In partnership with Lifesong for Orphans, The Forgotten Initiative, seeks to bring joy and purpose to the foster care community.
They have many different avenues of how we can get involved and one is creating "Journey Bags" for your local foster care agency--ultimately reaching foster kids in your community. What is a Journey Bag you ask? Children often come into foster care with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Journey Bags are backpacks filled with personal items for kids to have when they are abruptly taken out of their homes.
I invite you to listen in as Heather, a foster mom, shares the impact these Journey Bags had on her foster kiddos!
Last night at midnight three precious little beauties showed up on my doorstep. They each had with them a blanket, a stuffed animal, and a book bag....their Journey Bags of course. I kept waiting for more, anything more, but nothing came. The investigator told me that yes indeed this was all they had.
Our 5 year old had come with shoes which were so bad they had to be thrown away, one of our two year olds had no shoes, the other two year old had two left shoes. When I asked about getting anything out of the home the investigator said it just wasn't going to be possible. The kids had nothing. There worldly possessions consisted of Journey Bags. As I stared at those bags I began to cry. What if no one took the time to fill those bags and deliver them. What would our children have then. Absolutely nothing. Nothing to claim as their own, nothing to protect or cherish. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for my kiddos Journey Bags.
--Heather, Foster Mom
Interested in reaching out to your foster care community through journey bags? Check out The Forgotten Initiative's website to find out more!
We'd love to hear form you! What are other ways that YOU are reaching out to your foster care community?