Harvest House, community members equip 600 foster kids with school supplies

On Friday, The Harvest House held their annual back-to-school supply stash event.  As foster families made their way into the gym, you could see the eyes of kids widen in excitement, seeing all the colorful balloons, Legos galore, and the warm and friendly smiles that greeted them.

Bethany Taylor, executive director and founder of Harvest House, said, "Every year we host this for our foster children of Guam. We have about 600 foster children that we have in the system and have been invited to our event.  It's a Lego-themed event, we have asked the community, so many donors, businesses, everyone, families, churches - so many people have come together and donated Legos for the kids to play with, to take home some Legos. We have dinner provided for them and all their family, we have backpacks and school supplies, we're going to make sure they have a really successful school year ahead of them."

As the kids entered the gym and signed-in, they were taken to the backpack room where they were able to select their backpack and fill it up with school supplies. Then they received a Lego keychain that they were able to personalize.

Taylor happily explained that the theme was inspired by the Netflix show Lego Master, so throughout the night, the children got to play with Lego sets and be creative with coloring stations, enjoy cookies and cupcakes and so much more.

And if you are considering becoming a foster parent or wish to inquire more, Harvest House holds informational meetings on the last Thursday of every month at 6:30pm.

Taylor said, "If you are even thinking about becoming a foster parent, would you please give us a call or email us? We're at [email protected] or 300-LIFE is our number, we will you all the things you need to get that application and get you all the information you need.  We need foster parents really bad."

As for what she would like to get out to the community?

"Our next big event will be Christmas," Taylor commented. "We'll be calling on our community to donate big wonderful gifts for our foster children." She added, "We service the foster children every single day...we are there when they need a new placement, all the way up until they are in their new home, and we check in with them monthly. So please consider donating to Harvest House whether it be financially, clothes....it all helps to effectively provide to our island's foster children."