Latest / Adventures in Adversity: an inspirational podcast / Ep. 50: Building brighter futures for foster kids with Fostering Wishes founder Sabine Lemmo

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Ep. 50: Building brighter futures for foster kids with Fostering Wishes founder Sabine Lemmo · Adventures in Adversity: an inspirational podcast

• 0:00
  We are back with another episode.
• 0:03
  I always love doing the intro because that means I'm welcoming
• 0:06
  another fantastic guest and welcome for those of you who
• 0:11
  have not listened before. Adventures in Adversity is an
• 0:15
  inspirational podcast where fantastic guests come on and
• 0:19
  really just talk about how they've gotten through
• 0:22
  adversity, how they help other people get through adversity,
• 0:27
  and we reflect on life and try to create open conversations.
• 0:31
  So with that, I'm going to introduce my friend Sabine.
• 0:36
  Thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:38
  I'm going to talk about you now and then you're going to thank.
• 0:40
  You for having me? Be embarrassed, no.
• 0:43
  So Sabine, you, I met you at a three WB Wisdom Wealth
• 0:47
  well-being event probably 6-7 months ago.
• 0:51
  I believe so, yeah. And the, the reason being your,
• 0:56
  your nonprofit that you founded was the group that we were the,
• 1:02
  the, the nonprofit that we were raising money for at this event
• 1:06
  and that is Fostering Wishes. So Sabine, tell us about
• 1:12
  Fostering Wishes. Tell us about yourself, how this
• 1:16
  amazing organization came to be in the world.
• 1:20
  Yes, I'd love to. My favorite subject is the
• 1:24
  foster children. Not me.
• 1:27
  My husband and I decided to foster children more because I
• 1:31
  didn't know if I wanted children.
• 1:32
  So with fosters, you could give them back.
• 1:34
  That was the real reason. It was not a selfless reason.
• 1:38
  It was whether or not I wanted to be.
• 1:40
  Had no maternal instincts. So was this the right thing for
• 1:43
  me? And so we took the classes.
• 1:46
  I read newspapers during the most of it.
• 1:49
  And I was called for the first foster child who came running to
• 1:55
  me in little dirty diapers and holy T-shirt.
• 2:00
  And I fell in love with not only her who became my daughter, I
• 2:04
  fell in love with all foster children and all children.
• 2:07
  To tell you the truth, it was like a 5 minute.
• 2:11
  All of a sudden this is this was it.
• 2:12
  This was my, my, my calling. And the first daughter I just
• 2:17
  spoke to you about that We've adopted.
• 2:20
  And then we had 24 other foster kids came through and it was
• 2:25
  just, it's really, really hard to understand.
• 2:28
  Anybody that doesn't have a, doesn't get impacted by the
• 2:31
  tails and the plight of these children.
• 2:33
  You can see it in their eyes. You can see it in their
• 2:36
  expressions and their behavior. These kids.
• 2:40
  The, the most traumatic part, I'm like what people think,
• 2:44
  which is moving home to home is what people believe the most
• 2:46
  traumatic is being pulled from your biological parents.
• 2:49
  So no matter what their biological parents have done,
• 2:54
  you know, neglect, abuse, though, that's their family.
• 2:57
  That's the family they know. So you're tearing them away from
• 3:01
  that family. And I've never had a child of
• 3:05
  the 25 that didn't love their biological parents and want to
• 3:09
  be back. So it's, and then you have the,
• 3:15
  the on top of that is that they're going from foster home
• 3:17
  to foster home. They stay in the foster system
• 3:19
  very long. It could be up to seven homes.
• 3:23
  And it just increases that, that trauma.
• 3:28
  The point of the the whole foster care program or social
• 3:31
  services, though, is to reunite, keep those, keep that family
• 3:35
  together, which is the right thing to do.
• 3:38
  Yeah, yeah. You don't want to pull that
• 3:40
  child away for that should be the last resort.
• 3:43
  But once it does happen, especially the older kids, we'll
• 3:49
  jump around from foster home to foster home, not only the foster
• 3:52
  homes, but schools. So they could go to seven
• 3:55
  different school districts or what have you.
• 3:57
  I mean, that's extreme case, but nonetheless, I think you get the
• 4:00
  point. Can you imagine going to a
• 4:02
  different school? We got a little too old to
• 4:05
  foster continuing, and that's when I started the nonprofit.
