Next in our series of posts about new Charitocracy nominees, we have Because We Can - 2018, a fundraiser hosted at nominee Together We Rise. It was recently nominated by donor SuZQ. So let's welcome Together We Rise to our charity of the month club! You can find their web site here.
A few words on Charitocracy
Firstly, for newcomers: the cause with the most votes each month wins the pot. No matter how much or how little you contribute, each donor at Charitocracy gets one vote. This is where charity meets democracy. So share this post and ask your friends to vote! That's how we spread the word and, as a result, grow the monthly pot. Yay!
Until a donor changes their vote, votes carry over from month to month. So do the nominated causes. So part of the fun of Charitocracy is the cumulative aspect, watching a charity's support grow over time as it breaks into the Top 10, the Top 3, and hopefully eventually #1. It's unusual for a cause to go straight from nomination to winner in the same month, though it has happened. Most recently: Hurricane Harvey relief for Houston and Hurricane Maria relief for Puerto Rico. But in most cases, it's a slow steady rise to the top over many months.
In this case, SuZQ has nominated a limited-time fundraiser at Together We Rise. More details below, but if Together We Rise wins the pot after this fundraiser's May 1 deadline, that's fine. We'll either earmark another similar fundraiser at TWR or let TWR choose how to use the funds. All good!
About Because We Can - 2018
Last March while Molly was still in foster care with us she decided she wanted to help find a way we could help other foster kids like herself. She remembered what it was like for her to leave her home and come to move in with us.
Initially entering foster care is probably one of the scariest days any kid could ever face. At a moments notice they are told to pack whatever they can fit into a trash bag. Told that they can no longer live at they only home they've ever known. That they are going to have to live with strangers now. That can be pretty terrifying for any child. Sadly throughout a child's time in foster care they may be bounced between foster homes time and time again for a number of reasons.
With that thought in mind Molly wanted to raise money to create Sweet Cases, a type of care package, in the form of a decorated duffel bags filled with a stuffed animal bear and some basic necessities to help these kids with their move into foster care. These duffel bags also serve as permanent piece of luggage these children can call their own to use over and over if needed. For every $25 raised we can put together one bag for a child. If we can add a small ray of light to the process, give it a little more dignity, perhaps even make that day even a little less scary for these kids then why wouldn't we try?
About nominee Together We Rise
Every day, 1200 kids enter foster care in the United States. We are a non-profit that changes the way they experience the system.
Together We Rise is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization comprised of motivated young adults and former foster youth. Our vision is to improve the lives of foster children in America, who often find themselves forgotten and neglected by the public. We collaborate with community partners to bring resources to foster youth and use service-learning activities to educate volunteers on issues surrounding the foster care system.
TWR works with hundreds of foster agencies, social workers, CASA advocates, and other partners to bring our programs to foster youth across the nation. Our foundation has allowed us to provide thousands of foster youth across the country with new bicycles, college supplies, and suitcases so that children do not have to travel from home to home with their belongings in a trash bag.
So visit the page of nominee Together We Rise on Charitocracy to vote for, like, or discuss this cause! And finally, check out this touching video about Together We Rise's mission:
Hi Everybody,
I’m going to be honest, this is my first time on this page other than giving my credit card information. I count on you good folks to make the best decisions with my monthly donation. I’m pretty laid back about this sort of thing and trust you will choose well.
But today I have something to talk about. Today I am going to tell you about Molly’s care package for foster kids campaign.
For you to understand why it is so important, I’m going to tell you a bit more about myself than I normally tell anybody.
I was a foster kid. I was not the average foster kid. I was not ripped away. I was a strong kid who knew that my environment was bad and I got myself into the system to save myself. Unfortunately, when I went, my mother threw out everything I owned because “she paid for it so it was not mine”.
The first foster home that I went to was in Worcester. The parents there had only had one kid before me and she had run away by setting an alarm clock and escaping through her bedroom window. To avoid this, I was not allowed an alarm clock. I was also not allowed to eat or drink when I wanted or how much I wanted, even at meals. I owned nothing and the family was unwilling to spend their own money on me. My stipend had not come through yet so I got hand me downs. I was a 12 year old girl, starting at an inner city school, wearing hand me downs from my foster father. They didn’t fit. I was humiliated. I stuck out like a sore thumb and my already bad situation was made worse by being spit on as I walked him from school. Home…where I owned nothing and was nothing. After about a week, DSS removed me from that home, empty handed.
I was sent to live with a Hispanic family who didn’t speak English. I asked if they would bring me to the galleria mall so I could hang out and they never came back to get me. I begged strangers for a dime to use the payphone to call my sister. She must have made calls. On to the next house. Still empty handed.
I spent a few nights here and a few nights there until I was finally sent to live with a foster mother was SO nice but she had a daughter of her own and already had a high risk foster kid with her. It was clear it was temporary and she did not receive any money to buy me anything either. That was a hard one to leave because she sincerely wanted me and I finally felt safe there. Off to the next house, empty handed.
Finally I was sent to live with the perfect family for me in western, MA. They immediately made sure that had the basics and saved their receipts. My first night there my foster father, who worked at a lumber yard, brought home paint samples and asked me what color I wanted me room. It was painted purple within a week. I got new bedding and clothes. I was given dignity.
Present day I am one heck of a lucky woman. I am married to a fantastic man and we have one pretty great teenage son. We have a nice home in NH. We love each other and love to travel. I’m a great mom and have avoided going down the road that perhaps genetics and nurture might have brought me down.
About ten years ago I headed a bag drive of my own and was able to deliver a full truck load of backpacks and luggage to DCYF in Manchester, NH. This cause is very, very personal and very, very important to me.
A day or two ago this campaign popped up that hit me right in the feels. Molly was a foster child until she was adopted last year. She knows how it feels to have nothing and waned to do something about it. So, with the help of her amazing dad, she started a campaign to make welcome bags for foster kids. Every $25 donated gives a decorated bag with a teddy bear and basic essentials to a foster child in need.
Please see the following link for more info and please consider voting. It would mean the world to both of us and all of the kids who get those bags.
Last year she reached $6000! That’s 240 bags. If we can add $1500 to her total she can reach 300 bags. THREE HUNDRED BAGS!