September 4, 2024 • 34 mins
"Adulting' is hard, but it's exponentially harder if you are 18 years old and aging out of foster care, alone and without a support system. Here in Cleveland, there's an organization helping to ease the transition by providing donated furniture and household goods to young people who have graduated from foster care and moved into a place of their own. That organization is called Chair-ity, and in this episode, we speak with its founder and executive director, Maria Paparella. Chair-ity is a non-profit based in Cleveland that works to address the unmet needs of young adults aging out of the foster care system. Maria was inspired to start Chair-ity when she was just 16 years old. Ten years later, her organization has been a much-needed friend to 662 young adults by providing essential household goods and furniture and making their first place into a home. Join us to hear Maria's story and how she is creating a community of support for young adults exiting the foster care system. Hear the many ways you can help by donating your time, talent, and treasure. The benefits go both ways. One of Maria's favorite quotes is from Ruth Bader Ginsberg: "Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." Maria is living this quote, and she hopes you will join her.
Guest:
Maria Paparella, Executive Director of Chair-ity
Resources:
Follow Chair-ity on Instagram
About Chair-ity
How to Donate
Chair-ity Success Stories
Connect with Chair-ity
Upcoming Events
Community of Hope (mentor opportunities)
Cleveland Angels (mentor opportunities)
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Contact us:
hello@ecospeakscle.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Diane Bickett (00:04):
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for
the eco-curious in NortheastOhio.
My name is Diane Bickett and myproducer is Greg Rotuno.
Together we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn andlive with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello friends, do you rememberyour first place, your first
(00:25):
apartment?
If it was like mine, yourfurnishings probably were a
mishmash of items secured fromrelatives, friends and thrift
stores.
These things passed down andpassed along are not only
functional, they help make ahouse a home and are really
helpful for those just startingout.
As they say, adulting is hard,but it's even harder if you're
18 years old and aging out offoster care.
(00:48):
Every year in the US, 23,000teens age out of the foster care
system and 20,000 of thoseteens do so without a family or
support system.
22% will experiencehomelessness.
But here in Cleveland there'san organization helping ease the
transition by providing donatedfurniture and household goods
(01:08):
That organization is calledChair-ity, and joining us today
is its founder and executivedirector, Maria Paparella.
to young people who've graduatedfrom foster care and have moved
into a place of their own.
Please stay with us to hearhow Maria founded Charity while
she was just in high school.
The impact her organization hashad over the last 10 years and
(01:30):
how you and the items you nolonger need can support this
work.
Welcome, maria.
Maria Paparella (01:36):
Thank you for having me.
Diane Bickett (01:38):
Well, I'm excited because our mutual connection,
Heather Evans, connected us.
She's in my Girls who Love BeerClub and she's also on your
board of directors.
She's like I heard about thisorganization.
I'm involved with them now andI think you should put Maria on
your podcast.
I said okay.
Maria Paparella (01:57):
So here we are.
That's funny.
It doesn't shock me she's inthat club with you.
Diane Bickett (02:02):
Yeah, Maria, first of all, I think you have a
really great name.
It's kind of very fun to sayThank you.
You're also a very accomplished20-something.
Are you still a 20-something?
Yes, I am still a 20-something.
You founded a successfulnonprofit which is now 10 years
old.
You made the Cranes Clevelandbusiness 20 in their 20s list
when you were just 23, andyou've helped hundreds of young
(02:24):
people who often have little tono support system.
What led you to start thisorganization?
When you were just in highschool?
Maria Paparella (02:31):
Yeah, so I think it came from about 16
years of wanting a sibling.
I started the organization when.
I was 16 years old, but when Iwas little and all through
growing up, we would go over tomy grandma's house for Sunday
(02:53):
night dinners You're verystereotypical Italian Sunday
night dinners with the wholefamily, and I grew up in a huge
Italian family and all mycousins would be there and we'd
all be playing together andhanging out and I'd go home and
then have to play Barbies withmy dad.
And that was like just about theworst thing, Um, and so for
(03:16):
every birthday and everyChristmas I'd ask my parents for
a sibling, because I was anonly child, Um, and
unfortunately my parentscouldn't have any more children,
and so we started looking intofoster care and adoption, and I
(03:36):
grew up in Summit County and inSummit County all the children
who are prospective fosterchildren or prospective adoptive
children are listed on thewebsite.
And the best way that I canreally explain this is like you
picked out a sibling on awebsite.
Think of, yeah, think of like adoggy adoption website.
I think it's super dehumanizing, but it's kind of how I now
(04:00):
visualize it in my head.
But we came really close toadopting a girl who at that time
, we had just about everythingin common Even our birth dates
were just a few days apart andyou know, I thought I'd found my
perfect sister andunfortunately, you know, as we
just started going through theprocess, more and more my
(04:23):
parents learned about howchallenging it could be, and I
think for two working parents itwas a lot more than they could
take on and probably was notfair to her to bring somebody
else in into our family, and soever since then, you know, I
(04:44):
really thought about her, whather next steps were and and what
would be happening.
I would be, you know, going tomy eighth grade, graduation, and
thinking about okay, what'swhat?
What is she up to?
Um, so flash forward all thoseyears to being 16 and in high
school, um, I knew I started toknow what my next steps were.
(05:05):
I knew where I was going tocollege and realized how much
financial and emotional supportI had and started to ask
questions about her, like whathappens?
Greg Rotuno (05:14):
what's next you?
Maria Paparella (05:16):
know, if she hasn't been adopted, I could
still see her on that website,you know, maybe as a little bit
of a stalker.
Then, if I continue, to followher but just started being, I
think, pretty inquisitive aboutthe older she got.
What would be those next steps?
And my parents told me aboutthe process of aging out and, I
(05:39):
think, the harsh reality ofreally being completely on your
own, and I just I knew I wantedto do something to help and I
just wasn't sure what that wouldbe.
And after a meeting with SummitCounty Children's Services,
they explained that theirgreatest need was furniture and
(05:59):
household goods and, moreimportantly, a way to get these
items to the young adults.
And and so I was like, okay,well, I can do that.
And so I'd seen all my oldercousins get their first
apartment and I'm sure, like you, your first apartment, like you
said, comes from a hodgepodgeof items.
(06:19):
Mom and dad gave you the bed,aunt and uncle had an extra
dresser, grandma had plates, theneighbors had a lamp, and
that's how I'd seen everyoneelse do it.
And so I was like, okay, well,I can collect those items.
I've been in plenty of basementsthat are full of these kind of
out of season items and so Istarted to collect them and the
(06:40):
county would send me referralsand we would furnish them.
