Foster children find home in heart of infant titleholder
Special to Leader-Press
More than 50,000 children in Texas are in the Department of Human Services foster care system. Many of these children are removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.
The Coryell County Rainbow Room, located in Copperas Cove and operated by volunteers, works to meet the needs of these children when they are forced to leave everything they know behind. Many times, they have no clothes, no toys, no sanitary items such as a toothbrush, hair brush and other items for personal grooming.
The family of Baby Mister Five Hills J. T. Trinidad decided to dedicated the infant’s year-long reign to making a difference in the lives of children who have nothing.
“Titleholders in J. T.’s royalty family selected their platforms such as helping the homeless or helping veterans,” Sheila Trinidad said. “We took a different route and decided to help neglected and abused children which lead us to the Rainbow Room. Not long after choosing that platform, an incident happened in our family that encouraged us to work even harder for the children who benefit from this organization.”
The Rainbow Rooms, located in counties across the state, serve as 24/7 resource centers where caseworkers in Child Protective Services can gather essential items for children who are in crisis. The Rainbow Room stocks everything from toiletries to clothing to car seats. New toys are also collected.
“Visiting the Rainbow Room opened our eyes to the great necessity and needs that affect so many children in the community. We learned the needs of the Rainbow Room and what is beneficial to the children placed in the system,” Sheila Trinidad said.
Through the Miss Five Hills Scholarship Program, J. T. Trinidad and his family, along with several of the Five Hills Pageant titleholders manned the doors of Walmart providing shoppers with a list of needed items for the Rainbow Room and collecting the items as shoppers exited.
“We are beyond grateful for the gracious donations that were collected prior to and during the collection drive,” Sheila Trinidad said. “It is such a rewarding feelings knowing that many children will benefit from our efforts.”
In total, the Trinidad family and the Copperas Cove Five Hills royalty collected more than $600 in supplies for the Coryell County Rainbow Room which has locations in both Copperas Cove and Gatesville.
J. T. Trinidad will crown the new Baby Mister Five Hills on Saturday, March 21, at the Copperas Cove Civic Center. Applications to enter the pageant are available through March 1 at http://www.copperascovetx.gov/parks/five_hills_pageant/.