• 4:09
  It's fostering Wishes. Yep.
• 4:11
  What we're meant to do is, is kind of fill the gaps in the
• 4:15
  foster system for the younger kids and we are now turning
• 4:20
  towards the older kids, which to me are the most vulnerable of
• 4:24
  the vulnerable. First with a program that helps
• 4:29
  them pay for the fees for high school that high school doesn't
• 4:32
  pay. So they always so they feel they
• 4:35
  belong and they're part of their peers.
• 4:38
  So whether it's the shoes for football, transportation, prom,
• 4:43
  prom, dress, whatever it takes for that child to feel that they
• 4:46
  belong to the school they're attending.
• 4:48
  And then we also pay for trade school scholarships, vocational
• 4:54
  scholarships. Ideally would like to spend time
• 4:58
  trying to figure out what these what their passions are of these
• 5:01
  of these children. Often they have no idea.
• 5:04
  They have no clue. They've never been given any
• 5:06
  guidance or that. Yeah, yeah, 5% will maybe make
• 5:11
  it to college and, but, and college is free for foster
• 5:13
  children, but they, they haven't been given that guidance.
• 5:16
  So OK, but back to the passion. So develop their you know what
• 5:21
  is their passion and then give them a financial wherewithal to
• 5:24
  to find a vocation license for something they enjoy doing.
• 5:30
  Yeah. And so.
• 5:32
  Go ahead. No, no, please.
• 5:34
  So you started, What year did you start fostering wishes?
• 5:38
  2017. 2017. It was a one man show until
• 5:42
  about 2020. Yeah, I started with the
• 5:45
  Starbucks 1A single Starbucks a a single holiday frame, which is
• 5:50
  our signature program. Yep.
• 5:52
  Starbucks where you put? And I remember before I had even
• 5:55
  met you in at our, in our local city in Danville, CA, we, I
• 6:02
  would always see Christmas trees at Starbucks locally because I
• 6:05
  work there a lot. And that that was a way to give
• 6:11
  money, donate gifts or one of your big sort of the holiday Dr.
• 6:15
  Right, right. Exactly and.
• 6:17
  I. No, please go ahead.
• 6:19
  Sorry. I was going to say I think the
• 6:21
  holiday Dr's amazing and I saw what what you guys did this past
• 6:24
  December, but what I learned from you is what I don't didn't
• 6:28
  even think about. It's the daily, those seemingly
• 6:33
  little things that are actually turned out to be the big things
• 6:37
  like the duffel bags. So tell me about that for for
• 6:40
  people that might be listening, that might just know that
• 6:42
  fostering is you. You go to someone else's home if
• 6:45
  you're moving, there's a lot of trauma there.
• 6:49
  And absolutely, absolutely again, it's it's a whole, it's
• 6:53
  being uprooted again, again, simple.
• 6:55
  But they are given traditionally a black trash bag to move their
• 7:01
  belongings. And at first I didn't think, I
• 7:06
  didn't think it was very nice, but I started hearing the kids
• 7:09
  saying that they felt like trash.
• 7:11
  It convinced them that they were trashed.
• 7:14
  That's when we started the duffel bag program because no
• 7:17
  child, no child should feel like trash.
• 7:19
  And it isn't a very dignified way of moving belongings, the
• 7:24
  meager belongings that they have in a big black trash trash.
• 7:29
  It was disgusting. So by the way, 4 states have now
• 7:33
  passed laws that children's services cannot give out these
• 7:38
  black trash bags. And I hope that California joins
• 7:40
  suit. That's great.
• 7:42
  And again, you know, these are all symbols.
• 7:44
  They're not. Yeah, in and of itself, it's not
• 7:47
  huge, but it's a symbol. Yes.
• 7:51
  They don't need negative. And so it, it's, and I'm going
• 7:57
  to link to all of the places where your Instagram page for
• 8:00
  fostering wishes, your website, you can learn more.
• 8:03
  But if anyone feels compelled to donate, this is where your money
• 8:08
  goes. It goes to funding those trade
• 8:10
  school scholarships, the duffel bags, the holiday drives like,
• 8:16
  but I, I just love that it's those daily things that every
• 8:19
  time they pick up the duffel bag, they're like, OK, like I'm,
• 8:24
  it's just like you said, that visual reminder that I'm like
• 8:28
  everybody else, like I put my stuff in a bag.
