
Click here to read about how your support helps children like "Jimmy" to succeed.
Financial Support
Bequests: If you include a gift to COBYS in your will, it not only will benefit the children and families that we serve but also reduce estate tax dollars for your loved ones.
Life Income Gifts (Annuities and Trusts): A life income gift allows you to transfer assets (cash, stocks, or other property) to COBYS now and still receive income from those gifts during your lifetime. Often these gifts have immediate and ongoing tax benefits.
Stock: Giving stocks that have appreciated affords you savings in two ways: You can avoid paying capital gains tax on the increased value of your stock and also receive an income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the donated stock.
Real Estate: By donating property outright, you can avoid significant capital gains tax if the property has increased in value since you first purchased it. You also can realize a charitable deduction for the full market value of the real estate.
Life Insurance: If you have a life insurance policy that no longer is needed, it could be given to COBYS as a gift. Name COBYS Family Services as the owner and beneficiary of the policy and receive a charitable deduction. If the policy has cash value, you may take a deduction approximately equal to the cash value of the policy. If you continue to make premium payments after the gift to COBYS, those premium payments are tax deductible each year.
Employer Matching Gifts: Many corporate employers match charitable contributions by their employees. Have you checked whether your employer has a matching gift program? Why not double your gift?
To discuss supporting COBYS with your accumulated assets, contact Associate Administrator Mark Cunningham or call 717-656-6580. The information on this page is meant as a guide. Please contact your financial planner or attorney for information about your specific situation.
Needs List
Individuals or groups may wish to purchase or designate cash donations for specific items to benefit COBYS ministries. Contact Don Fitzkee or call 717-656-6580 for more information about the current needs listed below:
New or late-model used 7-passenger minivan
Adoption/Foster Care
Each foster child coming into care with COBYS receives a backpack of toys, games, personal care items, a Bible, and more.
In addition, donated items are used as gifts for special occasions such as birthdays and adoptions. Current needs include:
Specific children's books, multiple copies (Our Twitchy; I Love You, Stinky Face; I Miss You, Stinky Face; A Terrible Thing
Happened; and Kids Need to be Safe.)
Children's books
Pajamas for children of all ages
Solid color canvas backpacks (no plastic or black, please)
Pre-paid phone cards
Disposable cameras
Disposable diapers (various sizes)
Discovery Toys
Small toys for children age 6 and under
Ethnic dolls
Hair care products for ethnic minorities
Money to purchase updated training videos/DVDs for resource parents
Craft supplies for therapeutic art activities to help prepare children for adoption:
Colored sand, sand art bottles
Acrylic paint
Foam letter stickers
Modge Podge
Unfinished wooden picture frames
Small wooden shaker boxes
Jewelry beads, needle nose jewelry pliers, memory wire (to make necklaces and bracelets)
Stickers for scrapbooks/life books (African American people, Hispanic people, feeling faces, families, family words)
Adoption Family Fish (can be purchased at www.fslancaster.org/adoption.asp)
Gift cards to A.C. Moore or Michaels
Counseling
Toys for use in counseling sessions and waiting rooms
Funds to order magazine subscriptions for waiting rooms
Free standing magazine racks (2)
New table lamps for waiting rooms (2)
Lockable two-drawer filing cabinet
Family Life Education
Art supplies
Hand puppets
Giant gift certificates
Amazon.com gift certificates (to purchase resources for curriculum development)
Cases of small water bottles and individual serving size bags of snack foods for breaks at programs
Group Home
Gift cards to Weis, Wal-Mart, K-mart and Staples
Cleaning supplies (wet mops and refills, buckets, kitchen and bath cleaning solutions)
Small bedside lamps
Folding lawn chairs
Batteries (all sizes)
Large duffel bags for transporting belongings
All sizes of disposable diapers and baby wipes
Pre-paid phone cards
Toilet paper and paper towels
Simple gas grill
Digital camera
Permanency Unit
Gift cards to purchase emergency children's clothing
New or used bassinet
New ceiling tiles to replace water-damaged tiles at Permanency Unit
Large plastic containers to store toys
$10 and $20 prepaid phone cards
Disposable diapers (#3) and small size baby wipes
Boxed fruit drinks
Photo paper for printer for client photos
Visiting room furniture (loveseat, chair)
Durable children's furniture
TV/VCR/DVD combo and wholesome DVDs and videos
Volunteer Opportunities
COBYS offers a variety of volunteer opportunities for groups or individuals, including:
Baby Showers: Church and community groups provide baby showers to supply residents of the Teen Mother & Child Group Home with essential items to care for their newborn babies. A needs list of items is provided to guide groups in their shopping, and group members may participate in an informal shower at the group home.
Bulk Mailings: COBYS uses volunteers several times a year to assemble bulk mailings at the main office, located north of Lancaster near Oregon Dairy. We maintain a list and call volunteers on an as needed basis to serve 4-8 hours at a time as their schedules allow. Lunch is provided.
Clerical Volunteer: COBYS is seeking a clerical volunteer to work one day per week or two days every other week at the main office, located north of Lancaster near Oregon Dairy. Responsibilities include making copies, folding brochures, filing, possibly some computer work. Flexible schedule to be determined based on person's availability.
Fundraising Events: Volunteers are needed to help staff the annual Bike & Hike, our largest fundraising event, held the Sunday after Labor Day. Tasks include set-up, registration, serving refreshments, laying out bicycle and motorcycle routes, manning drink stops, and more.
Groundskeeping: COBYS is seeking occasional volunteers to help maintain grounds at the Teen Mother & Child Group Home, near Manheim, and at the main office. Tasks could include planting flowers, pulling weeds, edging, trimming bushes, raking leaves, etc.
Work Groups: COBYS utilizes occasional youth or adult work groups for projects such as painting, cleaning, yard work and mulching, and more at our various properties.
Contact: Don Fitzkee or call 717-656-6580 to explore any of these volunteer opportunities.
Recycle Cell Phones & Inkjet Cartridges
COBYS earns cash from many models of cell phones and original manufacturer inkjet cartridges of various brands. (We no longer recycle laser toner cartridges. Also, no Epson brand and no previously refilled cartridges, please.) Items are refurbished, refilled, and resold when possible. Cartridges and phones can be collected and dropped off at the COBYS main office. Contact Don Fitzkee or call 717-656-6580 to learn more.
Internet Searches Through GoodSearch.com
You can support COBYS by doing your Internet searches through goodsearch.com. GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine. GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to COBYS. Hundreds of stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's, and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop, and every time you place an order you'll be supporting COBYS. Click on the GoodSearch logo to add GoodSearch to your toolbar and designate COBYS as the beneficiary.
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