This holiday season staff voted to partner with Project 48 for their 3rd Annual Adopt A Bag Holiday Event. The program supports local teens in foster care in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties by giving them holiday cheer bags filled with gifts.

Co-Founder and Executive Director Brandy Memory says the organization’s motivation for starting the program was the realization that teens often feel overlook and forgotten. She says, “This is especially true around the holidays. Our goal is for teens to feel remembered, seen, loved and cared about.”

To help fulfill this need, staff “adopted” three teens and filled their bags with gifts and special request items. In addition, staff donated general items for Project 48 to use to fill other holiday bags as needed. Items included new blankets, gift cards, hair care and skin care items, snacks, hats and gloves, and earbuds/headphones, and journals to go into holiday bags. Westlake owners donated an additional 25 gift cards – which are often an overlooked item and appreciated gift for teens.

In 2020, 424 holiday gift bags were distributed to teens with the goal of 550 teens for 2021. “We had an incredibly challenging year with so many caseworkers working remotely and the impact of Covid-19 on our operations and funding. One of our main goals is to increase our impact in all three counties in 2022,” says Brandy.

Project 48, founded by identical twins Brandy Memory and Tanya Daniels, provides children entering the foster care system with brand new essential items within the first 48 hours, when they are the most fragile and vulnerable, to help with the transition. Last year, Project 48 served 905 youth and teens in foster care in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties.