Isa

There are over 2,000 local children in foster care at any given moment. United Way’s partner, Legal Aid Society, provides legal guardianship to children placed in foster care.

Many children in the system are moved from one out-of-home placement to another, in fact two out of three kids in foster care have lived in three or more places. Of those, 30% have lived in five-plus places. Most of them have nothing to use to carry their belongings, and end up using garbage bags.

“One of the children we represent told one of our lawyers, Isa, that having to put all of her clothes into a garbage bag made her feel like she was garbage,” said Tom Cannon, executive director of the Legal Aid Society. “Isa listened to her and decided that she wasn’t going to accept that situation for this little girl and for other similarly-situated children and decided to start a campaign to collect donated luggage.

What started with one child quickly became an ongoing collaborative project with United Way, Legal Aid Society and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. To date, the project has delivered more than 1,200 pieces of luggage, backpacks and duffel bags to local foster care agencies, youth shelters and more.

Kathy, a case manager with Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin, recalls a young boy who picked up luggage one afternoon. His belongings were indeed in garbage bags. “Words are not adequate to describe the look on that boy's face when he saw the items,” Kathy said. “He immediately sat down on the ground, removed his clothes from the trash bags and placed them in his new suitcases. It was a true metaphor for a new beginning.”