Ethan, 18, of San Bernardino, lays down on a bed he will be receiving from Ashley Furniture at the Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Colton on Thursday.
Four former foster youths’ lives were changed Thursday as they finally had homes to call their own.
The young people are recipients of Aspiranet’s Transitional Housing Placement and Foster Care Program, which provides former foster youth ages 18-21 a safe living environment.
The program also teaches them daily living skills to help them become self-sufficient.
These kids had only known group homes, foster homes — always a temporary environment.
On Thursday, though, Aspiranet, a residential family services program, joined Ashley Furniture in Colton, as they hosted a furniture donation event for the young people.
The life-changing donations included gifted furniture sets such as beds, chests of drawers, sofas and coffee tables to make their new apartments more comfortable.
“We are giving these young people an opportunity to better their lives,” said Hank McKee, Aspiranet associate division director.
Robert Trujillo, regional trainer for Ashley Furniture, said, ”As we give back to these courageous young people, we know they are going to pay it forward in so many ways,”
The Assistance League of the Foothill Communities was also on hand with soft goods donations and creature comforts such as bedding and towels, cookware, dishes, flatware and bathroom accessories for the young adults.
Laurie Milhiser, chairwoman of the League’s Foster New Beginnings program, said the Harold Edelstein Foundation was the original source of assistance for young people. “These gifts are courtesy of a really nice man,” she said.
A foster child since she was 6, 20-year-old Latonya will start school at Riverside Community College, continuing on her path to becoming a teacher.
Right now she works full-time doing security logistics.
“I’m excited, relieved and thankful to have accomplished my goal of graduating high school and most recently, with the help of Aspiranet, I moved into my own apartment. I can now focus on my educational and career goals,” she said.
Out of consideration for the privacy of foster youth, their last names are being withheld.
Latonya was joined by Derick, Ethan and Leondre — three other transition-aged former foster youth who were moving into their own “digs” thanks to the Ashley/Aspiranet partnership.
These are the kids who fall through the cracks, said Tonya McCampbell, Aspiranet core program director for TAY (Transition-aged Youth) housing.
“Like anyone else’s teenage children, when they graduate from high school and are transitioning to college or into the job force, it is very difficult for them to do that without some support — these kids don’t have that support system,” Tonya said.
“Transition-aged youth are basically young adults and it’s almost impossible to place an adult in a foster home, so we try to place them in the community in apartments and provide them with support services,” she added.
While in the system, foster youths’ progress is tracked to support the fact that they need some additional services. Only about 30 percent of the kids are able to go out on their own and be successful without those additional services.
So, of the 4,000 kids who age out of the system each year, two-thirds of them are not successful because they don’t have the services, according to Tonya.
“It’s hard to get a job or attend college if you don’t even know where you’re going to live.”
Until the partnership with Ashley, Aspiranet turned kids out into their own apartments with only minimal furniture, said Jennifer Chapa, Aspiranet community advocate and life coach in the After-care program.
But Ashley was so wonderful and told them to make a “wish list” for what the young people needed for their first apartments.
Now their faces light up as if to say, “Is this for me?” Because nothing has been just for them.
One young female adult couldn’t believe she would have a bed that belonged only to her and wasn’t used by foster kids before her, Tonya recalled.
Some of the stories are heartbreaking.
Ethan, 18, who was taken away from his physically abusive father when he was 6, described his foster care journey and multiple “homes,” as well as his aspirations for the future.
He has been in foster care most of his life and feels he is fortunate to have been in the same home for the last few years. He is currently working in a warehouse and will be going to San Bernardino Valley College where he wants to start his studies in engineering.
“I’ve got to be ready for my future and see what’s ahead of me,” Ethan said. “Schooling and working are my main goals.”
Since he was 2 years old, Derick has been separated from his family and has grown up in group homes and foster homes. Although he has been on his own all his life, he has learned life lessons he ordinarily wouldn’t have.
He found people in one group home who helped him through the toughest of times.
He graduated from high school and now attends San Bernardino Valley College and is interested in Welding and Auto Collision Repair programs.
He is looking forward to being in the housing program and thankful for having “a stable home of my own.”
“If it weren’t for Aspiranet and the love of my life, Vanessa, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Derick said.
Leondre, who has three siblings, was deserted by his father when he was 3. Although his mother tried to provide for her children, they were put in foster care when Leondre was 4, another foster home at age 5, and then placed in an uncle’s care when he was 6, eventually going to an aunt who was “deemed unfit.”
Bounced around from one foster environment after another, Leondre “pushed through the tough times” and graduated from high school with plans for graduating from college, getting a good job and becoming an independent person.
These young people, victims of broken families, have so much to give to the world. It’s just the beginning of a bright future.
