Lunch with a Purpose supports Fostering Wishes Foundation

Lunch With a Purpose/Coastal Delaware gathered Oct. 2 at Signatures at Bayside in Selbyville.  Attendees donated gift cards for the Fostering Wishes Foundation and dropped off nonperishable items for the Cape Henlopen Food Basket, located at the Community Resource Center in Rehoboth Beach.

Founded in 2019 by Donna Storan, Fostering Wishes Foundation provides birthday and holiday gifts to kids and teens who are in foster care. Foster families are under no obligation to provide gifts for children in their care, so these dates often go by uncelebrated. For each child in foster care, the family is afforded $150 annually by the state for extras, which might be Girl Scout fees or school book purchases, or simply new socks, underwear and sneakers if the foster family can't afford them. 

Storan thanked attendees for their generous support. In association with the Delaware Office of the Child Advocate, FWF determines the best ways to make the wishes of youth in foster care a reality. Bikes, gift cards, personal items and clothing are among the most-requested items.

Virginia Gomez, who works for the Delaware Division of Family Services and currently partners with Fostering Wishes Foundation as a volunteer, joined Storan at the podium to affirm from personal experience how much these gifts mean to the children, as she was formerly a child in the foster care system.

The event raised more than $6,100 in cash and approximately $4,700 in in-kind donations, along with 1,200 pounds of items collected for the food pantry.

For more information, go to fosteringwishesfoundation.org and find Lunch With a Purpose/Coastal Delaware on Facebook.

The next gathering will be Wednesday, Nov. 6, at Signatures Bayside in support of Laurel Public Library.