Our Mission

To provide essentials to children entering foster care—starting with something as simple, and meaningful, as a handsome custom-designed bag for their belongings. Helping Hands exists to restore dignity to children at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives by replacing garbage bags with high-quality duffle bags they can call their own. Because every child deserves to be treated with care, especially in times of crisis.

Our Story

When children are removed from unsafe environments and enter in foster care, their belongings are often placed into trash bags. It’s dehumanizing. It tells them they don’t matter.

TAC Helping Hands was created to change that.

As a division of the Tennessee Action Council, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Brentwood, TN, Helping Hands is powered only by volunteers, we have no paid staff. We partner with DCS and local organizations to distribute sturdy, brand-new duffle bags to foster children across the state. Each bag is more than just storage; it’s a statement of worth. It’s the first act of kindness a child may experience after trauma. It’s a way to say, “You are not disposable, we care.”

But our impact doesn’t stop with bags.

Through partnerships with Every Child Tennessee, CarePortal, and the Davidson County Foster Friendly Coalition, we’re alerted to deeper, unmet needs within the foster care community. Because of generous donors, we’ve been able to meet those needs, like providing toiletries and sports equipment for children in transitional housing, baby beds for expectant moms-aginged out of foster care, Christmas gifts for children in care, and even a wheelchair for a child with no medical coverage. We also support appreciation events for DCS caseworkers who serve on the front lines, in an effort to reduce turnover and burnout.

Everything we do is driven by one goal: to restore dignity, bring comfort, and fill in the gaps for Tennessee’s most vulnerable children—one act of kindness at a time.

Our Vision

We envision a Tennessee where no child enters foster care carrying their life in a garbage bag.

And a future where every child is met with compassion from the very first moment, where dignity, care, and belonging are offered freely. Through Helping Hands, we’re building a culture that sees every child as worthy of love, protection, and hope.