My goal in the first year wasto do three apartments I guess I
didn't tell the county that andwe did 30 apartments in the
first year was to do threeapartments I guess I didn't tell
the county that and we did 30apartments in the first year and
so it really just proved thatthe need was there and no one
was fulfilling it.
Diane Bickett (06:59):
Wow, that's amazing.
Maria Paparella (07:02):
Thank you, and how old were you then, so I was
16.
So it all happened very quickly, yeah.
Diane Bickett (07:07):
So you weren't doing normal teenage things.
You were doing I'm sure youwere, but you were also doing
these impactful things.
That's.
That's really amazing, Thankyou.
So how many kids age out offoster care annually here in
Northeast Ohio?
Maria Paparella (07:23):
So in Northeast Ohio.
I did, I did some math, I doveinto the numbers the other day
because you were, you stumped me.
So annually, about 233 youngadults age out in the Northeast
Ohio region.
With that being said, of those233, 136 of them are aging out
(07:47):
in Cuyahoga County alone.
Wow, following that is SummitCounty at 30 young adults
annually.
So there's quite a jump there.
And then the rest just kind offollows around between about
three and 10.
Diane Bickett (08:03):
Okay, and what are the I mean the obvious
challenges to, in my mind, arethese kids have never, probably,
had a stable home environment.
They don't have a familysupport system.
They're moving into a place alltheir own.
I mean that's really scary, andyet you're there.
I'm sure there's like socialservice agencies, but you're not
(08:26):
a social service agency.
You're a nonprofit with a faceand a passion for what you're
doing.
How are you helping them notonly furnish their apartments
but get comfortable with theidea that they're on their own?
Maria Paparella (08:43):
Yeah, so I think it's multifaceted.
I think at first you know youmentioned furnish their
apartments.
I think for so many of us whenyou furnish your first apartment
, again it's hand-me-downs.
And then it's a few things thatyou're buying and maybe mom and
dad or somebody else are buyingyou those items and I don't
think you really take intoaccount how expensive just that
(09:05):
part is, and that is, on average, about $4,000, even if you're
getting those items from thriftstores or like off of a Facebook
marketplace or something likethat.
Then, on top of that, you needthe transportation of those
(09:25):
items, which requires a truck,an extra set of hands, items
which requires a truck, an extraset of hands, gas time to do
that in your schedule and thereliability of the extra set of
hands.
Most of our young adults, whenthey're aging out of foster care
(09:45):
, do not have a driver's license, so they could not rent a truck
, nor do they have thissupportive system that they
could rely on to help them movethe furniture, and then, in
addition, don't typically havethe financial capacity to pay
for a moving service or pay forsomebody else to rent the truck,
get the gas and all that timeincluded, and so for us it's
(10:11):
really important to provide thatmoving process so that they're
not calling on somebody thatthey shouldn't have come back
into their lives just to get apiece of furniture in the door
to create a home.
I would say.
Third for us is, in thisprocess, what we have found, and
(10:31):
I think maybe we can get tothis point about our whole
process.
Yeah, and they come into ourprogram typically never having a
(11:07):
bed that has been their own,because they've moved a handful
of different times in differentfoster homes or to different
places or back and forth fromtheir home to another home when
they get to a foster home theydon't have the choice in what
that room looks like, feels likewhere it is.
Yeah, really good point.
And so when they come into ourprocess, first of all we have
(11:28):
immediate conversation startingwith them.
So as soon as they hit oursystem, we're getting a text out
to them because that's theirpreferred method of
communication for just abouteveryone.
And then we are saying, okay,as long as you have your keys,
we will deliver within a week.
That's promise number one.
Diane Bickett (11:45):
Okay.
Maria Paparella (11:46):
Promise number two is we're setting you up with
one of our designers who isgoing to help you choose items
from our inventory and fromthose pieces that you choose
that will fit into your home.
We will bring all those piecesthat you choose Wow.
And third is this is the timethat we will be there and if
(12:07):
anything changes, we're againgoing to communicate that, and
so we give them a full list ofthings that are happening, when
they're happening and howthey're happening and exactly
what we're doing.
And then we're fulfilling onthat promise and for a lot of
these young adults, it's thefirst time in their life that
anyone has come through on apromise for them in multiple
(12:28):
different ways.
Diane Bickett (12:29):
Wow.
Thank you for explaining someof the challenges they're facing
.
You're coming up on your10-year anniversary
Congratulations.
Maria Paparella (12:37):
Thank you very much.
Diane Bickett (12:40):
What has been your impact over that 10-year
period?
How many youth have you helped?
Maria Paparella (12:46):
Yeah, so to date, we have turned a house
into a home for over 662 youngadults, and I say over because I
think when this airs, we willbe over that number, because
Tuesdays are typically ourdelivery dates.
Diane Bickett (13:05):
Okay, how will you be celebrating your
achievement?
Maria Paparella (13:08):
So we have two different events that we'll be
celebrating and maybe I can saythe third is a different kind of
milestone for us.
But our first event will be agolf outing on September 9th at
Mayfield Country Club.
We're really excited for it.
It's our second annual event.
(13:30):
It's really fun and, I think, agreat way for people to be
active and even network in aprofessional capacity but also
support our organization.
Okay, our second event will bea casino night on November 15th
at the Gordon green.
(13:51):
Um, it's going to be a superfun event.
I'm really excited, excited forit.
We're just um.
We just booked a really coolentertainment um to come in.
Greg Rotuno (14:03):
So I'm not.
Maria Paparella (14:04):
I'm not disclosing anything yet but you
should definitely come to checkit out.
So that will be very exciting.
And then the third way and Ithink this speaks to our growth
over the last 10 years, not onlygeographically but within our
mission is that hopefully by theend of this year we will be
(14:29):
moving our Cuyahoga Countywarehouse location to double our
warehouse footprint.
So instead of being in 5,000square feet, we'll be in 10,000
square feet, because we havejust grown that much and that
will allow us to one and takemore furniture and two, we'll be
able to provide the youngadults with more of a choice
(14:52):
because we'll be able to housemore items.
Diane Bickett (14:54):
How fun for them to just go shop in your
warehouse and pick things out.
Maria Paparella (14:58):
Exactly, I got it.
Diane Bickett (14:58):
It's like oh, they're free.
Nice, even better.
Exactly, you have a warehousein Akron too.
Greg Rotuno (15:03):
We do.
Diane Bickett (15:03):
You're not just serving Cuyahoga County, it's a
six-county area, correct?
Maria Paparella (15:07):
Six counties.
Yeah, we serve Cuyahoga Lake,ashtabula, stark, medina and
Summit.
