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 cell phone and inkjet printer cartridge 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!

          

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 for transporting children
Fuel efficient late model car for use on caseworker visits

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:
Solid color canvas backpacks (no plastic or black, please)
Age-appropriate, culturally relevant Bibles for children and teens (with pictures representing various races and cultures)
Disposable cameras
Diaper bags
Pre-paid phone cards
Disposable diapers (various sizes) and wipes
Baby items including newborn size diapers, onesies, sleepers, clothes, bottles, baby wash and lotion, blankets, toys, sippy cups
Assorted solid color children's size t-shirts
Kids pajamas
Toys: Discovery Toys, small toys for children age 6 and under, and "boys toys" like Magnetix, K'Nex, and Legos
Hair care products for ethnic minorities
Stuffed dog puppets (several, various sizes to make a dog "family") for use in activities to prepare children for adoption
Specific children's books, multiple copies (The Lamb-a-roo; Mama, Do You Love Me? Families Change; Our Twitchy;
    I Love You, Stinky Face; I Miss You, Stinky Face; A Terrible Thing Happened; and Kids Need to be Safe.)
Kid wrapping paper, gift bags, and tissue paper (for gifts)
Craft supplies for therapeutic art activities to help prepare children for adoption:
    Gift cards to A.C. Moore or Michaels
    Colored sand, sand art bottles
    Double-sided tape
    Modge Podge
    Small wooden shaker boxes, various shapes
    Stickers for scrapbooks/life books
Gift cards to Borders for books for adoption gifts
Plain journals and small photo albums for Birth Parent Counseling program
Gift cards to K-mart and Wal-Mart to purchase above items

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)

Family Life Education
Classic board games for older kids (such as Battleship, UNO, Connect Four, Trouble)
Boxes of pencils, crayons, markers
Construction paper
Amazon.com gift certificates (to purchase resources for parents/families)
Giant (the grocery store) gift cards to purchase food for classes
Flip chart paper

Group Home
Baby monitors
Baby gates
New cribs
Table lamps
Clock radios
Battery-operated desk clocks
Pillows and comforters for twin beds
New or good used sewing machine
New car seats (all sizes, but especially for toddlers)
Large 3-ring binders
Gift cards to Weis, Wal-Mart, K-mart and Staples
Cleaning supplies (wet mops and refills, buckets, kitchen and bath cleaning solutions)
Kitchen food storage bags, plastic wrap, wax paper, aluminum foil
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
Card table and chairs

Permanency Unit
Gift cards to purchase emergency children's clothing
$10 and $20 prepaid phone cards
Disposable diapers (various sizes), pull ups, and baby wipes
Visiting room furniture (loveseat, chair)
DVD player and child/family DVDs
CD player and child/family CDs
Plastic doll house w/ multi-ethnic families
New multi-ethnic baby dolls (preferably without hair)
Plastic barn with farm animals
Baby Changing Station that can be mounted to the bathroom wall
Arts/Crafts items: Coloring books, crayons, washable markers, roll of butcher paper/newsprint, Play Doh
Vinyl-covered changing table cushion

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.

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.

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 and Inkjet Printer Cartridges

COBYS earns money by recycling cell phones and inkjet printer cartridges through Planet Green. COBYS not only receives cash for recycling eligible phones and ink cartridges, but also earns 15% on purchases of inkjet cartridges that you make through Planet Green. Cartridges and phones can be dropped off at any COBYS office location for recycling.

Planetgreenrecycle.com/cobys provides complete information including current recycling values for various phones and cartridges and a secure site for purchasing remanufactured cartridges. Questions? Contact COBYS Director of Development Don Fitzkee at 800-452-6517 or Don Fitzkee.

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.