Imagine growing up in the foster care system and being moved so many times you've lost track. Was it 12? 22? 34? Then imagine being among the elite three
percent who make it to college, only to realize that during school holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, you are homeless. Even when the dorm remains
open, there is rarely enough money for food once the cafeterias close.
Last year Antoinette Rucker, 18, of Albany State University dined on popcorn the entire holiday. Jasmine Grant, 19, spent Thanksgiving alone in her Georgia
State University dorm room with only a bowl of white rice to eat. This year the two young women were among 16 foster youth in college hosted for the entire
Thanksgiving break by Chateau Élan Winery & Resort in Braselton, near Atlanta. "I have my own room, a big bed and a flat screen," says Rucker, a social work
major. It was a first for her.
For Sabastian Mensah, 19, a biology major at Paine College in Augusta, it was his first Thanksgiving meal ever. He says he was completely at peace at
Chateau Élan -- a feeling he has rarely experienced.
The event came about due to a call from Points North magazine publisher, Carl Danbury, Jr. to Henk Evers, president and CEO of Chateau Élan, who
immediately agreed to partner with the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation (ODBF) for the first ever "Holidays of Hope."
Olympus Worldwide Chauffeured Services offered transportation services for the students, and Delta Airlines helped get Florida International University
student Kenya Adeola, 20, who wants to be a pediatric neurosurgeon, to the event.
"When we learned about the situation these young people face, we wanted to give them a first-class experience and treat them as welcome guests," says
Evers.
"Holidays of Hope" included not just a place to stay, but gourmet dining, a private demonstration by the executive chef, a Thanksgiving buffet, access to resort
activities, makeovers for the girls by L'Bel Cosmetics, a concert by ODBF celebrity spokesperson Kevin Montgomery and a $100 shopping spree provided by
the nearby Tanger Outlets.
On Saturday, several of the students either participated or volunteered for the Zooma Atlanta 5k/Half Marathon run on the property, which designated ODBF
as its charity partner. ODBF President /Co-Founder Echo Garrett and Elena Schneider, 24, who spent virtually all of her childhood and teen years in foster
care, participated in as "mother-daughter" team.
"The kids we serve face so many barriers, yet somehow keep fighting to achieve," says Garrett. "We hope smart business people will look at the problems
these kids face once they age out of the system and partner with us to find creative solutions. Wouldn't it be wonderful if other hotels stepped up to the plate to
offer similar programs for foster kids in college with no place to go for the holidays?"
"We think 'Holidays of Hope' is the first event of its kind in the U.S." says Garrett, who founded the organization with Sam Bracken, a former Georgia Tech
football player who is now an executive at Franklin Covey. They turned Bracken's story of abuse and neglect during his own childhood into a multi-award
winning young adult book, My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change, that is currently available at www.amazon.com. The book will be re-launched in
May during National Foster Care Month by Crown Archetype, a division of Random House.
Statistically Speaking:
• More than 500,000 youth are in foster care in the U.S.
• 28,000 aged out of the system in 2010
• The number aging out without one caring adult has
skyrocketed by 41 percent over the past decade
• 3 out of every 10 homeless adults were in foster care
• 4 percent graduate college
• Less than 50 percent graduate from high school
• An astounding 80 people of people in U.S. prisons report
having been in foster care or homeless shelters as children
Owner/Editor - Chris Chmielewski