Wow, and you have staff.
We do, yes, could not functionwithout them and a million
volunteers and a millionvolunteers who are all
(15:28):
incredible and all perform ahandful of different jobs.
I mentioned the designvolunteers who we need them on a
weekly and a daily basis.
We do a lot of volunteeringwith athletic teams or larger
organizations, groups that areable to lift heavy items for
(15:48):
some of our moving days, soactually a lot of high school
boys teams and college boysteams will come out.
Yeah, and it's also a great teambuilding activity.
And my favorite thing aboutwhat we do and I say this all
the time and, okay, yes, I loveserving the kids and I'm like
(16:11):
it's so exciting but with havingthe volunteers come in,
especially the volunteers whoare peers to the young adults
that we serve, and having themexperience this totally
different world that they'veever experienced, and not just
talking at them because I mean,as you can hear, I can talk
(16:31):
about it all day long.
Um, and that's not going toprocess for process for them,
but for them to actually see itand feel it and be there is so
impactful and I, you know, likeany teenage boy, they walk in
and they're not really talkingor wanting to engage, and at the
end, they're asking a millionquestions about what happens and
(16:53):
how this works and what's goingto happen to them.
And are they working, are theyin school?
And I think at the end of theday, they start to really
envision themselves there and Ithink that is one of the biggest
impacts that we can make.
It's just education andadvocacy for this population.
Diane Bickett (17:10):
You're really living the quote that you had on
your Cranes Cleveland businessprofile for the 20 in their 20s,
which is a RBG quote fight forthe things you care about, but
do it in a way that will leadothers to join you.
Nicely done, Nicely done.
So I understand.
So what's the process?
(17:32):
I have a couch or a table orwhatever used items to donate.
How does that work?
Maria Paparella (17:40):
Yeah, so first we will receive the donated
furniture.
That happens by the donorfilling out a form on our
website.
They submit it with picturesand everything for us.
That just helps ensure thatwhen we go out we're actually
going to be getting those itemsand that we can bring them back
(18:02):
to our warehouse.
We can't always take everything.
We know what our kids like andwhat they don't like and we know
what, what's gonna leave andwhat's gonna stay right.
Diane Bickett (18:13):
No floral couches .
Maria Paparella (18:14):
No, none of the grandma couches but we actually
had an awesome donation, um,that is, couch covers that are
solid print, oh, and so we tookthose in because we can then
repurpose those sofas.
I think almost all of our kidswant a gray, a black or a tan
(18:35):
couch and that's just about it,and so if we can get these couch
covers to repurpose those, it'sawesome, and so many of them
are such great quality too thatit's so much better than having
like one off of Amazon that'sgoing to break in two months, so
sorry, sidetracked.
The second would be that wewould pick up the donation.
(18:57):
Third is we receive the fosterreferral form, like I mentioned,
that comes from one of ourseveral different community
partners, and then immediatelywe contact that referral and
schedule their delivery forabout a week from their referral
date to give them enough timeto then, five, connect with the
(19:20):
volunteers and shop our virtualinventory, and then, six, we
deliver the furniture and set uptheir whole apartment.
So something that's reallyunique about our services is
that not only do we deliver it,but then we bring it into the
apartment, set it up, hang upthe photos, put down the rugs,
(19:41):
put it you know, lay out thefurniture in a way that makes
sense.
I mean, I think, to you and me.
You know, laying out a livingroom seems pretty basic, but
sometimes when you're you don'tgrow up in what we would
consider the standard house orthe standard environment.
(20:02):
Things like that just aren'tsometimes even innate to them,
and just the flow of how thingsshould be laid out is different.
And then seven is just you knowpart, the creating the home
part, making sure that they haveeverything that they need that
(20:24):
again we're hanging up the items, laying everything out
correctly.
And then eight is makingconnections.
And this is something that inthe past about year and a half,
is newer to our process.
And, as I mentioned earlier, youknow, the promises that we
fulfill for these young adultscreate such a strong bond to our
(20:50):
volunteers or our staff.
And when we follow up and say,"'hey, do you need anything
else', we have them fill out alittle survey.
They tell us that they needthings that they haven't told
other people that they need,whether it's utility assistance,
or I really want to get mydriver's license, or I actually
(21:13):
want to go to nail tech school,or, you know, I need help making
sure my ends meet, or my babyneeds X, y and Z, and it's
pretty cool that we get to bethat network for them and
connect them with other partnersthat we have, because we're so
foster care specific.
(21:34):
We have partners that arereally specific to working with
former foster youth and aretrauma-informed that way, okay
so I think that speaks to thepower of what you're doing.
Diane Bickett (21:53):
I mean, you're not just like setting up their
apartment and walking out thedoor.
You become more of their people.
You're their people For sure,for sure, and you're helping
them beyond.
So do you have get togethers,Do you connect?
You know where are they after ayear, a couple?
Maria Paparella (22:12):
of years.
Yeah, so we definitely keeptabs on them as time goes on.
Like you mentioned, we are nota social services agency.
We're just a nonprofit and we dohave a small staff.
So part of making theconnections is also connecting
them to a mentoring program.
There's a few that we'llconnect them with, based off of
(22:35):
what their needs are, and thosementors can then stay with them
longer, can give them moreone-on-one attention and really
hold their hand.
That way and because we're atrusted partner of these young
adults if we're making thesewarm introductions, they're way
more likely to be sticky tothose mentors.
Diane Bickett (22:57):
Yeah, and you're young yourself, so you're
probably less intimidating thenWell, and I think that's so
important.
Maria Paparella (23:02):
That's why I love when our young men do the
deliveries, because I think it'syou know, it's just like a
friend coming in and helping youout, get your place ready
instead of you know, some Livingin this adult-centric world.
Diane Bickett (23:18):
Yeah, exactly that's great.
Financial donations I love onyour website.
Because you're a nonprofit,You're probably always in need.
You mentioned a couple offundraisers earlier 25 bucks
provides comfort, $50 dignity.
100 provides confidence, 250provides independence and $500
(23:45):
provides success.
Yes, I love the donation levelsand $175 helps you rent a truck
so you can go pick up thematerials.
You don't have your own trucks.
Maria Paparella (23:55):
We don't have our own trucks, we do rent.
We don't need them quitefrequently enough for it to make
sense, okay frequently enoughfor it to make sense, okay.
Diane Bickett (24:10):
So charity, which I should have said before, is
spelled c-h-a-i-r, dash, i-t-y.
Yes, honey, and um, you alsohave an amazon wish list where
people can buy those sofa coversand other things that you need.
