Learning to Manage a Home
Help transition-age foster youth learn how to manage a home.
My grandpa Lou was orphaned at 9.
Left suddenly alone without a mother or home, he was handed off between various households in different towns and states. Over the years he ran away, lived on a breezeway, and was reunited with - and then dismissed by - relatives. He once watched a caregiver burn his clothes and everything he owned right in front of him— an experience that still haunted him decades later. Foster youth experience disproportionate rates of homelessness, incarceration, food insecurity, and trauma. My grandfather was no exception.
It wasn’t until he met a caring mentor that he felt heard, safe, and guided, and could then begin to become a responsible young adult.
He took over the management and responsibilities of a scrapyard.
He served and traveled in the military.
He started a family.
He gave back to his communities in tangible and meaningful ways.
When foster youth have a person and place they can count on, they can begin to break the cycle of trauma, and pivot their energy from surviving towards thriving. This is one of the many reasons I passionately support the nonprofit organization The RightWay Foundation, and invite you to join me by becoming a part of the family support system that foster youth need in order to grow. This season’s contributions will go directly towards nurturing responsibility, helping the youth in RightWay’s supportive housing manage their apartments— from cleaning, to preparing healthy meals, to paying their rent on time.
Click here to help guide our youth, nurture responsibility, and give them the gift of a safer, healthier, and more stable household.
Celebrating Milestones the RightWay
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who donated! We raised ~$1,500 for The RightWay Foundation non-profit in about 24 hours!
Today is my birthday, and I’d be absolutely overjoyed if you’d make it meaningful with me.
If you’ve ever found the information I share to be of value— and if giving is comfortably within your means — I’m humbly requesting contributions to The RightWay Foundation as a way of celebrating today. Note: If you do make a donation, please add a note in the digital Donor Scroll so I can thank you!
Above: Our Lettuce Grow towers— the same type that this community helped secure for The RightWay Foundation in 2022 for growing healthy greens for their foster youth and staff.
Our friends at The RightWay Foundation do critical preventative work to end the pipeline from foster care to homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and poverty. Thanks in part to your generous gifts in 2022, RightWay provided dedicated housing for 34 current and former foster youth, and supportive services for 110 youth aging out of foster care. Now, in 2023, RightWay is providing dedicated housing for 30 additional former foster youth… because having a place to call home is the first step to a healthy, financially stable adulthood. (This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart — read more about that here.)
Having a place to call home is the first step to a healthy, safer, financially stable life.
Thank you for being here, and for supporting our small business and family, as well as this remarkable organization that is changing lives in extraordinary ways.
Want to celebrate your milestone the RightWay? The RightWay Foundation has set up a how-to campaign resource for anyone who wishes to raise awareness and/or funds for this marvelous non-profit on their special day. Click here to learn more and get started.
Dedicated Housing for Foster Youth
My grandpa Lou was orphaned at 9. He bounced around homes, towns, and states. He watched a caregiver burn his clothes and everything he owned right in front of him. At various points he ran away, lived on a breezeway, and was reunited with - and then dismissed by - relatives. It wasn’t until he met a mentor, his rabbi, that he felt heard, safe, and guided. He took over the management and responsibilities of a scrapyard, he served and traveled in the military, he started a family, and he gave back to his communities.
When foster youth have a person and place they can count on, they can begin to break the cycle of trauma, and pivot their energy from surviving towards thriving. This is one of the many reasons I passionately support The RightWay Foundation, and invite you to join me. (A donation link is always on my site.)
Thanks to your ongoing generosity, RightWay provided dedicated housing for 34 current and former foster youth, and supportive services for 110 youth aging out of foster care throughout 2022. In the new year, RightWay will provide dedicated housing for 30 additional former foster youth… because having a place to call home is the first step to a healthy, financially stable adulthood.
RightWay’s job training, mental health sessions, housing support, and overall community services work. I’ve witnessed it first-hand, and if you sign up for their newsletter and subscribe to their Instagram feed, you’ll see it too.