• 8:31
  And duffel bags are meant to Hey, you have dignity.
• 8:33
  Let's let's, we'll move you in dignity and the holiday Dr. The
• 8:38
  gifts are not meant for the gifts themselves.
• 8:40
  I, I mean, obviously the child likes the, the legos or
• 8:44
  whatever, but it's also meant to show, hey, the community cares.
• 8:48
  Yes, you are, you are loved. Yes, this is the way we're
• 8:51
  showing you. And I think can you tell me,
• 8:55
  umm, so you fostering wishes helps local Bay Area foster
• 8:59
  kids. Can you tell me a little bit
• 9:01
  about like approximately how many foster kids in the Bay Area
• 9:06
  or the like, just to give people an idea of.
• 9:10
  Course, yes, actually most people don't think we have
• 9:13
  foster children Contra Costa gown and that is a misnomer.
• 9:16
  We do. It is declining.
• 9:18
  That's a good thing. It's good.
• 9:19
  So we're about 900 in Contra Costa and about 1100 in Alameda.
• 9:25
  OK. So we 2000, yeah, 2000 kids,
• 9:32
  everything we do goes directly to the children.
• 9:35
  So the social workers don't hand gift to the duffel bag, whatever
• 9:41
  it is directly to the child. So we, our goal is the children.
• 9:46
  It's it's, we make a real strong point of that because you just
• 9:53
  don't, you don't want to end up in the in.
• 9:57
  Yes. And so and and you were telling
• 10:02
  me too, like regardless of the area you live in, whether it's
• 10:06
  affluent, whether it's not, it doesn't.
• 10:08
  There's all the different socioeconomic foster children
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  are in need everywhere. Would you say?
• 10:15
  Absolutely. Drugs, neglect are happening
• 10:19
  everywhere and it's not isolated to east part of Oakland or
• 10:23
  wherever It is not it's it's it's throughout both the fluent
• 10:28
  and not so affluent. Yeah.
• 10:32
  And, and it, I love what Fostering Wishes is doing.
• 10:37
  And when we were talking before this episode and what we've
• 10:41
  talked over coffee and all of that.
• 10:44
  Let's talk about like the kids, you know, the stories that
• 10:48
  you've seen, you know, since 2017 and then obviously with
• 10:52
  your own daughter. Tell me some of the amazing sort
• 10:57
  of stories or experiences you've had where like you've seen a
• 11:00
  foster child or adolescent be given the resources and like
• 11:05
  really it changed things. What comes to mind?
• 11:10
  When is children, typically when these children first come into
• 11:14
  your home, they're lost, you know, they have no idea where
• 11:18
  they are. They have no idea.
• 11:19
  They have no idea when they go to bed, who they're going to be
• 11:22
  with the following day, where they're going to wake up.
• 11:24
  And it's just, it's just so heartbreaking to to see, I mean,
• 11:31
  I've not just one, I've had probably two or three foster
• 11:34
  kids really not know where they are in the morning.
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  They don't know. They don't know, they don't know
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  if they've been moved, they don't know what have you.
• 11:41
  So these little things, the, the, the gifts, the well, first,
• 11:45
  what's most important is the love, right?
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  And the caring. And that's obviously so
• 11:51
  critical. It doesn't take much to make
• 11:54
  these kids happy and to feel that they are loved.
• 11:59
  But then also the, you know, the pajamas, a good gift or whatever
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  it is just yeah, we care. 12 and up for that matter, like.
• 12:20
  Gift cards they do want to buy. They want to buy their own
• 12:31
  thing. They want to feel hey, they're
• 12:33
  in control. That's let me go back.
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  The control is another big, big part of their childhood.
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  They'll hoard granola bars behind their pillows.
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  They they, they do things just they want to control.
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  And with a gift card, they can control what they want to get.
• 12:54
  And so. Yeah.
• 12:56
  That's no and and it was really amazing to see like the
• 13:02
  outpouring in the community of people who want to give and the
• 13:06
  notes that were written like, Hey, when you read this, just
• 13:09
  know that you're loved, like enjoy something, you know, and
• 13:12
  they're never going to meet that person that gets the gift card.
