May is Foster Care Awareness Month!
Welcome to Willie Garson’s Foster Care Awareness Month fundraiser. Willie Garson is fundraising to help connect older kids in foster care to loving parents!
Since adopting his son Nathen at 7 years old from foster care in 2010, Garson has been a vocal champion of adoption through foster care.
To celebrate May as Foster Care Awareness Month, Willie wants to add to his previous efforts by raising $40,000 to support YGB's mission to connect the most vulnerable kids in foster care to the loving and permanent families they need and deserve! He needs your help!
“Adopting Nathen changed my life,” Willie says. “Every kid needs a family that loves them like I love Nathen, and you get so much back when you’re a parent. That's why I'm asking you to donate to YGB and help find every kid in foster care the family they deserve."
Willie’s fundraising comes at a crucial time for YGB, as COVID-19 sheds light on the precarious situations that young people face as they age out of the foster care system. In a time of crisis, when we all need a safe place to shelter, many are turning to family – but too many older foster kids have nowhere to go. No one should have to face a crisis like this alone. YGB is working tirelessly to make sure that every foster child has a place to go when emergencies arise, where they can feel lifelong support and unconditional love.
By donating to You Gotta Believe, you can help other teenagers and young adults find loving and supportive families. To learn more about the impact of this organization, watch this beautiful video of the Toles Family.
ABOUT YOU GOTTA BELIEVE
Today, more than 400,000 children are in foster care in the US, and every year, as many as 17,000 of them will age out of the foster care system. Without the safety net of a forever family to provide the security and comfort most take for granted, these young people are left on their own to face a future filled with hardships — from lack of education to unemployment, higher rates of incarceration, poor health, early parenthood and homelessness (as much as 40 percent of these kids will experience this devastation in their lifetimes). In New York City alone, there are hundreds of kids currently awaiting adoption, with more than 900 kids on the verge of aging out.
COVID-19 has created many challenges that disproportionately impact kids in foster care and young people who have aged out without being connected to a loving family. Imagine yourself at 19, 21, or 24. Imagine being alone in New York during the pandemic and needing to shelter in place all by yourself. What if you lose your job? Your apartment? What do you do? Where do you go? Who do you call when you don’t have a family?
It’s moments like this that You Gotta Believe's work to connect older kids in foster care is more critical than ever. Finding a family should always be the number one priority for every child in foster care. There is no substitute for the support it provides throughout live, and especially when emergencies arise.