A More Sustainable Future for Marginalized Youth
It feels like the tolls against the marginalized continue to pile up at an unrelenting pace, despite all the work and progress of years passed. One of the communities that continues to face fierce odds against their physical + mental health, livelihoods and basic needs is foster youth.
Be a vital force in disrupting the pipeline that leads to disproportionately high levels of poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and unemployment among former foster youth. By supporting The RightWay Foundation, you’re helping build a more sustainable future.
I want to issue a special Thank You to Vintner’s Daughter, whose recent gift to RightWay will go towards hundreds of hours of intensive therapy for young women who are sex trafficking victims, and towards one year of intensive therapy services and support for 3-6 young women who are survivors of childhood trauma, commercial sexual exploitation, and the foster care system.
Year after year, Vintner’s Daughter, a woman-owned & operated business, continues to show up for foster youth in an impactful way. Because women can move mountains. Watch us.
Or better yet, join us.
Safe Housing for the Holidays and Beyond
Supporting The RightWay Foundation
My grandpa Lou was orphaned at 9. He bounced around homes, towns, and states. He watched a caregiver burn his clothes and everything he owned right in front of him. At various points he lived on a breezeway, ran away, was reunited with - and then dismissed by - relatives.
It wasn’t until he met a mentor, his rabbi, that he felt heard, safe, and guided. He took over the management and responsibilities of a scrapyard, he served and traveled in the military, he started a family, and he gave back to his communities.
When foster youth have a person and place they can count on, they can begin to pivot their energy from surviving towards thriving. This is one of the many reasons I passionately support The RightWay Foundation, and invite you to join me. (A donation link is always on my site.)
At the end of December, The County of Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services will officially emancipate 1,370 young adults from their program, leaving them with no support. These youth will lose their housing and a stipend during the pandemic and escalating homelessness crisis. If we don’t fix our child welfare system, the cycle of trauma and poverty will continue.
RightWay’s job training, mental health sessions, housing support, and overall community services work. I’ve witnessed it first-hand, and if you sign up for their newsletter and subscribe to their Instagram feed, you’ll see it too.
Women Supporting Women
Here’s to women supporting women. Because when systems fail us, we must stand up for one another.
I want to say a heartfelt Thank You to Vintner’s Daughter (and its founder, April,) for showing up for the youth at The RightWay Foundation, year after year.
60% of sex trafficking victims nationally are from foster care. The RightWay Foundation exists to prevent foster youth who are aging out of the system from falling into situations such as this, as well as homelessness and incarceration. This marvelous nonprofit works towards setting their youth up with safer living conditions, access to in-house mental health, job preparedness training, and a 24/7 understanding community equipped with trauma-informed training.
Thank you, April and the Vintner’s Daughter team, for supporting all the youth at RightWay— the women and their children in particular.
Pictured: The Travel Set. Compact sizes of Vintner’s Daughter’s award-winning ACTIVE TREATMENT ESSENCE™ + ACTIVE BOTANICAL SERUM™ duo, available for the first time as a complete set.
Vintner’s Daughter social & environmental responsibility details:
2% for Women & Children
Women Owned Business
Climate Neutral
Plant Based
Cruelty-Free
Vegan
Sustainable & FSC-Certified Packaging
California Green Business Certified
Clean + Slow Beauty
Consciously & Responsibly Sourced
On my 40th Birthday: Celebrating Together the RightWay
Today is my 40th birthday.
There will be no toasts, as I’m in my third trimester of a high-risk pregnancy. We’re even sidestepping the once-obligatory pandemic Zoom gathering, as the internet connectivity out here is spotty at best.
None of this matters, because I get to celebrate in a more meaningful way with you— by supporting foster youth futures.
If you’ve ever found any information I’ve shared on my blog or Instagram to be of value, and if it’s comfortably within your means, I’m humbly requesting contributions to The RightWay Foundation this weekend as a way of celebrating my 40th together.
If you make a donation, please add a note of why in the digital Donor Scroll so I can thank you!
