BALTIMORE, Md. — Of the 400,000 foster children currently in the United States, only three percent will go on to obtain a college degree.
“Which is really upsetting because 84 percent report that they do want to go,” said Katie Hay, who is one of the lucky three percent. “They just don’t understand that there’s resources out there or that they do the capability to go and be successful doing it.”
Hay, a native of Falling Waters, West Virginia, entered the foster care system at the age of 13 and understood that the financial burden of pursuing a college education would be challenging.
“I aged out of the system when I was 18 and decided that I wanted to go to college, so I figured out the financial aid process, got some scholarships and ended up going,” she said.
Last year, Hay graduated from Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland, with a degree in psychology, and as she prepared for graduation, felt felt a strong need to give back and to do something more than what she was doing at the time.
“I just looked back over my experience and how scary it was but at the same time how incredible,” she said. “I just wanted other foster children to have that exact same experience, to be able to look back on how far they’ve come and realize it’s absolutely a possibility.”
That’s when Hay found “Together We Rise,” a non-profit organization based in Brea, California, designed to aid the nation’s youth in foster care.
Hay recruited friends, including Robert Hall, of Elkins, to join her efforts in spreading awareness and fundraising for scholarships to help those aged out of the foster care system to attend college.
“We’ve received an overwhelming amount of support from our communities,” Hall said. “I’ve been receiving messages of support from anyone in the community.”
Mia Scanlon, who is currently a student at Loyola University, joined Hay’s fundraising efforts this year, not only to support her friend’s mission but because she has a passion for children and for education.
“I look to Katie as an inspiration for her perseverance and determination,” Scanlon said. “The biggest impact that I hope to have is that not only will we help young foster lives but we also improve the dialogue about education in America and funding for the underpriviledged and unfortunately often emotionally overlooked men and women hoping to improve their lives that lack the support that other millions of children take for granted.”
Though not having been in the foster care system herself, Scanlon was adopted from China at the age of 1.
“So we talked about what that process looked like for her and what my background looked like, and she just decided that she really wanted to get involved as well,” Hay said.
In Hay’s first year, she more than doubled her goal of $2,000. This year, the group is already 34 percent of the way to their $5,000 goal.
To meet that goal, they rely heavily on social media, promoting the cause similiar to GoFundMe or other online fundraising platforms.
“At the end of our campaign, it will go directly to the kids who applied for that scholarship,” Hall said.
However, Hay said, it’s not only about raising the needed funds.
“Of course we want to raise money, and we’re so thankful for all of our donors and all of the support that we’ve gotten, but it also starts a conversation,” he said. “As time goes on, the foster community is growing. It’s just growing exponentially.”
While she hasn’t yet met any of the students directly impacted by the fundraising efforts, Hay said it’s been “priceless” to know she’s spreading awareness and helping them acheive their goals.
“Being able to know that no matter how much money we raise, whether we make the goal or whether we don’t, knowing that somehow in a small way, we were able to help a foster kid achieve their dreams, go to college and have a stable life in the future is really what this is all about.”
To learn more about Together We Rise and Hay’s fundraising efforts, visit www.togetherwerise.org/fundraise/m_r_k