My Birthday Wish

Dear Friends and Family,

Sunday is my birthday, and I have something on my wish list. It is not for me. I have enough. It is for one of my former students Marquan. Some of you know Marquan’s story, but for those of you who don’t, please let me share. I met Marquan when he was in 9th grade. I was his English teacher, and he was failing my class. I knew he was smart. I knew he was really smart, and so I kept pushing and pushing for him to do his work. After many frustrating talks, Marquan finally confessed to me that one of the reasons he was not doing his work was that he needed glasses. He also confessed that he was in foster care and that his foster parent could not, or would not, get him a new pair, and so I took him that night, and I got him glasses.

Marquan began to improve in my class, and he began to share more of his story with me. I learned that at age 5 he was sleeping in bed with his mother when she rolled over and died on top of him. He told me of moving from foster care to foster care and some of the horrendous experiences that he had in these homes. Marquan finally ended up with an aunt, and she provided more stability than he was used to, but it was still a difficult situation. I had just adopted my beautiful daughter Honey from foster care and that gave Marquan and I some common ground to start to discuss his trauma. His grades continued to improve. I was lucky enough to have Marquan as a student for 2 years, and I was lucky enough to attend his high school graduation where he graduated with honors.

Unfortunately, when you age out of the foster care system there is very little help available to assist you and you can be so unbelievably traumatized that you don’t know how to accept the available help. Marquan is now 23 years old. He has struggled and has worked hard to try and get ahead and rectify some of his early mistakes. He is ready to start therapy and has a goal to go to college to work in the psychiatric social worker field. I couldn’t be more proud. When we spoke on the phone last week, I asked him what he needed to complete his goals. He talked of continuing to work hard so that he could get a car and start going to a community college. My birthday wish is to help Marquan get a cheap reliable car so that he can start to fulfill the potential that I have always seen in him.

If you can help Marquan, it would be the greatest birthday gift EVER!!!!!

Thank you in advance. All my love,

Danny