Bloom Our Youth

Bloom is a private, non-profit organization that was founded in 1986 by a group of Fayette County citizens recognizing the need for children to have a safe refuge from abuse and neglect. The group formed the Fayette Youth Protection Home, Inc., the company's original name. The company's first group home for children, the Jim Friday Home, opened in... northern Fayette County in 1989. The company established a relationship with Georgia Baptist Children's Homes to provide the clinical services and staff for the children. The company's second facility, the Asden Johnson Home located in Brooks, Georgia, opened in 1998. In 2005, the two homes were consolidated into one home, the Friday-Johnson Home in Brooks. Bloom responded to the rising number of displaced children under the age of 6 in need of care and expanded its services in 2007. A new, private foster care program was launched. Bloom became licensed to recruit, train and support a network of family foster care homes to serve children of all ages. In 2008, Executive Director Becky Davenport organized a clothes closet in an unused office basement with the goal of providing clothing and supplies for the Friday-Johnson Home children as well as other Fayette County foster children. The original name of the program was Gracie's Closet and was later changed to The Bloom Closet. Donations from the community snowballed, and foster parents signed up in droves to "shop" for their foster children. By October, 2012 the organization hired a full-time Store Manager and in January, 2013 moved into an 8,000 square foot building. Over past year, The Bloom Closet provided free clothing, books, toys, school supplies and baby gear to over 350 foster children from 28 Georgia counties.Read More