Grand Prize

Jordyn Kuciera

5 years-old

1^st Place

3-5 years old: Harley Veltz

6-9 years old: Ellyce Mares

10-12 years old: Zurie Joseph

13-18 years old: Senghar Joseph

2^nd Place

3-5 years old: Lilianne Ramirez

6-9 years old: Maya Braslar

10-12 years old: Jaeson Kim

13-18 years old: Rosie Hasemeyer

3^rd Place

Jaden Orgaiton

Giovanni Beltran

Jonah Hasemeyer

Daisy Lopez

As I picked up Levi at the foster home to bring him to his new home, being only a baby and scared, he cried the entire drive home. Although only 10 minutes long, that drive was filled with his cries, and as I looked back at him in his car seat my heart went out to this little boy. What did our future hold? What did his future hold?  Just then the song by Steven Curtis Chapmen, “I Will Be Here” came on KSGN. As I listened to the words, with Levi crying in the background, I felt the Lord speak to my heart. “Jaci,” I heard Him say, “This is your commitment to Levi. He is going to be okay, because he now has a forever family that will always be there for him no matter what the future holds. Having a family makes all the difference.”

The very next day I had to take Levi to an Endocrinologist appointment that had been already set for him. I had no idea what was in store for us. The doctor informed me that Levi’s pituitary gland was off center in his brain because of his misshaped head. They needed to run tests to make sure this master glad was working as it should. The tests would be back in about a week and we would be called with the results. I put Levi in his car seat, got in the car and just sat there for a few minutes a little scared, not knowing what was next and prayed that God would be with us. As I turned on the car, the radio came on, and again I heard that same song. This time I felt the Lord telling me, “Jaci this is for you! I want you to know that whatever happens, it’s going to be OK. I will be there with you no matter what.”

Being a child in the foster system is scary, lonely, confusing and very traumatic.

Over 500,000 American children are in our foster care currently with 1/5 of them in So. California along. They, along with our brave adult military spent the last holidays away from home, without the comfort of family.  27,000 of these kids will age out of the foster system sometime this year. Only 46% will graduate high school and of those kids who age out, with 1 ½ years 93% will become homeless, incarcerated or dead.  Without the care and support of a loving family or at the least a caring adult, they will not make it.

As you read or hear the news today, you probably will not hear any of their stories or any of these sad statistics.  Because the truth is, America has failed these kids. These kids have been taken into protective custody and many times the outcomes for them are no better.

You and I can change that.  We know what the problems are and we now have the answer.  The one single FACTOR is caring adults that do something to help.  That is me and you! That is why we are writing you today.  We need people like you, in and around the Riverside area to help us become a part of the answer.  Foster Advocates Caring Together, of Riverside.

These kids may not be able to count on family for help, but they should be able to count on their community. They should be able to count on us. I hope we can count on you. You can help. You can do something!  They are just kids.  You are the one FACTOR that may make a difference for them.

As a special “thank you” for your gift of $20 or more to help a foster child, we will send you, a 3-foot by 5 foot Flag,  See the enclosed flyer for details.

The Saturday morning call was unexpected. On the other end of the line was a young woman who introduced herself as a producer for the “Anderson Show,” the new talk show that featured Anderson Cooper highlighting topics of interest, stating that she had found our family story interesting and was wondering if we would like to share it. It was that call that created a whirlwind of activity that found our entire family, all 17 of us, travelling to New York City on Monday afternoon for a Tuesday taping of the show, which airs on October 14^th. It was there we had the opportunity to share our story of fostering 30 children, adopting 10 children, encouraging our community to adopt more than 60 children and impacting our area to become leaders in foster/adoption.

And to think that it all started with a ticket.

Approximately 14 years ago, I was a physical education teacher in the Redlands Unified

School District. One of the methods that I used to encourage positive behaviors in sports competition was to give “Good Sport” coupons that included free pass to a local skating rink. These coupons became prized by the students and to earn one was highly esteemed. One of my students, Billy, who was a great young man, had worked very hard that day and received the coupon during the course of the P.E. period. As the children were assembling to return to class, he approached me and asked if he could return the coupon and the skating pass. I was curious and asked why he felt he needed to return it. “I can’t use it and maybe someone else can,” he said. “I’m a foster kid. I live in a group home, and I have no one to take me so it will just go to waste,” he continued. I was shocked. How could it be that we live in t he greatest country in the world, yet there was no one to talk a 10-year old boy skating because he did a great job at school?

I went home and talked with my husband about Billy and what I had learned that day. I was convicted that this wasn’t right and that there is something that we could do as a family. We had talked about the possibility of adopting a little girl and, after much prayer and counsel; we decided that we would become foster parents.

In April of 1998, we received our first placement of three, two girls and their half- brother, which was an overnight doubling of our family. Of that placement, the oldest sister was removed to another placement in July of 2000, the only placement that we terminated, the little boy returned to his biological father in May of 2000, and Cheyenne became the first child we adopted.

As more children came into our home, our commitment became that we would be their home forever or until they reunified with their biological family. We have watched our family grow over the years to include Luke, Jonah, Rosie, Gabby, Joshua, Levi, Isaac, Gabe, and Elle. All of them, including our biological children, Stevie, Joel and Krista, Derrick, the adult foster brother to Elle, and Ashley, Stevie’s wife, have become our family. Each one adds a different chorus to the song that our family sings. It is a song that, we pray, others can join as it resounds through the ages as children celebrate the finding of their forever family.

Anderson speaks with one family that has fostered more than 30 children and adopted more than 10, in addition to their biological three.

Anderson also speaks with 20 other families from the Hasemeyers’ community, who were so inspired, they chose to foster or adopt more than 50 children. Anderson also meets Dani, a feral child who grew up in isolation and never learned normal social behavior, and the loving family who took her in and changed her life.

Read more: Full Article

The 2011 walk will be hosted once again by  California Baptist University, located at 8432 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside at 9 a.m. with registration beginning at 8 a.m.  The walk is a simple two mile course around the Lancer Loop and is open to everyone.