Life after foster care

In just two weeks, it went from dirt and shovels to beautifully landscaped — from finishing work and bathroom tiles to a homey living room, and a bathroom enough for the 11 who will live here. Harley Race knows what the foster kids will need.  He’s one of them, and it’s his job to “teach some of them how to use an iron.  A couple of them don’t even know how to use a washing machine.” They are foster kids aging out — turning 18 — cut off by law from state support, many before they’re ready to live on their own. Pastor Tom Atchison of New Beginnings of Tampa Bay told FOX13, “even if they have a place to go, a lot of them are not prepared to handle everyday life. They don’t even know how to handle a checkbook.” New Beginnings built the 11-bedroom home as a place to help foster kids transition to independence. It took federal grant money, but there was a big problem — no money left for furniture, appliances, or even that iron we mentioned. Then Good Day Tampa Bay covered the story, and

Richard Borgstrom was watching. “I had a foster son and that kind of got my attentionm,” he said. Borgstrom immediately called his fellow Rotary Club fundraisers. “So we figured out they could buy the washers, driers, convection oven and eleven refrigerators for under four grand and have some money left over,” he said. Borgstrom’s boss, realtor and fellow Rotarian Bob Hatton, had some furniture to give, much of it left behind after people sold their houses. Hatton’s plan, “supply them with couches, leather, tables, chairs and bedding.” But it’s not just furnishing these rooms.  The plan, the Rotarians say, is to have the kids take the furniture with them once they’ve got a job and an apartment. Harley Race will run the place, himself aged out of foster care, and the first lesson he’s learned? “That there are still good people out there, there are people out there who care and want to help, no matter how tough it is, someone is always willing to lend a hand.” For more information on the transitional home, go to http://www.nbtweb.org/  

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Life after foster care

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