Donna Storan finally found her life’s purpose, and it all started with a young boy who needed a new guitar.
Storan, the founder and director of the Fostering Wishes Foundation, leads a team of more than two dozen volunteers who collect and distribute everything from instruments to water bottles to clothing for children in Delaware’s foster care system.
More than 500 children are in Delaware’s foster system and face unique challenges as they grow into their adolescent years, which often go unattended.
The company has only been founded for five years and in that short time the group has grown exponentially. 2024 has proven to be particularly fruitful after the group moved from the warehouses to their new headquarters.
Here’s how Storan did it.
How Fostering Wishes started with 14 bicycles and a guitar
Before starting Fostering Wishes, Storan had no experience working with nonprofits. Instead, she was inspired by her mother, who worked as a court-appointed special advocate, representing advocates for the well-being of foster children in court.
Foster families are not required to purchase gifts for their foster children, so occasions such as holidays, birthdays, or sporting events can often be a time of struggle for children in the foster system.
For two years, Storan heard stories about a particular child her mother advocated for in court who needed a new guitar. His guitar broke and he couldn’t get another one. Storan offered to buy the guitar for the boy, but learned that by regulation, foster children can only receive such gifts from registered nonprofits.
After that, Storan knew what to do and started her non-profit organization from her own home. Fostering Wishes Foundation was officially registered in September 2019 and has grown in ways Storan never expected.
“[The first year] we gave away fourteen bicycles and some toys,” Storan said. “The next year there were 87 children’s wish lists. Last year there were 296. This year we probably expect to reach 450 or more.”
From storage furniture to the ‘Little Free Shop’
Storan said she is making an effort to personally contact almost every business in the province to let them know about the Fostering Wishes Foundation and plead with them for new, unsold goods that would otherwise go to waste.
This time last year, the Fostering Wishes Foundation operated from three storage spaces. Unlit, unheated and uninhabitable, Storan manually charged the battery-powered lights every evening so she and her team could see the work they were doing.
But thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Do More 24 event in Delaware and Lunch With A Purpose, their luck has changed in recent months.
Storan was able to raise enough money to pay a few months’ rent on a new office space in Kent County, and with the help of the Dover Air Force, the group was moved into their new space within hours.
Due to the privacy of the foster workers and children, the address of the new location is not being released to the public, but Storan’s gratitude towards the new space is unwavering.
“I can’t believe it,” Storan said. “I’m sitting here at a small desk with a big window, a basement room… a toy room, closets… It looks like a real store.”
Storan, affectionately known as the “Little Free Store,” made sure her right-hand man, Mikayla Jacobsen, got the credit she deserves for coordinating deliveries, assisting with pick-ups and organizing the space to look hopeful and to feel.
“I couldn’t do this without her,” Storan said.
Fostering, Adopting in Delaware: Why foster care and adoption require a different mindset when growing a family
Storan’s ‘real meaning in life’
For Storan, this is not just a career.
First, she is unpaid in her role as founder. But she also sees this as more than a way to pass the time. Storan has a disability and has not been able to work for several years. Fostering Wishes Foundation gave her a clear purpose in life.
“I knew I had the ability to do something,” Storan said. “I don’t have children, I always wanted to help children and I didn’t know how. Now I treat all children in foster care as my own children. It has given me real meaning in life.”
The Fostering Wishes Foundation is not public and only gives away new and unused goods. But donations for pick-up can be scheduled by contacting the team on their website, and financial donations are always welcome.
Fostering Wishes Foundation can be found online at www.fosteringwishesfoundation.org and can be contacted via email at Fosteringwishesfoundation@gmail.com.
Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues in Delaware. Contact her at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.
This article originally appeared in Delaware News Journal: Fostering Wishes gives back to children in foster care
