When entering the foster care system, kids usually don’t bring anything with them, except for the clothes they’re wearing. And a group of students from the Dubois County Leadership Academy wants to change that.
In order to graduate from the academy, students have to complete a capstone project. One team decided to do something about the foster care system here in Dubois County.
Amanda O’Brien is of the team members and explains how the idea for the project came to light.
They call their project ‘foster paks’ with paks spelled p-a-k-s. And this is not a typo. Another team member, Ryan Kelly, spoke with us and explained how they came up with the name.
Both O’Brien and Kelly say their ‘foster paks’ program wouldn’t be possible without some extra hands. So they decided to team up with the Department of Child Services.
O’Brien explains more about this partnership.
Each of these ‘paks’ is filled with essentials. O’Brien explains what this entails.
And these ‘paks’ not only help the kids, but it can also help the foster parents when a kid arrives. Kelly explains more about this.
The project holds a large impact, even for the team members.
Kelly explains how he felt throughout the project process.
The project impacts O’Brien in a slightly different way.
Their goal is to pack 100 of these ‘foster paks’ for children entering the state’s foster care system.
Right now they’re in the process of taking donations. Donations still needed include deodorant, diapers, feminine hygiene products, pajamas ranging from 0 to 8+, reading books, shampoo, toothbrush, and toothpaste.
If you want to help, donations can be dropped off at the public libraries located in Ferdinand, Huntingburg, and Jasper, as well as the Family Dollar in Huntingburg or St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The donation deadline is August 1st.