Maria Paparella (24:19):
Yep we update that pretty frequently just
based off of what our need.
Is it really ebbs and flows?
Based off of donations comingin from people donating gently
used furniture items to.
Sometimes we have reallyspecific furniture needs, like
small dinette tables that areone or two topped, or even high
(24:42):
top dinette tables that arereally rarely donated to us, and
those things we'll ask for onour Amazon wishlist.
I will say if you see anyfurniture items on our Amazon
wishlist, I always encouragepeople to look for those on like
a Facebook marketplace orthrift them instead of going and
(25:05):
buying them on Amazon that way.
Diane Bickett (25:08):
Yeah, cause there'll be better quality.
You're supporting the reusenetwork.
Yeah, all the things.
Do you have any corporatesponsors that support you?
Maria Paparella (25:16):
Yeah, we have several Um.
I don't think I can probablyname them all Um's, okay, but
yeah, look at our websites anddifferent sponsors also sponsor
different events and makedifferent events possible for us
and make different homespossible for us.
(25:38):
Our corporate sponsors arereally amazing because so many
of them also, while they donateto us monetarily, they also
donate to us with their time andtheir energy, whether that's
doing pro bono work for us sothat we don't have to hire extra
staff, or coming into ourwarehouse or going out on
(26:01):
deliveries and helping us makesure that we can really get all
those volunteer hours and thatjust us as a small staff don't
have time to do.
Diane Bickett (26:11):
Yeah, lifeblood like.
Are you familiar with HumboldtDesign Cleveland?
Yeah, we interviewed DebEastburn a couple years ago.
Similar work, but they're morebroad, I think, in terms of
serving a variety of ages ofpeople.
But their angel corporatesupporter is Progressive and
(26:35):
that's where I think they get alot of their volunteers.
But what other opportunitiesfor volunteering?
What do you need people to helpyou with if they have time
available?
Maria Paparella (26:44):
Yeah, so we have a handful of different
opportunities and, I think, anopportunity that's really
available for everyone.
Just, you know, despite um, ifyou're able to lift a lot or
you're not.
Um.
So, like I mentioned, there isthe delivery component.
Um, I would say you have to bepretty physically able and
(27:07):
strong to do that.
Second is in our warehouse, onprobably a bi-weekly basis, we
have our volunteer groups comein and do sorting.
So we do get in kitchen goodsand we'll have our volunteers
sort those items and thenrepackage them into ready-go
(27:30):
sets that our delivery guys canjust grab and go on the truck.
Second is, like I said, we havea whole virtual inventory of
stuff constantly coming in andgoing out, and sometimes it
comes in and goes out quickerthan we can keep track of, and
so we try to audit it at leastonce a month to make sure that,
(27:52):
you know, one of the youngadults isn't seeing a purple
sofa online and saying I reallywant that, and then we go to the
warehouse and the purple sofais gone.
So to really make sure that allof the choices are there and
and able they're able to accessthose um.
Third would be diy.
(28:13):
So sometimes we get items inthat aren't quite up to our
standards but we know they canget there, um, such as like a
dresser that needs the toprefinishing or a lamp that we
might just need to spray paint asolid color so that the young
adult would be like, oh, thatwould be cool to have in my
(28:34):
house, and so we host thosevolunteer events pretty often as
well, if you're handy, in anyother way too.
We always have things that needscrews tightened or things that
need to be built out orsomething like that.
And then I'm trying to thinkwhat else At all of our events,
(28:55):
we always need extra hands there, whether that's helping people
check in, trying to sell raffletickets.
Get engaged in the mission thatway.
And then finally, like Imentioned, our design volunteers
, so meeting with our youngadults and helping them pick out
furniture.
That position is really coolbecause it can be done totally,
(29:16):
virtually, totally in person, ora hybrid of the two, and so
it's really just up to thevolunteer and the young adult to
figure out what's going to workfor them.
Diane Bickett (29:28):
So many ways to help.
Do you need like grant writerstoo and that type of admin?
I?
Maria Paparella (29:34):
think we have that under control, but I mean
because we're a smallorganization, if this is a
mission that really connects toyou and you feel like you have
something you want to offer,we're always willing to take
somebody's extra time or extrahands and put them to work to
allow some of us to do someother things that we've been
(29:56):
wanting to do and we just don'thave time.
Okay, very good.
Diane Bickett (29:59):
How do people get in touch with you?
Your?
Maria Paparella (30:01):
website and your social media.
Yeah, I would say the best wayis to go through our website and
do the contact page if you wantto ask something specific.
If you're looking to donatetime, talent or treasure, we
have a donate button on our pageand those three different ways
are listed there and you canjust go through and click a
(30:22):
button right away and it willlead you to that.
Diane Bickett (30:24):
Okay, should we end with a little tip time?
We always end up with a tiptime, perfect, which, I think.
What I would like to ask is youmentioned earlier a mentoring
program, if people want to getinvolved more directly with
these young people.
What are the names of those orhow did they, how did those work
(30:47):
?
Maria Paparella (30:48):
Yeah, so we work with a few um.
Cleveland angels is a part of anational organization.
It's they um go city to city.
Um Angels services a multitudeof different things that have to
(31:09):
do with foster care, but one oftheir newest programs is
supporting youth who are agingout by connecting them to a
mentor.
This program specifically is aone-on-one mentor, which isn't
right for every young adult tojust have one person, but it is
awesome for some, and so theywill partner with those young
(31:31):
adults first and then find amentor who matches them through
their database of people whohave decided they would want to
be mentors.
One of our other partners isCommunity of Hope, which is a
Cuyahoga County-basedorganization as well, and they
provide, as I said in their name, a community of people.
(31:53):
Typically, I think, it's aboutfive adults to one young adult,
and each of those five adultssupport the young adult in a
different manner.
Five adults support the youngadult in a different manner, and
then there's a few otherorganizations, but those two are
really specific to youth agingout of foster care.
Diane Bickett (32:13):
Super important to help reduce homelessness in
this population.
I think I mentioned earlier 22%of those aging out not the ones
you work with but nationally doexperience homelessness.
So I think you're doing a lotto help reduce that statistic
here.
Maria Paparella (32:32):
Yeah, and I think just navigate life in
general.
I mean now, being 26, I stillcall my mom for just about
everything, and you know, justto check in and be like, okay,
how do I do this part of mytaxes, you know, just having
(32:53):
somebody else to tell you Istill have a 26 year old calling
me about that.
Yeah, or you know how do I fix,fix this thing that that's going
on at home, and and I do, Ineed a wrench or a drill or what
even is a wrench and a drill.
