My Stuff Bags Foundation

Since 1998, the My Stuff Bags Foundation has been addressing the needs of an often forgotten group of American children, those who must leave everything behind when they are rescued from abuse, neglect, abandonment, or homelessness and enter foster care, or who must flee with their mothers to the safety of a battered women’s home. Tragically, these children enter shelters with little more than the clothes on their backs and little hope for their future. Agencies that care for these frightened kids frequently lack the resources to provide anything beyond food and safe shelter. And the few possessions these children might gather along the way are often lugged around in trash bags, leading to the demeaning label, “trash-bag kids.” My Stuff Bags are bright blue individual duffels filled with brand new, age- and gender-appropriate toys, books, a stuffed animal, school supplies, clothing, personal toiletries, and a warm, often hand-made “security” blanket, all theirs to keep. Packed with items they desperately need as they adjust to their new surroundings, My Stuff Bags provide things to do and to hold during this difficult time. Perhaps most importantly, because most items in a My Stuff Bag are donated by caring people nationwide, and the duffels are packed by a core of loyal volunteers, the children learn that lots of people really do care about them. The My Stuff Bags Foundation is the only organization providing rescued children nationwide with new belongings in duffels that they can keep.