As many of you know, Mya came to us through the foster care system in Illinois. I'll never forget the day she arrived at my front door - they called it a "trial weekend" but one look at her sweet little smile and I knew then she would stay with me forever. Mya was just shy of her 4th birthday and had spent the previous 2 years being bounced around from foster home to foster home. The youngest of 8 siblings, she found herself separated from them all and arrived at our home with just a few of her personal belongings. I thank God every day that we have been blessed to be able to provide Mya with opportunities in her life that so many other children will never have. But despite her small amount of personal belongings, a few outfits, some haircare products and a tiny beat up stuffed racoon, Mya brought with her so much more. She brought her spirit, her heart, and most of all, her amazing bravery to take on any challenge in her way. At 11 years old now, Mya has become well aware of the fact that she is far more blessed than her siblings may have been, as well as the thousands of other children still and soon to be in foster care, and now, she wants to do something to give back. We have found this program, called Together we Rise, which provides Sweet Cases for children entering the foster care process. These kids have been taken from their families, their friends, their homes, and typically arrive at their first destination with whatever belongings they ould fit into a trash bag. Imagine yourself, as a child, being taken from your home and told to grab what you could carry in a trash bag to go to live somewhere you would know no one. Some of you may also realize how funding for our foster children has been cut immensely, case workers are overeloaded and underpaid, and the foster system is not always fair to our kids. That's right - OUR kids. When a child in Illinois becomes a foster child, they become OUR kids, OUR wards and OUR responsibility. While the sitautions that got them into this place is no fault of ours, it is also no fault of the child's either. So Mya and I are reaching out to our family and friends to please share this project with your friends and family, on your social neteworking sites, and encourage everyone to sponser one child with one Sweet Case. Each Sweet Case will receive items of comfort for these kids, including coloring books, crayons, a blanket, a stuffed animal, some personal care items and will be hand decorated by Mya and her friends at a fun Sweet Case Stuffing and Decorating party later this summer to be held at Ultimate Athletics (date to be determined.) Each person is requested to donate $25.00 to Mya's fund, which will cover the costs of one Sweet Case. I am very proud of my daughter, who has shown me that there is nothing that cannot be overcome if you have faith in yourself. Please help Mya to help these kids to have faith in themselves by knowing that someone out there cares about them. Your support is greatly appreciated.