Helping Foster Youth Succeed in College
Update: Thanks to such wonderful support, we have fully funded the scholarship! It was awarded for the 2018-2019 academic year to a young man in California. Update#2: We funded a second year for this young man in 2019-2020. He transferred to a university and is doing amazing things.
For our first quarter 2018 charitable giving project, we are supporting Foster Care to Success. FC2S has been working with teenagers in foster care for almost 40 years. Our goal is to create a $2500 scholarship to cover one year of community college study for a student in need. On shop.360yardware.com there will be an option to add $1 up to $50 when you purchase an item between January 6 and March 31, 2018.
360 Yardware will match up to $1250 in donations to create this scholarship. All contributions will be donated to Foster Care 2 Success the first week of April, 2018.
Why Supporting Foster Youth Matters To Us
Jana’s grandparents were foster parents to many teen boys in the 1980’s. “The Boys” received tough love, parental talks, and dinner as a family every night. It was absolute mayhem – my grandparents had 8 of their own kids to boot! When my grandma died in 2014, many of the boys reached out to pay tribute to someone who had supported them in their time of need. The fact that someone cared about them and wanted them to succeed meant a lot.
It was this experience that prompted us to seek a way to honor Grandma while supporting youth who have aged out of foster care. The ‘family safety net’ most of us have always known isn’t present, and FC2S helps to fill that gap.
What happens when kids age out of foster care? At 18, most kids “age out” of the system and the support of their foster family, if they had one, is gone. [read more about the instability that happens when foster youth turn 18] For the kids who want to pursue college, the lack of financial and emotional support are large barriers. Foster Care to Success steps in where a family normally would, with academic coaching, scholarships to school, and the emotional support that’s so necessary when you’re launching out on your own. FC2S even has a program to furnish care packages to students during the school year; they ship out 7500 care packages per year!
Mission Statement: Founded in 1981, Foster Care to Success (formerly Orphan Foundation of America) serves thousands of foster teens across the United States. Whether we’re providing them with college scholarships, connecting them with mentors and internships, sending them care packages, or testifying before Congress, Foster Care to Success is a passionate champion of foster youth. Our mission is to provide opportunities for America’s foster youth to pursue their college and post-secondary education; highlight the potential of America’s foster youth; create pathways for citizens, businesses, and civic organizations to assist older foster youth; raise public awareness of the number and plight of older teens leaving the system; and draw attention to the bureaucratic maze of foster care.
Want to skip shopping and go straight to donating to FC2S? Donate here.
“I have learned to keep my head up and work harder and harder each day to get where I need to be. Care packages from FC2S make a bigger difference than you can imagine, because they show me you’re behind me all the way.” Tyrone G., University of Mississippi
Thank you for learning about Foster Care to Success and for shopping 360 Yardware!