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  But there's a moment when that kid, that teenager opens it and
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  is like, you know, or I mean, they can take a breath for 15
• 13:23
  minutes and go get something and then feel like, you know, it's,
• 13:27
  it doesn't solve everything, but it does make the journey that
• 13:30
  they're they're on have moments of.
• 13:35
  Hope and love, absolutely. You're and you're right.
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  It's not going to solve the world's problems by any stretch,
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  but it's a step in the right direction.
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  And it's also, you know, step on.
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  Hey, we understand. We understand what you're going
• 13:48
  through. You're not alone.
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  It's probably the one of the biggest, biggest issues we try
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  to deal with throughout all ages, especially high school.
• 14:00
  You belong. You do belong.
• 14:02
  Yeah. You are a great person.
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  You are awesome. We actually, especially our
• 14:07
  duffel bags. We have inspirational little
• 14:10
  notepads. You are awesome, you, I and we.
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  We just want them to see see the positives of themselves.
• 14:21
  Now would you say in both counties here locally is are
• 14:27
  there enough foster parents or is that always a problem like
• 14:31
  having enough foster homes? It is always a problem.
• 14:35
  There's no doubt having the right to.
• 14:37
  Yes, but it's getting better. Yeah.
• 14:40
  So it is getting better, believe it or not.
• 14:42
  Not to say that anybody in your audience shouldn't go in and
• 14:45
  talk to their children services and see if they need him.
• 14:48
  I'm not. It's not across the board.
• 14:51
  I do know that it's not. It used to be tough one or two
• 14:56
  years ago. It's getting a little bit
• 14:57
  better. But they always need good, good
• 15:01
  foster homes. Yeah.
• 15:03
  Doing it for the right reason. Right.
• 15:07
  Yeah. Are there, are there any I know
• 15:11
  fostering wishes has the trade school scholarships, the duffel
• 15:14
  bags. Are there things that like, you
• 15:20
  know, everyday people can do like in their community through,
• 15:25
  you know, through donations, through like, is it really all
• 15:28
  about contacting if you're interested in fostering, is it
• 15:33
  going to social services in your local area?
• 15:35
  Is that the first step like? Yeah, typically, typically some
• 15:39
  counties like Contra Costa and Alameda have basically
• 15:44
  subcontracted out their foster families and they go to FFAS,
• 15:48
  which is a foster family agency, OK.
• 15:51
  And they recruit the foster family agency.
• 15:54
  FFA recruits their own foster children, but and they are
• 15:59
  county children. These children belong to the
• 16:01
  county sort of state and so going to starting off in
• 16:07
  children Protective Services is the best place to start.
• 16:10
  If you are thinking about it in any of Alameda or Contra Costa,
• 16:14
  I'd be happy to to give you the names of the FFA and the and the
• 16:19
  contacts. So.
• 16:21
  We vet, we actually vet all of our agencies.
• 16:24
  We want to make sure that she's gifts are going to the right
• 16:27
  places. We also have want it.
• 16:29
  It's really important for us to have relationships with the
• 16:33
  agencies because we want to know if we're on the right track.
• 16:35
  We want to know if the kids need something else.
• 16:37
  So we've we really have great, great relations.
• 16:41
  Yeah. You had mentioned that one of
• 16:44
  the the head of the agency came in the van and picked up all the
• 16:47
  stuff himself. That's.
• 16:49
  Cool. And so if someone's thinking
• 16:54
  about it, you know, I think if it's something that's probably
• 16:58
  like, I like this phrase, like it's on your heart, it's
• 17:00
  pulling, it's something that's pulling at you.
• 17:03
  And I think it's tell me about your experience too.
• 17:08
  And like what a gift it can be. And obviously I've met your
• 17:12
  daughter and she's fantastic. And like your relationship, it
• 17:15
  reminds me of like my mom and me where you're just it's funny,
• 17:20
  like you're bantering and tell me about like you know, you.
• 17:25
  It's interesting that you just had said you didn't have you
• 17:27
  didn't know if you have maternal instincts and they yet it all
• 17:30
  and then here you are. You know what I mean?
• 17:32
  It's interesting. Foster kids change the lives of
• 17:35
  the families they come into. Yeah, you get so much more than
• 17:40
  you give. I can't begin to tell you how
• 17:43
  much I I got from each and every child.