My family has everything we could possibly need. We want everyone to be able to have those same comforts. Our friends at The RightWay Foundation do critical preventative work to end the pipeline from foster care to homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and poverty by providing foster youth with therapy, job training, community support, and connections to opportunities in the workforce. And RightWay's Operation Housing First program fights post-foster-system homelessness by guaranteeing rent in a furnished apartment and providing continuous mental health services, while assisting our youth in securing livable wage employment to help them achieve financial independence.
Thank you, as always, for being here and supporting our small business + family, as well as this organization that is so near and dear to our hearts.
Here’s to 40, and a brighter year ahead for all.
Want to celebrate your milestone the RightWay? The RightWay Foundation has set up a how-to campaign resource for anyone who wishes to raise awareness and/or funds for this marvelous non-profit on their special day. Click here to learn more and get started.
Photos by Lucia Doynel
Housing Transition-Age Foster Youth in the New Year
Thank you to everyone who contributed to The RightWay Foundation’s 2020 holiday campaign! With your help, this marvelous non-profit reached their goal for the season, and even did so ahead of schedule. RightWay will now be able to safely house three additional transition-age foster youth at the start of the new year.
I want to say a special thank you to our friends at Vintner’s Daughter— especially founder, April Gargiulo, who made a particularly generous donation to advance RightWay’s efforts. (Vintner’s Daughter is my absolute personal favorite self care / skincare product, and their environmental + social impact philosophy and stats are very much worth exploring.) While the gift from Vintner’s Daughter helps RightWay in many capacities, it will be focused largely towards the non-profit’s expansion into a second, smaller office in LA that provides services for the survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
For readers of this blog who have the means and feel so inclined, please consider giving to help RightWay’s youth continue forward in the months ahead— particularly as this population has been hit hard by the impacts of the pandemic. Every dollar goes to ensuring each youth has food, mental health care, essential supplies, utilities, transportation, and shelter throughout the year.
Related: Franco Vega, Founder and Director of The RightWay Foundation, and Amber Baker, a long-term RightWay youth, were recently interviewed on “Our America” with Julián Castro. The episode is 25 minutes, and offers compelling stories and examples of why the tough work being tackled by this LA-based non-profit is so essential, and has ripple effects that impact generations.
Thank you, and RightWay wishes you warmth and safety for the holidays.
Give the Gift of Mental Health Support
Post Summary: This winter, be a part of giving transition-age foster youth a safe place to live, work, grow, and heal.
Unresolved trauma leaves former foster youth at a greater risk of experiencing substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, and poverty. For Giving Tuesday during this difficult year, please consider giving the gift of mental health support to help foster youth become the adults they deserve to be.
This week, I’m focusing on how contributions of varying sizes can give Youth from The RightWay Foundation the gift of access to professional mental health care.
Your donation of $35 can provide mental health care for one Youth for one day.
Your donation of $245 can provide mental health care for one Youth for one week.
Your donation of $980 can provide mental health care for one Youth for one month.
RightWay has been working towards securing safe, dedicated apartments for unhoused transition-age foster Youth in LA, while also providing them with mental health care, access to essential services, job placement, a supportive community, and trauma-informed training for employers.
Other giving options:
$32 provides one day of rent / $240 provides one week of rent / $960 provides one month of rent
$63 provides one week of food / $250 provides one month of food
$60 provides one month of Internet Connectivity
$50 provides one month of Health & Wellness Supplies
$200 provides one month of Home Essentials & Laundry
$100 provides one month of Heat, Gas, Water, and Electricity
$35 provides one day of mental health services / $195 provides one week of mental health services / $770 provides one month of mental health services
Give a Gift to Help Address Internet Access Inequality
Post Summary: GIVE A GIFT THAT HELPS ADDRESS INTERNET INEQUALITY
Countless Americans, particularly underserved and underrepresented populations, are facing substantial educational, professional and social barriers because of their limited access to the internet and technology during the COVID crisis.
This week, I’m focusing on how contributions of varying sizes can go directly towards providing internet connectivity (assisting with online education, communication and a decrease of social isolation) to the Youth at The RightWay Foundation.
$2 provides 1 day of connectivity
$14 provides 1 week of connectivity
$60 provides 1 month of connectivity
For those who are newer here, RightWay has been working towards securing safe, dedicated apartments for unhoused transition-age foster Youth in LA, while also providing them with mental health care, access to essential services, job placement, a supportive community, and trauma-informed training for employers.
For anyone wanting to make a contribution of ANY amount, a donation link is in here via the RightWay website. THANK YOU.
The Gift of Safe Shelter
This community continues to show up for The RightWay Foundation in meaningful ways— THANK YOU. As such, I’ll be providing updates regarding their 2020 holiday giving initiative throughout the season .
First, for readers who are newer here, RightWay has been working towards securing safe, dedicated apartments for unhoused transition-age foster Youth in LA, while also providing them with mental health care, job placement, a supportive community, and trauma-informed training for employers.
This week, I’m focusing on how contributions to RightWay can provide the holiday gift of safe, dedicated shelter in Los Angeles for their Youth:
To house 1 Youth per day costs $32
Per week, it’s $224
Per month, it’s $960
Further breakdowns can be explored via the graphic below:
For anyone wanting to make a contribution (of any amount), please click here to visit RightWay’s donation page.
Safe Housing For Transition Age Foster Youth (September Update)
I figured we could use a dose of good news after this deeply upsetting and unsettling week, so I wanted to share a happy update regarding The RightWay Foundation’s housing initiative, Operation Housing First.
For readers who are newer here, RightWay is an LA-based non-profit that has been working towards securing safe, dedicated housing for unhoused transition-age foster youth in LA. This community showed up repeatedly in meaningful ways, calling loudly for brands to donate goods and funds that would better enable RightWay to obtain and outfit the apartments, while still providing their youth with mental health care, rent assistance and job placement, as well as trauma-informed training for employers.
Over the past weekend, one of the pregnant youth that RightWay placed in safe housing gave birth to a heathy baby.
“From the bottom of our hearts, I want to say thank you, because now we have a beautiful baby boy that wasn’t born into homelessness, and that really warms my heart— you just can’t imagine.” - Franco Vega, Director, The RightWay Foundation
Additionally, the new mother’s roommate (who was also provided housing by RightWay) took time off of her job to support her friend in her new role as a mother.
“… a lot of our foster youth come from a broken system that never supported them. But now that they’re emancipated and they’re adults, they know how important it is to help each other out. Even though the county and the system didn’t help them out, they know deep down in their hearts that they need to help each other out.” - Franco Vega, Director, The RightWay Foundation
For any individual or brand who wants to get involved, please contact me, or visit RightWay’s website to connect directly with the Foundation.
As always, thank you.
On My 39th Birthday
Today is my 39th birthday, and I want to celebrate in a meaningful way.
If you’ve ever found any information we’ve shared to be valuable, and if it’s comfortably within your means, I’m asking you to please give $5 to The RightWay Foundation this weekend as a way of celebrating with me! (If you make a donation, please make a note of why in the digital Donor Scroll so I can personally thank you!)
We have everything we could possibly need here in our tiny home. We want everyone to be able to have those same comforts. Our friends at this marvelous nonprofit provide transitional age and emancipated foster care youth with mental health and employment services, all within the framework of a safe and loving community, putting them on a path for a prosperous future.
Thank you, as always, for being here and supporting our small home/business/family, as well as the organizations that our near and dear to our hearts.
Here’s to 39!
LA Fundraiser
On September 19th, Adam and I attended the annual Face Forward Fundraiser here in LA. We were introduced to this non-profit by our close friend, Bonnie Somerville. This organization helps survivors of violent and disfiguring crimes put their best face forward after after suffering from extreme domestic abuse. Their stories are heartbreaking, and all too common. This event and silent auction helped raise money for future patients and their reconstructive surgeries.
Rent the Runway generously provided me with this gorgeous nha khanh Isabella Gown. I am 6' tall and like to wear heels, and it was absolutely perfect. I 100% recommend it. It's completely elegant, simple and timeless.