Hello, I am Joseph. I grew up in the foster care system for 11 years. I used to think that my time and mistakes in the system was all I was. It was like swimming in a deep pool and never being able to reach the surface. It was when I turned 18 that reality hit me, that I finally reached the surface of the pool being able to gasp for breath. I could see all that is around me, but I wasn’t able to understand it.
An Uncertain Future
Where would I go? What would I do? I had no clue because I only saw the world through the reflection of the water for so long. When I graduated high school, I thought that was the end, this was my peak. But I soon met someone who was also at once drowning in their own pool. Now afloat, they shared some wisdom with me including a piece of advice. To sum it up, that advice I received was: “Go to college; there is more to life.”
After that I Google searched “what is college” and the next search was “nearest college.” I really didn’t know where to go from there, so I went to the nearest community college, determined to get in some way. It wasn’t as bad as I imagined and I managed to get in, promising myself to do my best.
It was a year into my time at the community college that I was informed the independent living group home I was living at was going to close down soon. As you can imagine I freaked out because I had just started the process of figuring out my life. I was doing well in college.
From Panic to Productivity
I turned my panic to productivity and applied to Northern Arizona University because I had nothing else I could do, no one else I could stay with. I found out two weeks before the group home’s closure that I was accepted into NAU. The problem now was getting there. Which I did, but I didn’t have much when I got there. I had a week’s worth of clothes, a laptop and some other miscellaneous things.
It was a tough first semester. Luckily though, I started looking into scholarships and found a few. Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation’s scholarship is a great one that I am really grateful to be able to be a part of. I really mean it, too. If not for AFFCF, I would be homeless because the scholarship went toward my dorm cost.
More than a Scholarship
Not only that, but AFFCF also has the Focus Forward Fund that has a variety of funding opportunities for emergency situations. For example, I got into a really bad bike accident and my laptop smashed in my bag. AFFCF was able to help me replace it, thankfully. The Focus Forward Fund also helped me not starve over winter break when I was in my dorm alone and snowed in for a month. These are a couple of many examples when it comes to the Focus Forward Fund.
Lastly, AFFCF has great people who are with us along our journey. For example, Erika and the AFFCF team listen to our problems and worries and have been there for us when there wasn’t anyone else. Not only that, the AFFCF team puts together events that bring scholars together and help us forget for some time the weight on our shoulders. I am grateful to be able to be in AFFCF and hope to continue until the close of this chapter of life.
Create Meaningful Impact
Your donation to Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation does more than help a student with a foster care background get to college. It keeps them housed and offers a helping hand during an emergency. It lets them know that someone cares about them and that there is a path forward to a better life.
Because AFFCF is a Qualifying Foster Care Organization, your donation is also eligible for the AZ Foster Care Tax Credit, up to $1,173 for joint filers and $587 for individual filers. How it works is simple. You donate to AFFCF. If you owe on your AZ state taxes, it will be applied to the tax liability. Don’t owe taxes? The same amount you donate to AFFCF will get refunded to you by the State of Arizona! There are more students just like Joseph out there who are exiting foster care and trying to create a better lives for themselves. They need your help to do it…give today!