• 17:46
  It's just it, you know, just filled a hole in inside me.
• 17:53
  You try, you know, you have to, you do have to give me back most
• 17:57
  of the time. And you try to do the best you
• 18:00
  can for the time that you've had them and, you know, remember
• 18:03
  that they're they're going to the right place.
• 18:09
  And it's usually hopefully relatives or back to the
• 18:13
  parents, which ultimately is the best thing for that child.
• 18:18
  So it's designed to be temporary because the ultimate goal is to
• 18:22
  get them back to their family and a health situation.
• 18:27
  So right. So the fostering versus
• 18:30
  adoption, right? But it what a gift to be able to
• 18:34
  like, like you said, you fostered 25 kids to be able to
• 18:39
  help them through those periods and like go where the help is
• 18:42
  needed. And then when you know, I mean,
• 18:46
  it's you've altered the lives of 25 people like. 25 kids have
• 18:51
  come into my life that I'll always remember.
• 18:55
  Each one of them has a special memory and all that.
• 18:58
  So don't get me wrong though, there are foster children who
• 19:01
  don't get don't get reunified. Because.
• 19:05
  They're well, either drug abuse, you know, they can't get off of
• 19:10
  the drugs. Every every all the parents will
• 19:14
  receive a list of things that they need to accomplish before
• 19:16
  they get the child back. And some don't either imprisoned
• 19:23
  a variety of reasons. Yeah, but that is that should be
• 19:28
  and is the main goal. People don't realize that.
• 19:33
  Yes, yes, because. You're adding a little value to
• 19:39
  their lives while it's. Right that during that period
• 19:44
  it's like a rebuilding, right like where they and tell me how
• 19:47
  you came up with fostering the wishes part.
• 19:51
  Do you remember how you came up with fostering wishes as a name?
• 19:53
  Or if you don't, that's OK. No, I, I, I know it was my first
• 19:58
  thought was fostering dreams, but there was something about
• 20:02
  wishes that I just. Yeah.
• 20:04
  I know I fell so, but yeah, it really, yeah, it wasn't a hard
• 20:09
  struggle, but it is. Yeah, yeah.
• 20:13
  And I started, like I said, it was a one man show.
• 20:17
  Yeah, and now you do freezing. I know we did.
• 20:22
  We were waitresses at a local restaurant.
• 20:24
  The coolest community you know wants to give, you know, these
• 20:30
  kids and. You.
• 20:31
  You. Don't even know that you might
• 20:33
  be chatting with a foster kid or getting your cup of coffee from
• 20:38
  a barista that someone's in a foster home.
• 20:40
  Like it's very possible. Right.
• 20:43
  You'd be surprised at how many people have been touched to
• 20:48
  either by fostering or but mostly being fostered.
• 20:52
  And it's really, sometimes I hear it and it's like, I had no
• 20:56
  clue. Yeah, but it's a lot of lot of
• 21:01
  people, a lot of kids and a lot of now adults have been in the
• 21:06
  foster system at one point or another.
• 21:08
  Yes, yes, and you, you've also, I believe you've done some, you
• 21:14
  love to travel as well. You've you've seen, seen, I know
• 21:18
  fostering wishes local here. This is obviously a worldwide
• 21:23
  issue, right? We want to take care of all our
• 21:25
  kids everywhere. But you know, I love that you
• 21:30
  have like that worldview, but you also making that local
• 21:33
  impact is what you can do in your own community, you know?
• 21:38
  It's funny you said that because I'm not sure if I've even talked
• 21:40
  to you. I went to India for two months.
• 21:43
  India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka. Yeah, two months with my
• 21:46
  daughter. It was one of the mommy daughter
• 21:48
  trip, but we spent most of our time in the impoverished areas,
• 21:52
  so not we. Yes, we saw the Taj Mahal, but
• 21:55
  then we went, you know, two hours outside of Iowa.
• 21:59
  We wanted to know how the locals lived.
• 22:01
  I also wanted to know how what they did with the children that
• 22:04
  had been abandoned or where they, the parents had died,
• 22:09
  whatever the case may be, what what happens.
• 22:13
  And in all five countries that went to the answer was the
• 22:18
  community absorbs these children.
