More Than a Greenhouse
Summary: How 114 square feet -- and the kindness surrounding it -- made me feel safer in an uncertain time. (Thoughts on Giving Tuesday and supporting The RightWay Foundation)
We constructed our 114 square-foot greenhouse two and a half years ago. Despite the structure’s small size and the fact that it’s not connected to water or electric, it still needed to jump through the hoops of permitting, as it’s located in a preserved natural + wildlife area with high wind and flood risks. For this reason, we wouldn’t risk erecting the greenhouse on our own. We needed a professional who was familiar with odd building projects as well as the climate of the region.
No one wanted to take on the job. We were told it was too small and too strange. If anyone was going to consider it, it was going to cost us… a lot. Even if we weren’t already in the process of building our little home (which is technically a guest cottage), as well as renovating the Farmhouse we bought with our friends, the quotes were FAR out of the reach of my company. (I actually screamed when I read the first one: $21,000.)
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.
Before & After Video: The Cottage in Spring 2022 + Spring 2023
What a difference a year can make! I’m grateful every day for the roof over our heads, for the clean water that comes from our faucets, and for my family’s health. Our friends at The RightWay Foundation, a non-profit with which we’ve worked for years, are working to ensure others have access to such fundamentals, too. RightWay provides safely-located, well-appointed apartments and shared housing for homeless transition-age youth. They supply the security deposit and subsidize half of each month’s rent for one year, while supporting youth in building financial and emotional stability. Click here to donate (any amount!), and become the support that transition-age foster youth need.
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
Happy holidays from our (tiny) home to yours!
Happy holidays from our (tiny) home to yours!
On this Christmas day, I want to thank everyone in this community who has supported The RightWay Foundation throughout the season. Because of your love, more transition-age foster youth have their own apartments to call home, feel a decrease in social isolation, receive therapy to move through the trauma they’ve experienced, and are employed and reaching for their dreams.
On this day and every day, we are thankful for you.
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.
Safe Housing for Transition-Age Foster Youth (A Status Update)
Note: This blog post is a follow up to an initial post from June, which pertains to an initiative we’ve been working on with The RightWay Foundation since the onset of the pandemic.
Our family wants to thank everyone who tagged companies in my recent Instagram posts about The RightWay Foundation’s efforts to secure safe housing for transition-age foster youth.
Because of your responses to these social media posts, brands have taken note and delivered donations or committed to doing so.
Not only do these donations help by getting wonderful transition-age foster youth some of the items they need for a functional home and a healthy life, but they also allow RightWay to allocate their resources towards vital services such as mental health care, rent assistance, trauma-informed training, and job placement.
Here are a few companies we want to thank specifically for their contributions. (I hope to be able to circle back soon to add/thank more companies for further donations in yet another follow-up post.)
MATTRESSES
Avocado Mattress took note and committed to donating mattresses (among other essential sleep items) to RightWay in an ongoing capacity, starting as early as next week. (On a related side-note, we have an Avocado Green Mattress here at the Cottage, and we absolutely love it, and appreciate the brand’s commitment to the environment.)
Above: Our Avocado Green Mattress in the Cottage (captured as part of a past partnership with MindBodyGreen.) Avocado will be donating mattresses to The RightWay Foundation.
SOFAS
With the help of The Revery LA by Monica Wang, Jonathan Louis donated seven new, beautiful sofas to RightWay! Some of the youth have already begun to receive the couches in their apartments, and Franco, the Founder & Director of RightWay recorded a Thank You video for these contributions, here.
Above: Jonathan Louis sofas at The Revery for a photoshoot before being donated to RightWay.
BASKETS
Will & Atlas donated 20 of their gorgeous black jute baskets for the apartments. (We have a few of their baskets in another style, which that we initially got for West’s closet nursery, and we still use them daily.)
BOWLS & PLATES
OurPlace, a brand I admire for their ethical labor practices and clever, space-savvy Always Pan, are sending their stylish bowl and plate sets.
CUTLERY & CERAMICS
Fable is donating much-needed cutlery and ceramics, and we’re in talks with them to hopefully help RightWay acquire rolling donations of their surplus goods from previous seasons.
MUGS
Created Co. will be sending RightWay their delightful mugs for the youth in their new apartments.
TWIN-SIZE BEDDING
Dusen Dusen kindly sent numerous bright and playful twin bedding sets.
In addition to the above, several individuals have gifted items, from new oven mitts and tea towels, to beds, to AC units. And I’m sharing the following for the sake of accountability: our small business recently wrote a $1,000 check to RightWay with some of the money earned through our recent paid partnerships on Instagram.