And yeah, I think just to havesomebody else in your corner to
(33:14):
talk to, even if you're justhaving a hard day, is so
important.
Diane Bickett (33:17):
Yeah Well, as they say, adulting is hard.
Thank you for making it easier.
Thank you, thank you for whatyou're doing.
Maria Paparella (33:25):
It's really beautiful work, thank you.
Greg Rotuno (33:27):
Thank you very much we hope you've enjoyed this
episode of eco speak cle.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on spotify, apple
podcasts or wherever you getyour podcasts.
New episodes are available thefirst and third tuesday of each
month.
Please follow eco speak cle onfacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(33:49):
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeak CLE, you can email
us at hello at EcoSpeakCLEcom.
Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for
the eco-curious in NortheastOhio.
My name is Diane Bickett and myproducer is Greg Rotuno.
Together we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn andlive with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello friends, do you rememberyour first place, your first
(00:25):
apartment?
If it was like mine, yourfurnishings probably were a
mishmash of items secured fromrelatives, friends and thrift
stores.
These things passed down andpassed along are not only
functional, they help make ahouse a home and are really
helpful for those just startingout.
As they say, adulting is hard,but it's even harder if you're
18 years old and aging out offoster care.
(00:48):
Every year in the US, 23,000teens age out of the foster care
system and 20,000 of thoseteens do so without a family or
support system.
22% will experiencehomelessness.
But here in Cleveland there'san organization helping ease the
transition by providing donatedfurniture and household goods
(01:08):
That organization is calledChair-ity, and joining us today
is its founder and executivedirector, Maria Paparella.
to young people who've graduatedfrom foster care and have moved
into a place of their own.
Please stay with us to hearhow Maria founded Charity while
she was just in high school.
The impact her organization hashad over the last 10 years and
(01:30):
how you and the items you nolonger need can support this
work.
Welcome, maria.
Maria Paparella (01:36):
Thank you for having me.
Diane Bickett (01:38):
Well, I'm excited because our mutual connection,
Heather Evans, connected us.
She's in my Girls who Love BeerClub and she's also on your
board of directors.
She's like I heard about thisorganization.
I'm involved with them now andI think you should put Maria on
your podcast.
I said okay.
Maria Paparella (01:57):
So here we are.
That's funny.
It doesn't shock me she's inthat club with you.
Diane Bickett (02:02):
Yeah, Maria, first of all, I think you have a
really great name.
It's kind of very fun to sayThank you.
You're also a very accomplished20-something.
Are you still a 20-something?
Yes, I am still a 20-something.
You founded a successfulnonprofit which is now 10 years
old.
You made the Cranes Clevelandbusiness 20 in their 20s list
when you were just 23, andyou've helped hundreds of young
(02:24):
people who often have little tono support system.
What led you to start thisorganization?
When you were just in highschool?
Maria Paparella (02:31):
Yeah, so I think it came from about 16
years of wanting a sibling.
I started the organization when.
I was 16 years old, but when Iwas little and all through
growing up, we would go over tomy grandma's house for Sunday
(02:53):
night dinners You're verystereotypical Italian Sunday
night dinners with the wholefamily, and I grew up in a huge
Italian family and all mycousins would be there and we'd
all be playing together andhanging out and I'd go home and
then have to play Barbies withmy dad.
And that was like just about theworst thing, Um, and so for
(03:16):
every birthday and everyChristmas I'd ask my parents for
a sibling, because I was anonly child, Um, and
unfortunately my parentscouldn't have any more children,
and so we started looking intofoster care and adoption, and I
(03:36):
grew up in Summit County and inSummit County all the children
who are prospective fosterchildren or prospective adoptive
children are listed on thewebsite.
And the best way that I canreally explain this is like you
picked out a sibling on awebsite.
Think of, yeah, think of like adoggy adoption website.
I think it's super dehumanizing, but it's kind of how I now
(04:00):
visualize it in my head.
But we came really close toadopting a girl who at that time
, we had just about everythingin common Even our birth dates
were just a few days apart andyou know, I thought I'd found my
perfect sister andunfortunately, you know, as we
just started going through theprocess, more and more my
(04:23):
parents learned about howchallenging it could be, and I
think for two working parents itwas a lot more than they could
take on and probably was notfair to her to bring somebody
else in into our family, and soever since then, you know, I
(04:44):
really thought about her, whather next steps were and and what
would be happening.
I would be, you know, going tomy eighth grade, graduation, and
thinking about okay, what'swhat?
What is she up to?
Um, so flash forward all thoseyears to being 16 and in high
school, um, I knew I started toknow what my next steps were.
(05:05):
I knew where I was going tocollege and realized how much
financial and emotional supportI had and started to ask
questions about her, like whathappens?
Greg Rotuno (05:14):
what's next you?
Maria Paparella (05:16):
know, if she hasn't been adopted, I could
still see her on that website,you know, maybe as a little bit
of a stalker.
Then, if I continue, to followher but just started being, I
think, pretty inquisitive aboutthe older she got.
What would be those next steps?
And my parents told me aboutthe process of aging out and, I
(05:39):
think, the harsh reality ofreally being completely on your
own, and I just I knew I wantedto do something to help and I
just wasn't sure what that wouldbe.
And after a meeting with SummitCounty Children's Services,
they explained that theirgreatest need was furniture and
(05:59):
household goods and, moreimportantly, a way to get these
items to the young adults.
And and so I was like, okay,well, I can do that.
And so I'd seen all my oldercousins get their first
apartment and I'm sure, like you, your first apartment, like you
said, comes from a hodgepodgeof items.
(06:19):
Mom and dad gave you the bed,aunt and uncle had an extra
dresser, grandma had plates, theneighbors had a lamp, and
that's how I'd seen everyoneelse do it.
And so I was like, okay, well,I can collect those items.
I've been in plenty of basementsthat are full of these kind of
out of season items and so Istarted to collect them and the
(06:40):
county would send me referralsand we would furnish them.
My goal in the first year wasto do three apartments I guess I
didn't tell the county that andwe did 30 apartments in the
first year was to do threeapartments I guess I didn't tell
the county that and we did 30apartments in the first year and
so it really just proved thatthe need was there and no one
was fulfilling it.
Diane Bickett (06:59):
Wow, that's amazing.
Maria Paparella (07:02):
Thank you, and how old were you then, so I was
16.
So it all happened very quickly, yeah.
Diane Bickett (07:07):
So you weren't doing normal teenage things.
You were doing I'm sure youwere, but you were also doing
these impactful things.
That's.
That's really amazing, Thankyou.
So how many kids age out offoster care annually here in
Northeast Ohio?
