WARD Challenge-Sheldon Transitioning Youth Fund

So far we have raised almost $12,000.00 to help our youth on their path to adulthood. With the community coming together over the next month, how much can we raise? 

Can we get to $25,000 by Valentine’s Day? 
The CHARLIE WARD Challenge is on!

To take on the challenge, create a team, or make a donation; Every bit helps our kids build better, brighter futures.  Help us raise funds to support youth aging out of foster care.


Legendary sports figure Charlie Ward recently hosted a reception at Dave and Busters – Dolphin Mall, to benefit  Our Kids’ George H. Sheldon Transitioning Youth Fund.. As the special guest, the NCAA National Champion, Heisman Trophy Winner, James Sullivan Award Winner, Johnny Unitas Award Winner, Davey O’Brien Award Winner, College Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Florida Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, Retired NBA Player, and adoptive parent of a former foster youth, Ward was touched by the recount of a foster child’s experience as they went through foster care only to end up aging out of the system with no forever family and without a person they can count on.  Ward was so moved by his belief that all youth need continued supports as they begin their journey to adulthood that the celebrity sports figure pledged a $2,500 personal donation to fund the needs of the young adults receiving in Transitioning Youth Services. Ward also went on to issue a challenge of his own,  the CHARLIE WARD Challenge; and  encouraged  the community to meet or beat his pledge. 

Ward spoke of his own adopted son and the challenges his son faced when he joined the Ward family at age 11.  The now-coach shared how his son, now 23, still suffers from separation anxiety whenever he or his wife travel away from home; a residual effect of the trauma his son experienced from his abuse and time in foster care before joining the Ward family.  His son, like so many of our youth who age out of foster care, continues to experience the lingering impacts of the abuse which landed him in the dependency system, as well as the impacts of growing up in foster care. However, he has the good fortune of having found caring, understanding and dedicated parents, who adopted him and continue to give him the support he needs to manage and overcome his challenges; unlike the youth who age out of foster care and often find themselves unprepared for the responsibilities and demands of adulthood and feel they have no one to whom they can turn other than Our Kids. 

Either as groups or individual donors, how many are willing to take on the CHARLIE WARD Challenge - to raise the funds needed to ensure our youth who age out of foster care are giving resources and assistance they need to that they may build skills, garner knowledge, create stable connections, and develop the self-confidence to build a happy, healthy, successful adulthood? With the community coming together over the next month, how much can we raise? Can we get to $25,000 by Valentine’s Day?



The CHARLIE WARD Challenge is on!