Delaware woman finds her purpose giving back to foster children. Here’s her story

Donna Storan finally found her life purpose, and it all started with a young boy in need of a new guitar.

Storan, the founder and director of Fostering Wishes Foundation, leads a team of over two dozen volunteers who collect and distribute anything 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, facing unique challenges as they grow into their adolescent years that often go unattended.

The foundation has only been around five years, and in that short time the group has grown exponentially. 2024 has proved especially fruitful after the group moved from storage spaces to their new headquarters.

Here’s how Storan did it.

How Fostering Wishes started with 14 bikes and a guitar

Prior to starting Fostering Wishes, Storan had no experience working in nonprofits. Instead, she was inspired by her mother, who worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, representatives who advocate for the wellbeing of foster children in court.

Foster families are not required to buy gifts for their foster children, so occasions like holidays, birthdays or sporting events can often be a time of struggle for children in the foster system.

For two years, Storan heard stories of one particular child that her mother advocated for in court who needed a new guitar. His guitar broke and he wasn’t able to get another. Storan offered to buy the guitar for the young boy, only to find out that per regulations, foster children can only receive gifts like that from registered nonprofits.

After that, Storan knew what she needed to do, and she started her nonprofit from scratch out of her home. Fostering Wishes Foundation was officially registered in September 2019, and it has grown in ways Storan never expected.

“[The first year] we gave away 14 bikes and some toys,” Storan said. “The following year, it was 87 kids’ wish lists. Last year it was 296. This year, we expect to probably hit 450 or more.”

From storage units to the ‘Little Free Shop’

Storan said she makes an effort to personally reach out to almost every business in the county to make them aware of Fostering Wishes Foundation and implore them for any new, unsold merchandise that would otherwise go to waste.

This time last year, Fostering Wishes Foundation was operating out of three storage units. Unlit, unheated and uninhabitable, Storan manually charged battery-powered lamps every night so she and her team could see the work they were doing.

But thanks to fundraising efforts from Delaware’s Do More 24 event and Lunch With A Purpose, their luck changed over the past few months.

Storan was able to raise enough money to afford 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 in a matter of hours.

For the sake of the privacy of the foster workers and children, the address of the new location is not disclosed to the public, but Storan’s gratitude toward the new space is unwavering.

“I can’t believe it,” Storan said. “I sit here at a little desk with a big window, a basement space … a toy room, closets … It looks like a real store.”

Affectionately nicknamed the “Little Free Store,” Storan made sure that her right-hand woman, Mikayla Jacobsen, got the credit she deserves for coordinating deliveries, assisting with pickups and organizing the space to look and feel like a hopeful place.

“I could not do this without her,” Storan said.

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Storan’s ‘real meaning in life’

To Storan, this isn’t just a career.

For one, 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 been unable to work for several years. Fostering Wishes Foundation granted her a clear purpose in life.

“I knew that I had the ability to do something,” Storan said. “I don’t have kids, I just always wanted to help kids and I didn’t know how. Now I treat all kids in foster care as my own. It’s given me real meaning in life.”

The Fostering Wishes Foundation is not open to the public, and they only give away new and unused goods. But pickup donations 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 contacted via email at fosteringwishesfoundation@gmail.com.

Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues around Delaware. Contact her at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Fostering Wishes gives back to children in foster care

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