What We Do
In partnership with local, fully accredited agencies, Fostering Wishes serves area foster children in the greater East Bay area through various programs.
Holiday Gift Drive
During the holiday season, Fostering Wishes provides presents to hundreds of foster children to brighten their holidays and feel cherished by the community. In this signature program, Fostering Wishes partners with area businesses to host small trees with gift tags. The gifts are then collected and delivered to local foster care agencies.
Fostering Wishes has distributed tens of thousands of dollars over the last six years. Fostering Wishes is blessed by a generous community, and due to all of our partners, we consistently grow from one year to the next! We use multiple agencies that have been carefully vetted in Contra Costa County. A record number of businesses hosted trees with gift tags and served as drop-off points for the gifts.
Please join us in ensuring no foster child is forgotten over the holidays. You can donate in several ways: 1) Log into our Amazon Wish List, which carries an assortment of toys and games for all genders and ages. 2) Find one of our more than 75 businesses hosting a Holiday Tree or display, or 3) Use GoFundMe for cash donations.
Duffel Bag Initiative
A foster child changes homes an average of seven times during their time in the foster care system, and most children only have large trash bags to carry their few belongings. To help them move in style and improve their self-worth, Fostering Wishes provides new duffel bags for each child. The bags are filled with toiletries, water bottles, school supplies, and other age-appropriate items. Duffel bags are always needed when new children enter the system.
High School Participation Fees: To be Launched
Many high school foster children cannot participate in afterschool sports, arts, cheerleading, band, and so on including such costs as prom, yearbooks because the costs are too prohibitive. When a foster child has a desire to and then provide the resources directly to the schools for those individuals. We want these kids to feel a part of something larger, and they can participate like the others.
Resource guide
In California, most kids “age out” of the foster care system between ages 18 and 21. At this point, they are expected to function as adults, despite they have they have not had guidance support of life skills training, including housing, finances, mental and physical health, and education or employment. Statistics indicate that most of these kids end up homeless and/or incarcerated, and onle a few enroll in higher education. To help foster youth become self-sufficient adults, Fostering Wishes has publish a guide of available resources. This guide is intended to help them identify and find financial assistance, health care, housing, counseling, and other needed services.
Trade School Scholarships: To be Launched
Kids that “age out” of the system are expected to function as adults, despite little preparation or training and ongoing challenges, including As shown above, statistics indicate that most of the kids are homeless and/or incarcerated, and very few enroll in trade schools or higher education.
We plan to provide scholarships for trade schools. Kids have many resources that provide scholarships to colleges and universities. However, there aren’t as many focused-on trade schools. As part of the scholarship, we will explore how to access their strengths and identify their passion, support their interests/passions and provide guidance and visibility into a variety of professions and trades to help youth become self-sufficient, successful and flourish.