Hope is the great sustainer. It is what allows us to push through challenges, pain, and fear. It lets me sail my dear Windfola and brave little Zia into a grey and threatening horizon. It is of the most resilient and divine depths of one’s soul: a place inside that will never be broken.

Hope can be cultivated in foster children. My ability to hope today came from every adult that reached out to help me back when I entered care. It’s because of them that I’m now crossing oceans.

I’ve been researching the foster care system in New Zealand over the last few weeks, learning about the obstacles families, carers, social workers, and children face here. But some things are not so different... which I discovered when I read about Foster Hope, an organization in New Zealand that provides children taken into care with a concrete symbol of hope and love: a backpack.

This may sound so basic, but children often enter care with only the clothes on their backs and a garbage bag with a few items (I remember this moment). Many children have come from such serious neglect and abuse that they have never had something of their own. Imagine the difference a pack with a stuffed animal, some clean pajamas, and a book can make for a child with next to nothing arriving in a strange new home. Foster Hope is giving these kids the hope that they can be loved, and a new belief that they are of value.

You can donate items, funds, or volunteer to help assemble and deliver packs, as well as support other programs they’ve developed to bring practical help to kids and carers. Check them out www.fosterhope.org.nz

Looking for a US equivalent? Check out Together We Rise. You can donate, or even organize a corporate team-building event to assemble kits or bikes for foster kids! www.togetherwerise.org

Let’s show our thanks to these awesome orgs for pursuing missions that prove to each child that they can still hope.

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Photo taken October 31st, between French Polynesia and Palmerston Atoll