Foster Kids - Burke County Non-Profit Putting on Fundraiser to Help Foster Children

Children in foster care are placed in either a kinship care home (with relatives), foster home or group home. No matter with whom they are living, foster children, like all kids, have lots of needs that go beyond having a place to sleep and food to eat.


Foster youth usually have few changes of clothes and certainly not the latest hot sneakers, jeans or jackets. They also lack basic school supplies so they often feel out of place among their classmates. Fortunately, one organization in North Carolina is focused on helping foster kids feel more normal.

The non-profit, Homes for Hearts Inc., is once again preparing to host a fundraiser so they can provide for Burke County foster children. The goal for this upcoming event is to have money so that 82 local foster kids can have school supplies. Linda DuBry, one of 20 board members, explained that many parents take their children shopping every year for new school clothes and supplies, whereas foster youth aren’t always able to get those things. It's this lack of essentials that can make foster kids feel isolated from their peers.

The organization has been actively supporting these children since 2002 when they incorporated as a non-profit. DuBry shared in an interview that:

“We do fundraisers during the year. We’re always thinking of other ways to help the foster kids. Homes for Hearts became an organization because we felt there was a need to give these kids the extra things that other kids have.”

Add to this that some foster youth have special needs beyond notebooks (the ones you write in) and pencils. And just like their peers, these kids play sports or are in Advanced Algebra requiring appropriate sneakers or calculators. DuBry says that it's these little things that help a foster child to feel less like an outsider and more like your average kid.

DuBry reminds people that foster parents don't receive a lot of money, especially when foster youth are placed with family members. This group gets the least amount of financial support yet every child still has basic needs that extend past school such as medical and dental care.

The positive impact that Homes for Hearts, Inc. is having on county foster children is starting to be measurable. A past study highlighted that many of these kids were not graduating high school much less going on to college. Recent foster care statistics of the youth that the organization has supported reveals that not only are more children graduating high school, many are winning scholarships and attending college.

Organizations such as Homes for Hearts, Inc. are vital to the well-being of foster kids. These non-profits step in to fill the void left by the foster care system. Government agencies simply aren't known for supporting supposed "luxuries" even if those happen to be a baseball glove, backpack or school supplies.

For anyone who wants to help a foster child, it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. It can be as easy as eating pancakes.

Now will someone please pass me the syrup?


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

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Get a PDF copy of this blog about fundraiser by Buck County non-profit to help area foster children.