Rachel's Apartment

Rachel is a youth in our Dare to Dream program who has grown up in foster care––and has moved over 50 times in her life.

The good news is that Rachel is an incredibly resilient young woman and has been determined to not let this break her spirit. She does well in school and has some pretty amazing long-term goals for herself, including a dream of attending the University of Texas and majoring in fine arts and dance. She then wants to attend UT Law School and eventually become a judge for children in foster care. 

Rachel is stylish, and loves clothes and shoes. She is friendly, outgoing, caring, and polite. She likes to do arts and crafts and especially likes to make bracelets and necklaces with beads. She enjoys dancing, shopping, and music. She also likes to write song lyrics and stories, and loves to sing (you should hear her voice!)

She is now 18, has aged out of foster care, and settled into her own place...

But this apartment was completely empty.
​We wanted her to feel comfortable in her new home.

Rachel's Dare to Dream mentor has done an incredible job supporting her through this transition, but given the high need, she knew she could give Rachel the support she needed alone. So we decided to get the community involved. We needed everyone's help bringing Rachel's empty apartment to life and making it feel like a safe, comforting refuge for her to come home to.  Some examples of items we were looking for: kitchen utensils, cleaning supplies, laundry items, apartment decor, paper products, clothing and shoes, gift cards and more. 

​We wanted to help increase Rachel's self esteem and normalcy, and set her up for a different trajectory than the life she has experienced. By rallying around Rachel and her mentor, they would be able to focus less on these basic needs and more on school, employment, budgeting and dreaming of new possibilities for life after foster care.

​So we sent out an ask to the community...

... And in less than 20 MINUTES our community showed up BIG TIME! Rachel's entire wishlist was fulfilled so quickly, we thought, "There must have been a glitch! Certainly everything could not have been purchased this quickly!"

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank every single person who showed up for a youth in need in our community. We are humbled and honored to be surrounded by such a generous community of real-life angels.⁠

Later that week, Rachel's mentor shared the following:

"Thank you to all that continue to support me as I help mentor a youth experiencing foster care. Today because of the generosity of Spa Luxe and The Ground Guys of Pflugerville I am taking Rachel for her first fancy spa pedicure for her 19th birthday! She was so excited when she saw where we pulled up!"