2025: Supported and Connected

To our dear friends, volunteers, donors, and the Greater Lansing community,

It's hard to believe that we have already seen another year from start to finish. From a foster care perspective, it’s been an interesting year. There has been extreme turnover within the foster care agencies, and many workers who sent referrals our way no longer work in the system. Because of this, our number of YES Bag requests actually decreased from 2024. We ended this year with 69 Yes Bags delivered to local children ages 0-18 in foster care.

At first, we felt a bit discouraged by this number; shouldn't we be growing? However, it's important to note that we were able to help every single request that came our way. Just this week, we received a request for 2 YES bags at 6:00 p.m. In under 2 hours, the bags were packed and delivered to a local foster home. The children had clean pajamas to wear to bed and stuffed animals to snuggle with (in addition to many other necessary items!). We are working to connect with new caseworkers so that we can serve more children in 2026.

In April, we assembled and delivered 60 customized Easter baskets to children currently in foster care. These baskets are meant to bless foster kids but also make the holiday easier for their foster parents.

June brought our first ever fundraiser race! Hosted by the Williamston Jubilee and the amazing Bisard family, this .5k(ish) race raised $1,445 for our organization. It was a wildly hot and humid race day, but everyone showed up with smiles on their faces, ready to sprint to the finish line! Thanks to Red Cedar Transfers, every penny from race signups came back to There’s Always Room.

We hosted our first annual Foster Family Cookout in July! This event was aimed at bringing foster families together to meet and support each other. Thanks to some generous sponsors - Meijer, Chick-fil-A, and Nothing Bundt Cakes - around 100 adults and kids enjoyed dinner, dessert, crafts, and community!

We closed out the year with our 4th annual Pajama Project: Christmas Edition. Our incredible community helped us collect and donate 301 Christmas pajamas to local kids in foster care, spanning across 141 foster homes. Keans in Mason joined us this year by providing handmade stockings for every single child - an incredible feat! Individuals and churches also donated new books and candy cane lollipops to go into each gift bag. Each foster parent received a handwritten note with a well-deserved coffee gift card! 

Our monthly support group for foster/adoptive/kinship moms welcomed 135 attendees in 2025, with 151 kids served through free childcare. This group represents a huge part of who we are at There’s Always Room. Yes, we provide tangible support to kids in foster care, but we also aim to provide wraparound support for the entire foster family. When the whole family is supported, children can thrive! 

Our team met this past month to set goals (and maybe a few lofty dreams) for 2026, and I want to share them with you now.

In 2026, we are kicking off 2 new projects right off the bat! The 13-18 Project will provide $100 gift cards to teens entering foster care, in addition to a hygiene pack that includes shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, feminine products, and other necessities specific to the needs of the teen. We currently have the funding to offer this program to 60 teens in 2026!

The Safe Seat Project provides new car seats and booster seats for children ages 0-7 entering foster care. This is often a large expense that falls on the foster parents to provide, and we want to help relieve that burden and make it easier for the foster parent to say yes to taking in a young placement. 

For our existing programs, we have set the following goals:

-Assemble and deliver 120 Yes Bags 

-100 Easter baskets

-300 Christmas pajamas

-Continued free childcare through our monthly support group

-200 attendees at our Foster Family Cookout

As I reflect on the past 12 months as both the Director of There’s Always Room and a foster parent myself, two words came to mind: supported and connected. Because of each of you, more people in Ingham County know about There’s Always Room. More individuals have donated to fund our various programs, shopped our Amazon wish list, delivered YES Bags at all hours of the day and night, organized our inventory, hosted fundraisers, and shared our posts on social media. We are humbled by your support and generosity. Not everyone can be a foster parent, but by helping us, you are playing a crucial part in serving children in foster care!

I started There’s Always Room over 6 years ago when I became a foster parent. This year, we have welcomed four children into our home through foster care, in addition to our own three boys. There have been so many times this year that I’ve been taken back to that first day when I welcomed my first foster kiddo into my home. There was a gaping hole in support, which I so desperately needed. Today, as six little kids play tag in my living room while I hold a sleeping newborn, I’m brought to tears because the support I once needed now exists. Families welcoming children into their homes can reach out to There’s Always Room and receive wraparound support that helps them continue serving kids in need. 

NONE of this would be possible without you. As we step into 2026, we are ready to press on and reach even more foster families and the kids they care for. There’s Always Room!

Happy New Year!

Moriah Bowman

Director, There’s Always Room