Dr. Howard B. Smith
Summer/Fall 2009

There are several ways in which we as Professional Counselors can contribute to the lives of individual clients and society as a whole. Of course the most obvious is to deliver high quality counseling services to our clients. A second way might be to lobby for public policy issues and work toward passing legislation that would benefit not only our individual clients but also hundreds, perhaps thousands of others who might be impacted in a positive way by legislation that could improve their quality of life.

The American Counseling Association Foundation (ACAF) provides yet another opportunity for ACA members and other concerned individuals and entities to offer support to individuals beyond their own clientele. We do this through our two signature programs of "Growing Happy and Confident Kids" and "Counselors Care".

Very briefly, the "Growing Happy and Confident Kids" program is one that invites ACA Members to submit proposals to receive books for their practice either in a school or agency setting that they can loan out to their young clients that deal with real- life developmental issues such as building positive relationships, understanding divorce or step-families, selecting careers, etc. This is a biblio-therapy for kids that is a strength-based model. The counselor selects books from a list of those available and submits a proposal on how they intend to use the books in their practice setting.

The "Counselors Care" program was developed following the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, for the express purpose of assisting our colleagues, ACA Members, who have experienced a catastrophic disaster and is designed to award small grants ($500 max.) to help them re-establish their practice. Admittedly, these are small in size but can be of great assistance in buying supplies or paying office rent, etc. when it comes to re-building a practice.

With the tough economic times, your Foundation has suffered a downturn in contributions. It is our goal to reverse that trend and we are asking for all ACA Members to either continue making their contributions for the benefit of our clients or colleagues in need, or if you have not yet contributed, to please do so. If half of the ACA membership of 41,600 members were to contribute as little as $5 this year we would generate over $100,000 that could increase the number of grants we can make and help us expand our ability to address other needs confronting our clients or member-colleagues.

You can do this as you renew your ACA Membership by indicating on the form that you would like to make a donation to the American Counseling Association Foundation and add an amount you feel comfortable in contributing. Thank you for your support.