By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
Region – Each year, thousands of children in Massachusetts are placed into foster care. While many of the basic primary needs of these children are met by the foster families, there is often not enough financial resources left to provide for some of the extra activities that are part of so many children’s lives and that help them grow into healthy adults.
But over the past six years, the nonprofit organization Rise Above Foundation has helped to pay for fun and enriching activities for over 1,000 kids in foster care.
In doing so, they give kids who have already been through so much trauma in their young lives the chance to have the same opportunities their peers have, according to Sarah Baldiga, MS, who cofounded the organization in 2009 with Wade Sulzman.
Based in Northbridge, the all-volunteer organization is funded by donations from private individuals as well as businesses. As such, Rise Above has paid for individual requests for music, dance and art lessons and registrations for sports activities.
These types of experiences not only provide comfort and build self-esteem; they also provide a sense of normalcy for the kids.
Sometimes the organization pays for special outings, such as the time 20 young girls were invited to go to a Worcester salon for a day of pampering. On another occasion, several girls were treated to a party at the American Girl store in Natick.
“Our goal is to make it a very special occasion,” Baldiga noted. “We try to go that extra step and help them forget just for a moment the circumstances they are in and instead, just feel like any other kid.”
For one teen, not only did he receive tickets to a Boston Bruins game for him and his girlfriend, but also received dinner and a limousine ride.
The impacts of the foundation’s gifts often extend beyond the initial gesture.
One teen, who had been attending music therapy to help cope with the traumatic aftermath of losing his father and being abandoned by his mother, received a guitar from the foundation.
As he explained in a thank-you note, the gift would be used as a “coping skill for when I get mad?I will play my favorite songs and I will be in a much better space.”
For one girl, the gift of a new dress helped to alleviate her anxiety about attending her prom and helped to make it “one of the best nights of my life.”
“I had one of the nicest dresses at prom,” she wrote in a note. “I stood out and this time it was in a good way. I had fun and wasn’t worried about people looking at me or judging me because I felt beautiful just like every girl should – even girls who are in foster care.”
According to the organization, only three percent of children in foster care go onto college. So to help those students show they are not forgotten, Rise Above holds a supply drive twice a year for items that are then put into care packages and sent to the students.
“It’s stressful enough going to college,” Baldiga said. “But for a kid who doesn’t have a strong support system it can be overwhelming. This is just a way to help support, encourage and cheer them on.”
The organization will be accepting items, gift cards and monetary donations for the next drive until Sunday, March 15. For a complete list of desired items and more information on the organization, visit www.weriseabove.org or call 855-246-8850.
Photos/Submitted