Kelly and Andrew Hughes are foster parents. They love and care for foster children in their home as if they were their own. In an interview with the Post Gazette, Kelly said there’s much that foster children need that she can’t provide. In their county alone, 1,300 children are in foster care, with nearly 100 of those children being moved monthly. And so she’s decided to take action on something she actually can do.
When Kelly and Andrew welcomed their first foster children into their home, were shocked to see that all they owned was a garbage bag of a few items: mostly clothes that they had already outgrown. And so they’ve launched the Foster Love Project, a grassroots movement to collect placement bags for foster children. The project was launched on Facebook, and the response has exceeded the Hughes’ expectations. Donations of the bags themselves, as well as contents like a blanket, stuffed animal, pajamas, toothbrush, toothpaste, bath soap, and books, have been piling in. Kelly is waiting until after the first of the year to get an exact count on donations, but she is thrilled that people have stepped forward to give to these children who have come from poverty.
Besides the donation of items, WPXI News reports that Andrew is hoping that this campaign will interest others in becoming foster or adoptive parents. “You don’t have to be a superman or a superwoman to be a foster parent or an adoptive parent. You just do your normal routine and let kids come in and share in that life,” he said.
Donations are still being accepted at a variety of locations throughout Pittsburgh.
