June 6 – Ensuring children feel cared for, valued and strengthened during what can sometimes seem like an uncertain time in their lives.
That’s the message behind Bravely Me Boutique, a new store exclusively for foster and kinship families that recently opened at Maple Grove Community Church on the city’s southwest side.
The free boutique – complete with rows of new, community-donated items, from clothing and toys to toiletries and school supplies – is the brainchild of Laura and Shane Martin of local nonprofit Foster the Need.
The Tribune recently contacted the Martins to talk about their new venture, just hours before the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.
And for the couple, the boutique is more than just the tangible items inside.
It’s also about giving the foster and kinship families who come in, especially the children, a sense of hope and peace.
“Some of these kids have never been to a Walmart or Target,” Laura Martin said. “So if they can come in and see a space that’s beautiful and where they can feel like they’re the only person who matters in that moment, that’s huge. They have control over this one moment in their life , at a time when they feel like there is no more control over their lives.”
In other words, the children can be themselves, she noted.
They can be brave, like the name of the store.
“Shane and I sat around many nights thinking about what we wanted the image and vision of our space to be,” Martin said. “And the word ‘courageous’ really stood out to us because these kids have been through everything, and they continue to wake up in the morning and keep going. These children live their lives every day in the unknown, in a space where they don’t know what will happen next.
“And we continue to see them rise above that and be courageous,” she added. “So the name just fits perfectly. … They may not have control over what they choose for themselves for the rest of their lives, but for a moment they can feel brave and loved for it.”
Matt Daleo is clinical director at The Villages, one of Indiana’s largest nonprofit child and family services organizations, and he also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“I think this place is a huge need in the community because some kids come to situations with absolutely nothing,” he said, “or they come from neglected homes with no bags or anything like that. But they can come here and get all their needs met. met perhaps for the first time in their lives, and it’s really an amazing thing.”
In addition to offering children in foster or kinship care the opportunity to feel empowered, Martin also hopes that Bravely Me Boutique will be a good tool for foster or kinship parents and guardians to “get on their feet” as they navigate start the fostering process.
“It is a dream of ours that this boutique will be a resource for the entire duration of a child’s stay with a family,” Martin said, “and not just in the beginning.”
Foster families and family members can visit Bravely Me Boutique by making individual appointments by sending a private message to the boutique’s Facebook page, and Martin said one family has already come through the store.
And while she admits that she and her husband were the ones who came up with the idea, the boutique wouldn’t be successful without the support of the Howard County community.
“Our community has been so substantial and influential in allowing us to operate this boutique,” Martin said. “We’ve had companies that want to donate money. We’ve had companies that go out and buy a whole bunch of clearance items and donate them. We have churches that we work with. Schools have done rides for us before and every group in the community we’ve spoken to has joined us and been such an important part of what we do.”
Because it really does take a village to raise a child, she noted, acknowledging that some of the strongest villagers are the foster and kinship families themselves.
“Parents who decide they want to raise or care for their children from their relatives are heroes,” Martin said. “They are superheroes, and the children who come into these families are also superheroes. We cannot eliminate all the problems for these children. We can’t pave the way for everyone, but we can be a small part of that.”
And through something as simple as the Bravely Me Boutique, Martin said she hopes the public will continue to see how life-changing foster care can really be.
“These children are in our classrooms, in our churches, in our backyards and are part of our families,” she said. “I think sometimes we overlook things that are not good in our face. We overlook things that are not part of our daily routine. So our dream is that people start to see the needs, to start meeting those needs and come to see these children as the valued treasures that they are.”
