Foster Care Agency to Host Gala

ALPHARETTA – Connections Homes, an Alpharetta-based non-profit that connects young adults who have aged out of foster care with mentoring families, will host its 10th annual gala on Nov. 2 at the Country Club of Roswell. The gala will focus on honoring these youth and how mentors have made such an impact in their lives.

Connections Homes is kicking off its 10th year of connecting former foster kids who have aged out of the state’s foster care system. It has paired 313 youth with mentors or mentoring families since 2014.

The gala will include a dinner and silent auction to support the work of Connections Homes and its support of young adults in Georgia and in Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

“Our youth are going to tell their stories of gratitude for what a mentor has meant in their lives,” said Pam Parish, founder and CEO of Connections Homes. “They are such a perfect illustration of how former foster kids can live productive lives if they have a healthy adult in their life to guide them.”

Parish said most foster kids are removed from families plagued with addiction, neglect and abuse and they lack the love, structure and support needed to grow up with a healthy outlook on life.

Each year, more than 700 young adults age out of the Georgia foster care system. Connections Homes helps pair some of these youth with mentors to keep this forgotten population from making poor choices that lead to homelessness, crime, prostitution, poverty and addiction.

In North Georgia, Connections Homes partners with hundreds of churches such as North Point Church in Alpharetta to recruit mentors for young adults who are age out of foster care. The mentors guide them in a host of ways including having the youth visit their homes or take them out for meals and offer them advice on life challenges – just as a parent would.

Connections Homes is working to help these youth in a host of ways including participating in the new Foster Care Tax Credit that raises funds so former foster kids can attend college or technical school with costs such as transportation, room and board covered.

The vast majority of foster kids are unable to find ways to obtain a secondary education so they can find a good-paying job.

Proceeds from the gala will help connect more mentors and youth who age out of foster care to stop the cycle of poverty and the repetition of children who wind up in foster care.

Tickets for the Nov. 2 gala can be found at: https://one.bidpal.net/ch2023/welcome.

For more information about Connections Homes go to: https://connectionshomes.org/.