AIM HIGHER – On April 27, 2014, Brittany graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Social Work from Eastern Michigan University. After spending her teenage years in foster care, this was not a given. Less than five percent of young adults who age out of foster care graduate with a bachelor’s degree .
Everyone wishes for something. Danielle Gletow’s organization One Simple Wish works to fulfill the wishes of foster children, at-risk youth and vulnerable families around the country. Founded in 2008, One Simple Wish helps others become heroes as well, by letting them make children’s dreams come true. One Simple Wish donors contribute everything from tickets to […]
Shining a spotlight on an important topic that most people do not think much about is heroic, and that is why Keith Hefner is Foster Care to Success’s Foster Care Hero of the month for September. Keith, a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, is a winner of the Luther P. Jackson Award for Educational […]
In July, I attended the American Bar Association‘s Conference on Children and the Law, and I am glad that I did because I got to hear two foster heroes give the keynote presentation. Kevin Ryan is the president of Covenant House International, which helps 56,000 at-risk and street youths in over 20 cities in six […]
We couldn’t choose just one hero for July, and if you knew the 2013 Aim Higher Fellows, you would know why. In early June, a group of 22 nervous college students gathered in Washington, D.C. as the inaugural Foster Care to Success Aim Higher Fellows. No one knew each other. Many hadn’t been to Washington […]
“You can share a story and people can carry that story forever.” – Tremale Berger Former foster student Tremale Berger’s love of speaking took him somewhere he never expected – the largest speech contest in the world: The 2013 Toastmasters International Speech Contest. Each year, nearly 30,000 people from around the world compete for the […]
May, as we all know, is Foster Care Month. A time to celebrate ALL the foster care heroes. We asked our students to tell us who they would call a hero, and we got hundreds of responses – far too many to post on a blog! It was very hard, but we chose a representative […]
Some people are heroes behind the scenes. Such is Norma Miller, knitter (or, “needle artist”) and blogger extraordinaire. Seven years ago, the Foster Care to Success Care Package Program was undergoing a transformation from boxes of goodies mailed to designated students from their “Secret Santas” to a more structured, thrice yearly endeavor involving thousands of […]
I will never forget the first time I saw foster youth advocate Lisa Dickson. It was at a conference seven or eight years ago, and – truly! – across a crowded room she shone like a star, surrounded by chattering, laughing teenagers. With her platinum ringlets cascading and her Taylor Swift red lipstick, she sparkled […]
Amanda Metivier spent three years in foster care before aging out, and going on to receive a Bachelor’s (2008) and Master’s (2012) degree in Social Work from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Amanda has been a foster parent to teen girls, and is coordinator and founder of the advocacy organization Facing Foster Care in Alaska […]