Every other kid in that dorm gets a package from home during finals. Kids who aged out of care watch that happen for four years.
The box costs $40. The part that matters is that it shows up again in the spring.
Send the Finals-Week Box
Former foster youth in college have nobody mailing them snacks in December. Adopt one student and send the box every finals week for four years.
What you'll need
- A campus foster-youth support office, or a program like Fostering Success
- A flat-rate box — snacks, coffee, a gift card, socks, a real note
- Four reminders in your phone, one per finals week
Pitfalls
- Go through the campus program. Don't try to find a student on your own.
- Sign your name and say you'll write again. Anonymous boxes feel like charity, not like someone.
- Keep going in the summer and over Christmas break. Those are the empty weeks, when the dorms close and there's nowhere to go.
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. — Psalm 68:5