Former KNX Hero Debby Thrailkill is helping foster kids all over Southern California and taking her "Project Foster" to new heights with a new partnership.
Thrailkill started her non-profit "My Own - A Case For Kids" in December 2022 with her kids and grandkids. It was an idea to help children in foster care have some new clothes and a case to carry their possessions.
“We fill a 22-inch wheeled duffel with 22 items that you would need to get ready in the morning to go to school,” she told Heroes host Heather Jordan. “A lot of the kids that go into foster care end up with a grocery bag filled with very few belongings, and so they basically start out with nothing, and so we're providing them with brand new items. A hoodie, a sheet set, full-size hygiene items. We also have comfort items, a throw blanket on which we embroider ‘You are amazing.’ ‘You are awesome.’”
She said giving the kids a handmade pillowcase gives them hope and lets them know that there are people who are thinking about them.
She said when it comes to the items, they try to add an element of fun.
“All of our comfort items are designed to say to kids, ‘Hey, somebody really cared about you and somebody sewed a pillowcase for you with you in mind,’” Thrailkill said. “And they're done really cute and wrapped up with a little sticker that says ‘made with love.’ That's part of the magic of the program is to just let the kids know that they really do matter.”
The program grew into a 501(c)(3), and eventually, the family effort got too big for their garage. Thrailkill made a lot of connections with the community, and one was with the Dana Point Women's Club, which decided they wanted to take the program to bigger heights and a bigger storage space.
Toni Nelson is the first vice president of the club, and she said there are over 125 members.
“We had been looking for some time for a hands-on charity that our members could participate in, and Project Foster is ideal,” she said. “So now that we have our own warehouse, it gives us an opportunity to bring our members in and let them fill the bags, get the cases ready to go out to the county and to foster kids. We love, love, love this program, and the public loves it.”
Orange County has more than 3000 kids in foster care, and there are another 25,000 across the metro. Thrailkill said she wants to get a case in the hands of a child as they go into foster care.
“We have a man that supports us, and he wrote us a note which came out of the blue,” she said. “It said, ‘As a kid, I had 6 foster home placements before being emancipated at age 18. You never get advanced notice of a new. Your social worker shows up and lets you pack whatever you can carry to the new placement.’ He said, ‘Back then, you filled a pillowcase and left everything else behind.’ So, he said he wholeheartedly supports Project Foster and what we do, and just knowing things like that, just hearing from adults who have been through the system, it just makes us all the much more meaningful.’”
You can check out Project Foster OC here.
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