Maria Paparella (07:23):
So in Northeast Ohio.
I did, I did some math, I doveinto the numbers the other day
because you were, you stumped me.
So annually, about 233 youngadults age out in the Northeast
Ohio region.
With that being said, of those233, 136 of them are aging out
(07:47):
in Cuyahoga County alone.
Wow, following that is SummitCounty at 30 young adults
annually.
So there's quite a jump there.
And then the rest just kind offollows around between about
three and 10.
Diane Bickett (08:03):
Okay, and what are the I mean the obvious
challenges to, in my mind, arethese kids have never, probably,
had a stable home environment.
They don't have a familysupport system.
They're moving into a place alltheir own.
I mean that's really scary, andyet you're there.
I'm sure there's like socialservice agencies, but you're not
(08:26):
a social service agency.
You're a nonprofit with a faceand a passion for what you're
doing.
How are you helping them notonly furnish their apartments
but get comfortable with theidea that they're on their own?
Maria Paparella (08:43):
Yeah, so I think it's multifaceted.
I think at first you know youmentioned furnish their
apartments.
I think for so many of us whenyou furnish your first apartment
, again it's hand-me-downs.
And then it's a few things thatyou're buying and maybe mom and
dad or somebody else are buyingyou those items and I don't
think you really take intoaccount how expensive just that
(09:05):
part is, and that is, on average, about $4,000, even if you're
getting those items from thriftstores or like off of a Facebook
marketplace or something likethat.
Then, on top of that, you needthe transportation of those
(09:25):
items, which requires a truck,an extra set of hands, items
which requires a truck, an extraset of hands, gas time to do
that in your schedule and thereliability of the extra set of
hands.
Most of our young adults, whenthey're aging out of foster care
(09:45):
, do not have a driver's license, so they could not rent a truck
, nor do they have thissupportive system that they
could rely on to help them movethe furniture, and then, in
addition, don't typically havethe financial capacity to pay
for a moving service or pay forsomebody else to rent the truck,
get the gas and all that timeincluded, and so for us it's
(10:11):
really important to provide thatmoving process so that they're
not calling on somebody thatthey shouldn't have come back
into their lives just to get apiece of furniture in the door
to create a home.
I would say.
Third for us is, in thisprocess, what we have found, and
(10:31):
I think maybe we can get tothis point about our whole
process.
Yeah, and they come into ourprogram typically never having a
(11:07):
bed that has been their own,because they've moved a handful
of different times in differentfoster homes or to different
places or back and forth fromtheir home to another home when
they get to a foster home theydon't have the choice in what
that room looks like, feels likewhere it is.
Yeah, really good point.
And so when they come into ourprocess, first of all we have
(11:28):
immediate conversation startingwith them.
So as soon as they hit oursystem, we're getting a text out
to them because that's theirpreferred method of
communication for just abouteveryone.
And then we are saying, okay,as long as you have your keys,
we will deliver within a week.
That's promise number one.
Diane Bickett (11:45):
Okay.
Maria Paparella (11:46):
Promise number two is we're setting you up with
one of our designers who isgoing to help you choose items
from our inventory and fromthose pieces that you choose
that will fit into your home.
We will bring all those piecesthat you choose Wow.
And third is this is the timethat we will be there and if
(12:07):
anything changes, we're againgoing to communicate that, and
so we give them a full list ofthings that are happening, when
they're happening and howthey're happening and exactly
what we're doing.
And then we're fulfilling onthat promise and for a lot of
these young adults, it's thefirst time in their life that
anyone has come through on apromise for them in multiple
(12:28):
different ways.
Diane Bickett (12:29):
Wow.
Thank you for explaining someof the challenges they're facing
.
You're coming up on your10-year anniversary
Congratulations.
Maria Paparella (12:37):
Thank you very much.
Diane Bickett (12:40):
What has been your impact over that 10-year
period?
How many youth have you helped?
Maria Paparella (12:46):
Yeah, so to date, we have turned a house
into a home for over 662 youngadults, and I say over because I
think when this airs, we willbe over that number, because
Tuesdays are typically ourdelivery dates.
Diane Bickett (13:05):
Okay, how will you be celebrating your
achievement?
Maria Paparella (13:08):
So we have two different events that we'll be
celebrating and maybe I can saythe third is a different kind of
milestone for us.
But our first event will be agolf outing on September 9th at
Mayfield Country Club.
We're really excited for it.
It's our second annual event.
(13:30):
It's really fun and, I think, agreat way for people to be
active and even network in aprofessional capacity but also
support our organization.
Okay, our second event will bea casino night on November 15th
at the Gordon green.
(13:51):
Um, it's going to be a superfun event.
I'm really excited, excited forit.
We're just um.
We just booked a really coolentertainment um to come in.
Greg Rotuno (14:03):
So I'm not.
Maria Paparella (14:04):
I'm not disclosing anything yet but you
should definitely come to checkit out.
So that will be very exciting.
And then the third way and Ithink this speaks to our growth
over the last 10 years, not onlygeographically but within our
mission is that hopefully by theend of this year we will be
(14:29):
moving our Cuyahoga Countywarehouse location to double our
warehouse footprint.
So instead of being in 5,000square feet, we'll be in 10,000
square feet, because we havejust grown that much and that
will allow us to one and takemore furniture and two, we'll be
able to provide the youngadults with more of a choice
(14:52):
because we'll be able to housemore items.
Diane Bickett (14:54):
How fun for them to just go shop in your
warehouse and pick things out.
Maria Paparella (14:58):
Exactly, I got it.
Diane Bickett (14:58):
It's like oh, they're free.
Nice, even better.
Exactly, you have a warehousein Akron too.
Greg Rotuno (15:03):
We do.
Diane Bickett (15:03):
You're not just serving Cuyahoga County, it's a
six-county area, correct?
Maria Paparella (15:07):
Six counties.
Yeah, we serve Cuyahoga Lake,ashtabula, stark, medina and
Summit.
Wow, and you have staff.
We do, yes, could not functionwithout them and a million
volunteers and a millionvolunteers who are all
(15:28):
incredible and all perform ahandful of different jobs.
I mentioned the designvolunteers who we need them on a
weekly and a daily basis.
We do a lot of volunteeringwith athletic teams or larger
organizations, groups that areable to lift heavy items for
(15:48):
some of our moving days, soactually a lot of high school
boys teams and college boysteams will come out.
Yeah, and it's also a great teambuilding activity.
