A.N.A.\u2019s Friends, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children in Southwest Florida who have been abused, neglected or abandoned, met the needs of all requests for support in 2025, as it has done for five consecutive years.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit serves local youth with programs that help meet their basic needs, include them in normal childhood experiences and support them through critical developmental stages. In 2025, the nonprofit received 2,250 requests on behalf of children and fulfilled all of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cA.N.A.\u2019s Friends exists to give vulnerable children a sense of normalcy, and thanks to our donors, board members and volunteers, we\u2019ve been able to deliver just that to every child in our community who needed us,\u201d said A.N.A.\u2019s Friends CEO Jessica Stanfield. \u201cThe need in our community continues to grow and we will work tirelessly to meet it for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of A.N.A.\u2019s Friends\u2019 largest programs, A.N.A.\u2019s Comfort Closet, is dedicated to children\u2019s tangible needs like diapers, hygiene supplies, toys, books, clothing items, beds and more. The organization\u2019s other programs include Heartfelt Hangouts, group outings positioned to give children and teens fond memories of their childhood and connect with kids in similar circumstances, and The Children\u2019s Needs Program, a request-based program that supports immediate and long-term needs, covering the costs of clothing, tutoring, prom, graduation, therapies and other expenses.<\/p>\n
Among the more notable successes in 2025 were:<\/p>\n
Distributing 1,601 items from A.N.A.\u2019s Comfort Closet<\/p>\n
Celebrating 423 birthdays with gifts to make children feel loved<\/p>\n
Providing 661 gift cards to purchase clothing for children and teens<\/p>\n
Supplying 471 beds for children in foster care or temporary living arrangements<\/p>\n
Its mission is made possible by donations, volunteers and grants. During the holiday season, A.N.A.\u2019s Friends\u2019 board of directors matched donations up to $25,000. In total, the year-end campaign raised $137,084, which supports abused, neglected and abandoned children in Southwest Florida through the organization\u2019s various programs.<\/p>\n
Learn more about A.N.A.\u2019s Friends by visiting\u00a0ANAsfriends.org<\/a>\u00a0or calling 239-245-7787.<\/p>\n About A.N.A.\u2019s Friends<\/p>\n A.N.A.\u2019s Friends is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to vulnerable Southwest Florida children and teens who have been Abused, Neglected and Abandoned (A.N.A.). \u201cFriends\u201d of the organization includes individuals, businesses, foundations and nonprofits that collaborate through partnerships that provide a safer, more nurturing environment allowing youth to heal, grow and thrive. Originally founded in 1984, A.N.A.\u2019s Friends is a United Way Partner Agency that serves youth in the dependency court system across Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. For more information, please visit\u00a0ANAsfriends.org<\/a>\u00a0or call 239-245-7787.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A.N.A.\u2019s Friends, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children in Southwest Florida who have been abused,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-149255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}