The foster care system can be tough for a small child to navigate.
It's hard to imagine that many children carry everything they own in a trash bag when transitioning from home to home.
But thanks to a non-profit and a group of dedicated students in Boca Raton, those kids are never alone.
On Wednesday, about 400 students at Lynn University worked hard to pack special 'comfort cases' filled with essentials like toiletries, water bottle, a blanket, inspirational notes and even a stuffed animal -- anything to bring comfort into a foster child's life.
Thanks to national non-profit Comfort Cases, the freshmen students spent the morning packing 500 bags to go straight to foster children South Florida. The bags will be delivered to ChildNet and Best Foot Forward this Friday.
Best Foot Foward is a nonprofit organization in Palm Beach County dedicated to the educational success of youth who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned and have entered the foster care system.
ChildNet is an organization chosen by the Florida Department of Children & Families to serve as the Community Based Care lead agency in both Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
In Palm Beach County alone, about 200 children are in need of a forever home.
"It's not uncommon for the 430,000 foster care children in the United States to carry their belongings in one home to the next in trash bags. We're going to give these children some dignity and something of their own," said Comfort Cases founder Rob Scheer. "We want to make sure that these children know that they are wanted."
Scheer said his own experience as a child in the foster care system inspired him to help other children.
"For me it was the journey of adopting four kids from foster care. When they arrived in our home 9 years ago, they all four carried a trash bag, a green trash bag carrying nothing but torn and tattered clothes," he said. "It made me think back from 40 years ago when I entered the system carrying a trash bag."
The volunteer event at Lynn University was part of the school's January term, a three week semester where students take part in experimental learning opportunities.
To learn more about Comfort Cases, click here.