And my favorite thing aboutwhat we do and I say this all
the time and, okay, yes, I loveserving the kids and I'm like
(16:11):
it's so exciting but with havingthe volunteers come in,
especially the volunteers whoare peers to the young adults
that we serve, and having themexperience this totally
different world that they'veever experienced, and not just
talking at them because I mean,as you can hear, I can talk
(16:31):
about it all day long.
Um, and that's not going toprocess for process for them,
but for them to actually see itand feel it and be there is so
impactful and I, you know, likeany teenage boy, they walk in
and they're not really talkingor wanting to engage, and at the
end, they're asking a millionquestions about what happens and
(16:53):
how this works and what's goingto happen to them.
And are they working, are theyin school?
And I think at the end of theday, they start to really
envision themselves there and Ithink that is one of the biggest
impacts that we can make.
It's just education andadvocacy for this population.
Diane Bickett (17:10):
You're really living the quote that you had on
your Cranes Cleveland businessprofile for the 20 in their 20s,
which is a RBG quote fight forthe things you care about, but
do it in a way that will leadothers to join you.
Nicely done, Nicely done.
So I understand.
So what's the process?
(17:32):
I have a couch or a table orwhatever used items to donate.
How does that work?
Maria Paparella (17:40):
Yeah, so first we will receive the donated
furniture.
That happens by the donorfilling out a form on our
website.
They submit it with picturesand everything for us.
That just helps ensure thatwhen we go out we're actually
going to be getting those itemsand that we can bring them back
(18:02):
to our warehouse.
We can't always take everything.
We know what our kids like andwhat they don't like and we know
what, what's gonna leave andwhat's gonna stay right.
Diane Bickett (18:13):
No floral couches .
Maria Paparella (18:14):
No, none of the grandma couches but we actually
had an awesome donation, um,that is, couch covers that are
solid print, oh, and so we tookthose in because we can then
repurpose those sofas.
I think almost all of our kidswant a gray, a black or a tan
(18:35):
couch and that's just about it,and so if we can get these couch
covers to repurpose those, it'sawesome, and so many of them
are such great quality too thatit's so much better than having
like one off of Amazon that'sgoing to break in two months, so
sorry, sidetracked.
The second would be that wewould pick up the donation.
(18:57):
Third is we receive the fosterreferral form, like I mentioned,
that comes from one of ourseveral different community
partners, and then immediatelywe contact that referral and
schedule their delivery forabout a week from their referral
date to give them enough timeto then, five, connect with the
(19:20):
volunteers and shop our virtualinventory, and then, six, we
deliver the furniture and set uptheir whole apartment.
So something that's reallyunique about our services is
that not only do we deliver it,but then we bring it into the
apartment, set it up, hang upthe photos, put down the rugs,
(19:41):
put it you know, lay out thefurniture in a way that makes
sense.
I mean, I think, to you and me.
You know, laying out a livingroom seems pretty basic, but
sometimes when you're you don'tgrow up in what we would
consider the standard house orthe standard environment.
(20:02):
Things like that just aren'tsometimes even innate to them,
and just the flow of how thingsshould be laid out is different.
And then seven is just you knowpart, the creating the home
part, making sure that they haveeverything that they need that
(20:24):
again we're hanging up the items, laying everything out
correctly.
And then eight is makingconnections.
And this is something that inthe past about year and a half,
is newer to our process.
And, as I mentioned earlier, youknow, the promises that we
fulfill for these young adultscreate such a strong bond to our
(20:50):
volunteers or our staff.
And when we follow up and say,"'hey, do you need anything
else', we have them fill out alittle survey.
They tell us that they needthings that they haven't told
other people that they need,whether it's utility assistance,
or I really want to get mydriver's license, or I actually
(21:13):
want to go to nail tech school,or, you know, I need help making
sure my ends meet, or my babyneeds X, y and Z, and it's
pretty cool that we get to bethat network for them and
connect them with other partnersthat we have, because we're so
foster care specific.
(21:34):
We have partners that arereally specific to working with
former foster youth and aretrauma-informed that way, okay
so I think that speaks to thepower of what you're doing.
Diane Bickett (21:53):
I mean, you're not just like setting up their
apartment and walking out thedoor.
You become more of their people.
You're their people For sure,for sure, and you're helping
them beyond.
So do you have get togethers,Do you connect?
You know where are they after ayear, a couple?
Maria Paparella (22:12):
of years.
Yeah, so we definitely keeptabs on them as time goes on.
Like you mentioned, we are nota social services agency.
We're just a nonprofit and we dohave a small staff.
So part of making theconnections is also connecting
them to a mentoring program.
There's a few that we'llconnect them with, based off of
(22:35):
what their needs are, and thosementors can then stay with them
longer, can give them moreone-on-one attention and really
hold their hand.
That way and because we're atrusted partner of these young
adults if we're making thesewarm introductions, they're way
more likely to be sticky tothose mentors.
Diane Bickett (22:57):
Yeah, and you're young yourself, so you're
probably less intimidating thenWell, and I think that's so
important.
Maria Paparella (23:02):
That's why I love when our young men do the
deliveries, because I think it'syou know, it's just like a
friend coming in and helping youout, get your place ready
instead of you know, some Livingin this adult-centric world.
Diane Bickett (23:18):
Yeah, exactly that's great.
Financial donations I love onyour website.
Because you're a nonprofit,You're probably always in need.
You mentioned a couple offundraisers earlier 25 bucks
provides comfort, $50 dignity.
100 provides confidence, 250provides independence and $500
(23:45):
provides success.
Yes, I love the donation levelsand $175 helps you rent a truck
so you can go pick up thematerials.
You don't have your own trucks.
Maria Paparella (23:55):
We don't have our own trucks, we do rent.
We don't need them quitefrequently enough for it to make
sense, okay frequently enoughfor it to make sense, okay.
Diane Bickett (24:10):
So charity, which I should have said before, is
spelled c-h-a-i-r, dash, i-t-y.
Yes, honey, and um, you alsohave an amazon wish list where
people can buy those sofa coversand other things that you need.
Maria Paparella (24:19):
Yep we update that pretty frequently just
based off of what our need.
Is it really ebbs and flows?
Based off of donations comingin from people donating gently
used furniture items to.
Sometimes we have reallyspecific furniture needs, like
small dinette tables that areone or two topped, or even high
(24:42):
top dinette tables that arereally rarely donated to us, and
those things we'll ask for onour Amazon wishlist.
I will say if you see anyfurniture items on our Amazon
wishlist, I always encouragepeople to look for those on like
a Facebook marketplace orthrift them instead of going and
(25:05):
buying them on Amazon that way.
Diane Bickett (25:08):
Yeah, cause there'll be better quality.
You're supporting the reusenetwork.
