Main fundraiser photo

Help Houston Foster Closet Expand

For Families Like Us 

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

 Quick question? 

What is common between Babe Ruth, Eleanor Roosevelt, Edgar Allan Poe and J. R. R. Tolkien? 

Yes, you are right! They all grew up in foster or kinship care.

The system is a scary place for children.  Even in a bad home environment with chaos, neglect or abuse, being removed from everything a child knows is terrifying.  The experience of having to live with strangers, often a series of strangers without any control is frightful.  Having this lack of control creates continual insecurity.  The familiarity of what is their own becomes invaluable.

http://www.forfamilieslikeus.org

For Families like Us is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing personal items to children in foster and kinship care, helping to fill a gap, often times present during transitions.   We understand that providing basic items go beyond material things.  It bridges a gap of being someone in need, someone’s charity to someone who is empowered and has choices, someone who matters.

We understand  the challenges in foster care—one of our founders grew up in foster care, moving from one home to another with only the clothes on his back, and all of his belongings in a garbage bag. 

This scenario is real.  There are over 427,910 children in foster care as of September 30, 2015.  Less than twenty (20) percent stay at a home for 5 years or more.



The second founder offer’s a foster parent’s perspective.  She recalled a phone call, late in the afternoon, informing her that her foster child was ready to be picked up within a few hours.  It was early in the evening after all stacks of paperwork was completed.  The child was a two year old boy, underweight and had been in an emergency placement home for two weeks.   As the social worker introduces this young boy, a noticeably worn-out car seat was offered along with a bag resembling a tennis racket case.  The need to ease the young boy’s fears and introduce him into his new place was the immediate thought.  Soon after, as the child has laid down to bed, she inspected the items in the bag, only to discover clothing for a young girl, undergarments and clothing that were either for a young girl or an older boy… a few that were for a boy around 6 years old.   Her second placement arrived within an hour’s notice.  This second child was three months old.  He arrived with only a few cans of milk, a pack of diapers, blanket and onesie.

http://www.forfamilieslikeus.org

When a child enters the foster, kinship care system, they usually come with little to no personal items.   What personal belongings they do have are placed in trash bags and shuttled along with the child from one placement to another.   

Experiencing this first hand, both founders have felt a strong urge for some time now to become a resource to the children and their foster families.  We have begun working  with agencies in the local Houston and surrounding areas as well. There is a need and we want to help.   This advocacy is the basis of our organization’s foundation.

http://www.forfamilieslikeus.org

Following our founding in January 2017, we have been growing with several programs for children in foster and kinship  care. The Clothing Closet is our most successful program, where children in foster care shop for apparel at no cost. Currently, we are operating from an industrial storage facility.

 


Funding Goal

We plan to relocate the service to a facility which is more accessible to all the kids in foster care. For growing the operations, we are seeking $10K. 100 percent of the funds are for managing the facility.

 http://www.forfamilieslikeus.org

Why GoFundMe

GoFundMe is our platform of choice as we have seen patrons not only support some of the most interesting not-for-profit campaigns but also provide valuable advice to charitable causes. Yes, we proudly support many of these campaigns We value the wisdom of the community, and believe you could help our dreams come true. Thank you!

http://www.forfamilieslikeus.org

Organizer

Robert Moore
Organizer
Houston, TX
For Families Like Us
 
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.

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