• 22:21
  It there's no foster system, it's just a given these children
• 22:26
  will be taken care of and it's a joint effort.
• 22:28
  It's a community effort. Talk about what we have so much
• 22:31
  to learn from other countries. It just it blows me away.
• 22:34
  So the community helps. I mean, the way they these
• 22:37
  people have nothing. I really, really have very
• 22:39
  little yet they're warm, welcoming.
• 22:41
  They brought us, I mean they invited us into their homes.
• 22:45
  The children seem happy, well adjusted.
• 22:48
  It is truly it's inspiring actually.
• 22:50
  You know, you want to come home and and get rid of everything it
• 22:56
  we have. In some ways we just have too
• 22:58
  much. But I do.
• 22:59
  But I the thing I care about the most is the community.
• 23:02
  That's what I get. That's what I want to bring
• 23:04
  back. How do we become a community
• 23:08
  that cares about one another, that helps each other out that,
• 23:12
  you know, Yeah. Absolutely no.
• 23:17
  I love that the community when you say like absorbs, it's like
• 23:20
  it's it's like setting an extra place at the table.
• 23:23
  Here's the I mean, it's just it's like a non negotiable.
• 23:26
  It's just it's. A non negotiable, it's a given.
• 23:31
  It's not a question, it's a given.
• 23:33
  And they may stay typically with one in one small little house,
• 23:38
  if you can call it a house, a shack, But it's it's the entire
• 23:42
  community that feeds them and makes sure that they're they're
• 23:45
  well, you know, they're happy or and they they're some grounded,
• 23:49
  amazing, I think symbolizer. Let's get down to the basics.
• 23:56
  Being present, yes, yes. What are you most excited about
• 24:02
  that's on the horizon for for fostering wishes?
• 24:05
  I know at various events there's like local community events, but
• 24:11
  is it just kind of continuing to do and provide?
• 24:14
  Is there anything coming up that you want to highlight or just
• 24:17
  reinforce? Put all the links to everything
• 24:21
  in the show notes. But there is I, I should have
• 24:23
  said we do have great community support.
• 24:26
  So as much as I talk about, you know, international and all
• 24:30
  that, yeah, we do have, the community is fantastic.
• 24:35
  We, we, you know, we had over 4000 presents.
• 24:39
  It's becoming a local thing. But what I'm probably at this
• 24:44
  point most proud of is so high school students usually come in
• 24:49
  during the holidays and attend 12 at a time, and they sort the
• 24:53
  gifts or whatever it needs to be done, gets the trees ready.
• 24:59
  Two years ago, we had Cal High kids come to our home and then
• 25:04
  sort the gifts in the garage. Four or five months later, I
• 25:08
  heard from them. They started a Fostering Wishes
• 25:10
  club on campus. So this was not my, I didn't
• 25:13
  initiate this. They did they they love the
• 25:16
  stories that they they heard when they're sorting the gifts
• 25:22
  and they decided they wanted to give back.
• 25:24
  So it's kids helping kids now. San Ramon has one Mona Vista and
• 25:30
  Doherty is starting one. And there's also a private high
• 25:33
  school. My gosh.
• 25:34
  So yeah, that's it's. That ripple effect and then
• 25:38
  that, that is amazing. I I just again, kids helping
• 25:44
  kids and this isn't it. This had nothing to do with me.
• 25:48
  I mean, they, they were felt empowered and and did it.
• 25:54
  That's. That's really great.
• 25:57
  That empathy. It spreads, you know, and it's
• 26:00
  like my dad always says, like many hands make light work like
• 26:04
  it's we have to all put in just volunteering or if you can give
• 26:09
  or you know, especially if you hear about someone being a
• 26:12
  foster kid or parent, like inviting, showing support, like
• 26:17
  making them feel just like any other kid, you know, and.
• 26:21
  That's and that's what they want.
• 26:23
  They don't want to be more special.
• 26:25
  They they want to, I keep saying the same word.
• 26:28
  Belong. They want to Yeah, they just
• 26:30
  want to belong. They want to be like everybody
• 26:32
  else. Yeah.
• 26:34
  They don't want a, you know, foster kids on their, on their
• 26:38
  tattooed on their forehead. They just want to be normal.
