Dear Friends,
Tough times are harder on foster children, orphans, the sick and hungry, so I’m doing a “Season of Service” 5-K Harvest Walk on October 19. The event will benefit Foster Children in the Greater Boston Area, Children’s Hospital Boston, Framingham Food Pantry and HOPE Worldwide Programs.
The 10/19 Harvest Walk at Franklin Park in Boston is sponsored in partnership by The Boston Church of Christ, The American Red Cross and the Massachusetts Dept. of Social Service.
You can donate directly to HOPE Worldwide through this page.
Or you can mail a check payable to HOPE Worldwide to me at my home address: 205 Gun Hill Street, Milton, MA 02186.
My deadline is October 19, the day of the walk.
What the heck is HOPE Worldwide? Below is a February 2, 2008 newspaper article I wrote about a HOPE related event this past January sponsored by the same partners.
CELEBRATING FOSTER CHILDREN: High-achievers credit nurturing foster parents
By SUZETTE MARTINEZ STANDRING For The Patriot Ledger
Foster parents do more than give food and shelter. As daytime soap star Victoria Rowell can attest, they nurture talent, build character, and role-model love and generosity.
Rowell, a former foster child, is a three-time Emmy Award nominee for her long-time role as Drucilla Barber Winters on CBS’ “The Young and The Restless.’’ She co-starred with Dick Van Dyke in the crime drama series, “Diagnosis Murder,’’ which ran for eight seasons. Her book, “The Women Who Raised Me,’’ is about her foster childhood and is a New York Times bestseller.
Rowell raised a passionate voice for foster care at the “Martin Luther King Jr. - A Day of Service and Celebration with Massachusetts’ DSS Foster Children’’ event at Lombardo’s.
”My experience in foster care was an experience of incredible opportunity. I was taught very early in life not to be a victim of circumstance, but to look at the circumstance as a cornerstone of great possibility,’’ said the 48-year old actress.
The Jan. 19 event was hosted by the Southern Region of the Boston Church of Christ and sponsored by The American Red Cross, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services and HOPE Worldwide, a faith-based relief and development organization founded in 1991 dedicated to serving the poor and needy.
That morning, as part of “A Day of Service,’’ 500 volunteers hung “doorknob’’ flyers about fire prevention safety at 20,000 homes throughout Brockton, Mattapan, Dorchester, Framingham, Lynn and other areas.
Later at Lombardo’s a rousing gospel choir from the Boston Church of Christ kicked off the celebration to honor foster care. Eleven foster children were recognized for hard work and community service, such as Darius Pinion, 17, of Randolph.
Pinion had been in the DSS foster care system since age 12. He completed his G.E.D. and will be attending Bunker Hill Community College. Darius now lives with foster mother Lucinda Edwards in Randolph. How many foster homes has he lived in?
“Not sure so I can’t tell you, but lots,’’ said the shy teenager.
Breanna Hewson of Braintree, 13, serves meals at Father Bill’s Place in Quincy and sings with the choir at First Congregation Church in Braintree. The teen sang “Amazing Grace’’ just before Rowell spoke about her own life as a foster child.
Rowell wore a simple dark suit and her long, sleek tresses hung down her back. Born in Maine, she became a ward of the state at only 16 days old. She never knew her father. Her mother, a Mayflower descendant with a notable family history, suffered from schizophrenia at the time of her birth.
”She (her mother) showed up at the hospital so filthy she was put into quarantine and segregated. When you know that as the daughter, you tell yourself, it’s not how you get here but what you do when you get here,’’ said Rowell.
Rowell said she was reared by strong, memorable women in different foster homes, and collected along the way lessons in laughter, hard work, determination, humility and discipline.
Agatha Wooten Armstead stands out as “Ma’’ to Rowell. Farming 60 acres in Maine bought with money earned during her days as a “Rosie the Riveter,’’ Armstead raised Rowell from toddler to early teenhood. It was Armstead who first nurtured her foster daughter’s ballet talents. A scholarship with the Cambridge School of Ballet followed. Later, foster parents Maurice and Sylvia Silverman sent Rowell for a summer study at the New York Ballet Theatre, where the young dancer later returned to win a full-time scholarship after an audition.
Art anchored her life and Rowell created a career in dance, modeling and as a successful actress in two long-running television series, and was later the recipient of 11 NAACP image awards. In 1990, she founded Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan, which enriches foster children through artistic and athletic expression.
The very diverse women who served as her foster mothers and mentors shared one common trait.
”They were all led by faith, but from different denominations. I was born Protestant, baptized Catholic and my last foster mother was Jewish.I couldn’t not have done it without faith. It would be impossible for me to do the work I do today without faith. I walk with these women and the lessons they taught me,’’ said Rowell.
Young Breanna Hewson hopes to follow in Rowell’s footsteps. Last July when the Red Sox honored foster children, Breanna sang the national anthem at Fenway Park. She wants to audition for “American Idol’’ someday, and Rowell’s talk inspired her.
”I thought she was a really nice lady with very good advice. It’s not how you got here, but what you do when you get here. I’m meant to be adopted because I have an absolutely great family. If I didn’t get adopted none of this would have happened, like singing at church or at the Red Sox game,’’ said Breanna, who attends East Middle School in Braintree.
In 1994, she was only four months old when she was placed in foster care with her adoptive parents, Dick and Ruth Hewson of Braintree, now ages 75 and 73. The couple also has two other adopted children, Christa, 18, and Shawn, 15.
In 1987 the Hewsons became foster parents after their own five children had grown and married. As foster parents through Interfaith Social Services, they’ve cared for about 100 kids over the past 18 years. Some stayed overnight, others for a few years.
”We had two young girls for three years. One of them got her master’s degree as a social worker. The second one is getting her degree in radiology. When you see what these kids can do when given an opportunity, it’s the reward,’’ Ruth Hewson said.
Good training and love from foster parents often lead to children who get adopted by others.
”That’s another reward,’’ said Dick Hewson.
Massachusetts Department of Social Services has a 23 percent placement rate. At 2006 year’s end, 9,203 children were in foster care, but 31,564 kids still needed homes.
Rowell works closely with Hope Worldwide, which is mentioned in her book. Founded in 1991 through the International Churches of Christ, HOPE Worldwide works internationally to bring solutions, such as health care, education, disaster relief, foster care and adoption to the poor and suffering. Independent evaluator Charity Navigator gave HOPE four stars, its highest rating.
“The work HOPE does worldwide is miraculous. Oftentimes when people don’t have tangibles as children, God gives us that special gift to read people, to feel and to know that you are with the real deal,’’ said Rowell of her experience working with HOPE.
Breanna believes in God and prays every night. Foster care and adoption were great blessings in her life.
”If you’re a foster child, don’t give up. Everybody has something great about them and there’s a plan for everybody. It’s not a mistake how they got here,’’ she said.
Reach Suzette Standring at suzmar@comcast.net
Copyright 2008 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Saturday, February 02, 2008
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THANK YOU TO ALL. It’s very difficult for me to ask for money, but I was very moved by the work HOPE does so well.