One Boone County middle school student is lending a helping hand this holiday season to foster kids in the area.
When assigned with a service project at school, Ethan Gomes, who attends Gray Middle School in Union, didn’t know what he wanted to do. It wasn’t until his mom saw an advertisement about how many children go into foster care with no possessions that he found his idea.
“I reminded Ethan about his friend’s little brother who was adopted,” said Karen Gomes, Ethan’s mother. “They were so fortunate to adopt him so that’s how we got the idea of backpacks.”
Ethan donated 10 backpacks to the Foster Adoptive Parent Association of Northern Kentucky with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, fleece blankets, toothbrushes, deodorant and a few extra surprises in each bag.
To earn the money to buy all the backpacks and fill them, Ethan went to work with his mom and helped clean. He also wrote a donation letter explaining his cause, asking if people would like to chip in.
“I didn’t want to do the service project at first,” Ethan said. “Once I started working on it, I realized not everyone lives like me and I was glad to help them get their own stuff. I was glad I did it.”
Amy Carder, cofounder of FAPA of NKY, told LINK nky what Ethan’s efforts meant to the kids coming into foster care.
“Many times, children come into foster care with nothing but the clothes on their back,” Carder said. “These backpacks help give them some new, needed items to try to ease the transition.”
Ethan’s plan, with the help of his mother, is to continue to help kids in the foster system across the region.