• 26:44
  Yeah, they want to blend in, but then also be able to like,
• 26:47
  express themselves and have fun and make a class and see what
• 26:52
  they like, see what they don't like.
• 26:53
  But you need some resources, you know.
• 26:56
  Yes, and that's true and especially the two, the programs
• 27:00
  for the older kids do require financial resources.
• 27:05
  The holiday Dr. is is mostly in kind Yeah, yeah, the presence
• 27:10
  and even yeah, same with devils. But yes.
• 27:13
  So it's all, it's sometimes a struggle, but it's important.
• 27:19
  And you know, society benefits if these children go and get
• 27:25
  vocation license or whatever, if they become self-sufficient, not
• 27:28
  only are they going to be happy, but they society will not be
• 27:33
  paying for the incarceration or the homelessness, whatever it
• 27:36
  is. So everyone is better off.
• 27:39
  Win, win, yeah. And I quite frankly, I'm getting
• 27:42
  tired of college scholarships because it just even beyond
• 27:46
  foster kids, not one size does not fit all.
• 27:49
  Success is not measured by the number of degrees you have.
• 27:52
  It's measured by how how fulfilled you are.
• 27:56
  So for every for every group that does college scholarships,
• 27:59
  I'm asking him to add a trade school scholarship.
• 28:03
  So. Well, like learn a trade, run
• 28:06
  your own business or even work for someone, but you can get in
• 28:09
  that flow state and produce something and help.
• 28:12
  And it's a essential service. And a lot of it makes you them
• 28:16
  feel great. Like you meet electricians,
• 28:21
  plumbers, contractors. Legit, they're amazing
• 28:25
  professions. They make more than lawyers and
• 28:28
  doctors in a lot of cases. It's just and if they are
• 28:31
  producing and they're self-sufficient one, they are
• 28:35
  more usually more proud of themselves and do better.
• 28:38
  And yeah, and especially back to the passion, if they're doing
• 28:42
  something, they really enjoy doing it really.
• 28:46
  And that's not just for foster kids.
• 28:48
  Yeah, it really is for all, all children that are not driven to
• 28:52
  go into higher education. And right now, it took me a
• 28:55
  while, by the way, my my daughter is took three years to
• 28:59
  go through DBC and she's taking a three-year, three gap years
• 29:02
  after that. She's not going to go to
• 29:03
  college. And it took me a while to
• 29:05
  realize it, but that's OK. Everybody's path is different,
• 29:09
  obviously, and things are changing so much.
• 29:11
  It's just the world is changing. But well, I'm going to put a
• 29:16
  link to the Fostering Wishes website, the Instagram page.
• 29:21
  You can see all the different programs and where your your
• 29:23
  donation can go. And yeah, Sabine, I'm just so
• 29:27
  excited that you came on and I'm want to continue doing work with
• 29:32
  Fostering Wishes and promoting what you're doing on the podcast
• 29:36
  because I think, you know, everybody has a place in their
• 29:40
  heart for children, and you just forget that there's children
• 29:45
  everywhere, no matter where you are, that need help.
• 29:49
  And the other thing we need is volunteers.
• 29:51
  Volunteering, right? Volunteering is a is a big
• 29:55
  challenge for just It's 100% volunteer driven.
• 30:01
  So what makes it a challenge? Just.
• 30:04
  Yeah. Because commitment levels and
• 30:05
  all that. But we have a great team like
• 30:07
  yourself and but we could always use more.
• 30:11
  Absolutely. So if you're listening and you
• 30:12
  you would looking for an organization to get involved
• 30:16
  with, check out the website, your contact information will be
• 30:20
  on there and I think be a perfect opportunity maybe you'll
• 30:23
  find someone from this. I hope.
• 30:26
  So, yeah, well, thank you, Samin.
• 30:30
  Thank. You so, so much.
• 30:31
  I so appreciate the the opportunity.
• 30:34
  Of course. I love talking about this.
• 30:36
  I love talking about foster kids.
• 30:39
  Hey. And as long as we keep talking,
• 30:40
  then we can keep hoping and raising awareness.
• 30:43
  And then awareness drives that action, right?
• 30:47
  Absolutely, Absolutely. Well, thank you very much and I
• 30:50
  will see you soon, I'm sure. OK, take care.
• 30:53
  Bye, bye, bye.