Do You Have a Suitcase You Can Donate To Foster Children?
Sibcy Cline Realtors is participating in a community suitcase drive campaign called Cases For Love. The public is asked to donate new or gently used suitcases, backpacks and cosmetic cases at any Sibcy Cline location or Second Story Auctions. These cases will then be distributed to local foster children. The goal is to collect over 1,200 suitcases.

This campaign runs:
January 5 – February 14, 2015
Monday through Friday
9:00 am – 5:00 pm

How Cases For Love Began
The inspiration for the Cases For Love campaign began with Julie Phillippi-Whitney of Phillippi-Whitney Communications. In August Julie watched an ABC World News Tonight program about foster children in Richmond, Virginia who had to carry their belongings in black trash bags as they moved from home to home. She says, “What really moved me was the fact that the children stated that they themselves felt like “garbage” when they carried their possessions in a trash bag as they moved into their foster homes.”

Inspired from this show, Julie contacted local social service agencies and found that over 900 foster children with Hamilton County Job and Family Services could use a suitcase. Warm Welcomes, a foster care outreach program in Butler County, also had a need for suitcases.

She then contacted Sibcy Cline Realtors to help as a drop-off location for suitcase donations. Says Pam Sibcy, Vice President of Marketing, “Sibcy Cline embraces its role as a community partner and we are very happy to participate with Cases For Love. We hope these suitcases will help ease in the transition as well as bring comfort to the children when they move to their new homes.”

University Moving and Storage Company is another local business that has partnered with this endeavor and will be in charge of collecting suitcases from the Sibcy Cline locations as well as take suitcase donations at its West Chester location. Says Mark Bruns, president, “I love partnering with wonderful people who are doing wonderful things throughout the Greater Cincinnati community, and we are more than delighted to be a part of this endeavor that will bring happiness to so many of region’s foster children.”

Local response to Cases For Love so far has been tremendous.

See a story from Channel 5/WLWT.

Channel 9/WCPO also covered the story.

Dayton Daily News published a large article in the Real Estate Plus magazine of the newspaper on January 4, 2015.