Yeah, all the things.
Do you have any corporatesponsors that support you?
Maria Paparella (25:16):
Yeah, we have several Um.
I don't think I can probablyname them all Um's, okay, but
yeah, look at our websites anddifferent sponsors also sponsor
different events and makedifferent events possible for us
and make different homespossible for us.
(25:38):
Our corporate sponsors arereally amazing because so many
of them also, while they donateto us monetarily, they also
donate to us with their time andtheir energy, whether that's
doing pro bono work for us sothat we don't have to hire extra
staff, or coming into ourwarehouse or going out on
(26:01):
deliveries and helping us makesure that we can really get all
those volunteer hours and thatjust us as a small staff don't
have time to do.
Diane Bickett (26:11):
Yeah, lifeblood like.
Are you familiar with HumboldtDesign Cleveland?
Yeah, we interviewed DebEastburn a couple years ago.
Similar work, but they're morebroad, I think, in terms of
serving a variety of ages ofpeople.
But their angel corporatesupporter is Progressive and
(26:35):
that's where I think they get alot of their volunteers.
But what other opportunitiesfor volunteering?
What do you need people to helpyou with if they have time
available?
Maria Paparella (26:44):
Yeah, so we have a handful of different
opportunities and, I think, anopportunity that's really
available for everyone.
Just, you know, despite um, ifyou're able to lift a lot or
you're not.
Um.
So, like I mentioned, there isthe delivery component.
Um, I would say you have to bepretty physically able and
(27:07):
strong to do that.
Second is in our warehouse, onprobably a bi-weekly basis, we
have our volunteer groups comein and do sorting.
So we do get in kitchen goodsand we'll have our volunteers
sort those items and thenrepackage them into ready-go
(27:30):
sets that our delivery guys canjust grab and go on the truck.
Second is, like I said, we havea whole virtual inventory of
stuff constantly coming in andgoing out, and sometimes it
comes in and goes out quickerthan we can keep track of, and
so we try to audit it at leastonce a month to make sure that,
(27:52):
you know, one of the youngadults isn't seeing a purple
sofa online and saying I reallywant that, and then we go to the
warehouse and the purple sofais gone.
So to really make sure that allof the choices are there and
and able they're able to accessthose um.
Third would be diy.
(28:13):
So sometimes we get items inthat aren't quite up to our
standards but we know they canget there, um, such as like a
dresser that needs the toprefinishing or a lamp that we
might just need to spray paint asolid color so that the young
adult would be like, oh, thatwould be cool to have in my
(28:34):
house, and so we host thosevolunteer events pretty often as
well, if you're handy, in anyother way too.
We always have things that needscrews tightened or things that
need to be built out orsomething like that.
And then I'm trying to thinkwhat else At all of our events,
(28:55):
we always need extra hands there, whether that's helping people
check in, trying to sell raffletickets.
Get engaged in the mission thatway.
And then finally, like Imentioned, our design volunteers
, so meeting with our youngadults and helping them pick out
furniture.
That position is really coolbecause it can be done totally,
(29:16):
virtually, totally in person, ora hybrid of the two, and so
it's really just up to thevolunteer and the young adult to
figure out what's going to workfor them.
Diane Bickett (29:28):
So many ways to help.
Do you need like grant writerstoo and that type of admin?
I?
Maria Paparella (29:34):
think we have that under control, but I mean
because we're a smallorganization, if this is a
mission that really connects toyou and you feel like you have
something you want to offer,we're always willing to take
somebody's extra time or extrahands and put them to work to
allow some of us to do someother things that we've been
(29:56):
wanting to do and we just don'thave time.
Okay, very good.
Diane Bickett (29:59):
How do people get in touch with you?
Your?
Maria Paparella (30:01):
website and your social media.
Yeah, I would say the best wayis to go through our website and
do the contact page if you wantto ask something specific.
If you're looking to donatetime, talent or treasure, we
have a donate button on our pageand those three different ways
are listed there and you canjust go through and click a
(30:22):
button right away and it willlead you to that.
Diane Bickett (30:24):
Okay, should we end with a little tip time?
We always end up with a tiptime, perfect, which, I think.
What I would like to ask is youmentioned earlier a mentoring
program, if people want to getinvolved more directly with
these young people.
What are the names of those orhow did they, how did those work
(30:47):
?
Maria Paparella (30:48):
Yeah, so we work with a few um.
Cleveland angels is a part of anational organization.
It's they um go city to city.
Um Angels services a multitudeof different things that have to
(31:09):
do with foster care, but one oftheir newest programs is
supporting youth who are agingout by connecting them to a
mentor.
This program specifically is aone-on-one mentor, which isn't
right for every young adult tojust have one person, but it is
awesome for some, and so theywill partner with those young
(31:31):
adults first and then find amentor who matches them through
their database of people whohave decided they would want to
be mentors.
One of our other partners isCommunity of Hope, which is a
Cuyahoga County-basedorganization as well, and they
provide, as I said in their name, a community of people.
(31:53):
Typically, I think, it's aboutfive adults to one young adult,
and each of those five adultssupport the young adult in a
different manner.
Five adults support the youngadult in a different manner, and
then there's a few otherorganizations, but those two are
really specific to youth agingout of foster care.
Diane Bickett (32:13):
Super important to help reduce homelessness in
this population.
I think I mentioned earlier 22%of those aging out not the ones
you work with but nationally doexperience homelessness.
So I think you're doing a lotto help reduce that statistic
here.
Maria Paparella (32:32):
Yeah, and I think just navigate life in
general.
I mean now, being 26, I stillcall my mom for just about
everything, and you know, justto check in and be like, okay,
how do I do this part of mytaxes, you know, just having
(32:53):
somebody else to tell you Istill have a 26 year old calling
me about that.
Yeah, or you know how do I fix,fix this thing that that's going
on at home, and and I do, Ineed a wrench or a drill or what
even is a wrench and a drill.
And yeah, I think just to havesomebody else in your corner to
(33:14):
talk to, even if you're justhaving a hard day, is so
important.
Diane Bickett (33:17):
Yeah Well, as they say, adulting is hard.
Thank you for making it easier.
Thank you, thank you for whatyou're doing.
Maria Paparella (33:25):
It's really beautiful work, thank you.
Greg Rotuno (33:27):
Thank you very much we hope you've enjoyed this
episode of eco speak cle.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on spotify, apple
podcasts or wherever you getyour podcasts.
New episodes are available thefirst and third tuesday of each
month.
Please follow eco speak cle onfacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(33:49):
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeak CLE, you can email
us at hello at EcoSpeakCLEcom.
Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
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