‘It’s unbelievable’
Lindsay Hull’s house is full of Christmas gifts, but not just for her family. Hull, of Coal Center, and her friend Ashley DeWitt, of Scenery Hill, collaborated on a project for foster children in Washington County.
It all started when DeWitt read an article about an organization called Foster Friends of Allegheny County.
The project involved collecting backpacks full of toys and personal items for foster children.
“I read about someone who did this locally,” DeWitt said as she stood next to Hull in a room stuffed with backpacks.
DeWitt told her friend it was too bad it couldn’t be done in Washington County. Hull looked at her and said, “Well, why not?”
Hull and DeWitt are both busy moms working on other things this holiday season.
But when Hull contacted Washington County Children and Youth Services, the project began to take off. According to CYS, there are currently 282 foster children in Washington County.
As of last week, and only a month after the initial conversation, Hull and DeWitt collected nearly 100 backpacks filled with gifts for foster kids in Washington County.
The bags are for children who are infants up to age 18. Collections will continue through the rest of this week, then the bags will be taken to CYS.
“It’s unbelievable that in a few weeks people would respond this way,” DeWitt said.
DeWitt has personal experience with the foster care system, as her daughter, Jaelynn, was adopted from foster care.
“Every day, when we get something, I’m like, ‘I can’t believe it’s getting bigger and bigger,'” DeWitt said. “We would have been pleased with 30 bags.”
By the end of the year, Foster Friends of Washington County hopes to have more than 150 bags.
Hull’s three girls also got in the holiday spirit, with each of them making a bag for children their own age. “For my older two girls, it was interesting trying to explain how children end up in this situation,” she said. “It’s not always easy.”
Her five-year-old, in particular, liked to help organize the bags.
The collected bags can include everything from pajamas, body wash, books and blankets to toys, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
The goal, according to Hull and DeWitt, is to provide something personal for foster children that they can call their own.
Personal items are added often. For Hull and her girls, it may be a journal.
Hull’s 8-year-old daughter loves to keep a journal, and she said she would like to give them to older foster kids to help provide them with an outlet.
Foster Friends of Washington has multiple drop-off locations, including Bethlehem-Center School District and Charleroi School District.
Donation inquiries can be sent to fosterfriendswashco@yahoo.com, and they also have a Facebook page and an account at www.gofundme.com/fosterfriends.
As for next year, Hull and DeWitt said they hope to have even more bags and help local foster kids as much as possible. They also plan to register Foster Friends of Washington County as a formal charity.
“As many (kids) as we can serve, the sky’s the limit,” Hull said. “We will find a home.”