Hi, I’m Bailey Hughes! Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Hands and Feet. If you don’t know our family’s story then sit back, take a nice little break from all that work you’re doing, and read how one small decision 8 years changed not only our family but over 6000 other children.
In 2016 Josh and I opened our home as a foster home. We were hoping to expand our family and while we struggled to have children we felt this was the area we were called into. In January of that year we received our very first foster placement. He was a 10 month old little boy who had been removed from his mother and placed in our home.
4 months later we would receive another child. Lila* was a 5 month old baby girl who was brought into our home at 10 PM at night after being found in a drug house. She came screaming hysterically, and was brought with just the dirty onesie on her body, a diaper bag that reeked of smoke, and 1 bottle.
We would soon find out this was quite common in foster care: children removed from all they know, placed in a car without any belongings, and brought to a stranger’s house in the middle of the night.
Every year 3,000 children enter foster care right here in South Florida. Most come without any belongings.
This staggering number led myself and my sister Makayla to create The Hands and Feet in 2021 after Josh and I adopted our 4 children and fostered 23 children throughout our time as foster parents. The Hands and Feet provides for basic necessities directly to the doorstep of a child entering or at risk of entering foster care, essentially acting as ‘Door Dash for Foster Care’.
In 3 years we have been able to serve over 6,000 children through the support of the community. Dedicated IT is one of our incredible supporters who helps us serve these children daily, but now it’s time for you to get involved!
So how can you help?
Donate as little as $10 per month!
Every little bit adds up. With just $10 a month, you can help provide critical resources like diapers, clothes, and hygiene kits to children in need.
$10 helps provide a child with a week of essential hygiene products.
$25 covers a new outfit for a child entering care.
$50 supplies a family with weeks worth of diapers.