Thank you to this community for your support, and you to the brands who are showing up to support foster youth.
Safe Housing for Foster Youth (Updated)
Over the years, this community has continued to show up for The RightWay Foundation. Today I have my biggest ask yet, and while I’d certainly be grateful for help from anyone who is in a position to give it, I’m focusing this request towards brands and brand managers specifically:
Help RightWay get 20 homeless, transition-age foster youth off the streets and into SAFE apartments by donating the following new items (allowing the organization to then direct their limited funds towards essentials such as food, mental health care, rent assistance and job placement).
These wonderful youth are constantly being pushed towards negative outcomes due to broken systems. Not only have they lost their jobs due to the pandemic, but they’ve ended up homeless in places that are dangerous (particularly for the women), and they’re enduring ongoing, relentless emotional (and often physical) trauma and discrimination.
You have inventory that they need. You can assist in providing them with a livable space to call home, equipped with the tools needed for a healthy life. (Please contact me to donate.)
Items needed (for 10 apartments for 20 youth):
Mattresses + Beds
Pillows
Bedding
Towels
Cleaning supplies
Cooking supplies (pots, pans, etc)
Dishtowels + oven mitts
Drinkware
Dishware
Flatware
Food storage containers
Table + chairs
Sofa + coffee table
First aid kits
Ironing set
Trash + recycling bins
Rugs
Lamps
Reusable shopping bags
Reusable water bottle
Reusable travel mug
Plants + planters + watering can
Original post from June 1:
In recent days, it has become clear that it’s time for my tiny business to press pause on sharing our story, thus decluttering social media feeds and opening up more space for Black stories to be heard. But it is also important for me to use my channels to amplify the social justice, environmental justice, community and creative work of others.
One such organization is The RightWay Foundation. This marvelous nonprofit works closely with emancipated foster and re-entry Youth to ensure housing and job resources in a trauma-informed environment. Over 50% of the homeless and incarcerated of Los Angeles have been impacted by the Foster Care System. These Youth, who lacked a strong and stable support system throughout their lives, deserve better.
Readers of this blog and our corresponding Instagram account helped us raise $1,000 for RightWay on my birthday, for which I thank you sincerely. That money helped RightWay kick off its Operation Housing First campaign, an initiative to secure safe housing for 20 homeless, transition-age foster youth during the backdrop of this challenging pandemic.
All people should have access to safe and affordable housing, and thanks in part to your contributions, Operation Housing First will be placing its first youth in new apartments this month. (And if you are interested in contributing now, funds are still needed to secure safe housing for more Youth.)
For those who’d like to learn more, RightWay’s Founder Franco Vega and Senator Holly J. Mitchell recently recorded an in-depth conversation during Senator Mitchell’s weekly “Sippin’ my Tea” live Facebook segment, during which they discussed the current needs of transition-aged youth, joint efforts from community partners and the collective impact we as a community can have on national policy. (Click here to view.)
The RightWay Story
In 2011, Franco Vega, a former orphan and probation youth, founded The RightWay Foundation to provide LA County transition-age foster youth (ages 18-26) with support and training to acquire and maintain employment. In recognition of the unresolved trauma creating barriers to job retention, Franco pioneered a program to address past trauma and support successful employment by integrating mental health with employment services. Now in its 9th year, RightWay has served as a lifeline for hundreds of foster youth in LA County, and continues to develop effective programs for transition-age youth.
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!
Giving Tuesday
My business is centered upon the art of making small and/or tricky spaces into long-term homes. But there are so many people in this world who have never had a steady home.
For years I’ve worked with The RightWay Foundation, which supports current or emancipated foster youth. The RightWay Foundation works with youth ages 18-24 because they are preparing to emancipate or have just "aged out" of the system. Many suffer the consequences of trauma from moving house to house or group home to group home in their childhood, lack the support they need to find a job and keep one, and are unable to secure housing after their housing from the County has now been cut off.
Many of Rightway’s foster youth are pushed into the world without enough resources to ensure their success. Once aging out, youth are facing the harsh realities of the general outcomes for foster youth in California and LA County. This is when they come to The RightWay Foundation.
The RightWay Foundation offers job training services, help with housing, therapy, job placement, financial literacy, career counseling, and education to the transitioning foster youth, and provides them with a welcoming and understanding support system.
Please consider supporting The Rightway Foundation and our wonderful foster youth this holiday season. Every donation helps.
Previous Rightway posts:
Above photos by Justina Blakeney, Whitney Leigh Morris, or The Rightway Foundation from various creative give-back partnerships over the years.