“Kids deserve the right to think they can change the world.”
So wrote American author Lois Lowry when asked about our responsibility to the future of our youth.
Children’s Aid Society of Alabama shares this same belief. The children, youth and young adults we serve have limitless potential, often unfortunately hidden under the cloth of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) that have affected them. At CAS, our Independent Living (IL) program aims to remove these barriers and assist all youth aged fourteen to twenty-one within the Alabama Department of Human Resources foster system to envision bright futures and a chance to change the world.
During the months of February and March, CAS is holding its annual ‘Grad Bag,’ or Graduation Bag, campaign. Working with communities, churches, civic clubs, companies and donors, this campaign raises funds to not only purchase luggage, but also the items that will fill this luggage for the future dorm rooms, apartments, military barracks, and homes of our young ‘graduates.’
Our Grad Bag goal for 2026 is $20,000. Think of sheets, towels, laundry items, and hygiene products. These are essential to starting a new home and we are committed to providing them. We are actively recruiting donors through the QR code below, our website, social media, and targeted campaigns.
In addition to the Grad Bag campaign, our IL program hosts a graduation ceremony on the first Saturday of May, this year approaching May 2nd, in Birmingham. This ceremony is not just about celebrating our young champions’ graduation from high school but showing them that CAS is walking BESIDE them in their new journey, not behind them. We are committed to their future, even after they depart our care.
We are asking you to join us at CAS in this campaign. You – like our youth – can change the world. We are seeking donations of $100 per Grad Bag, but any financial donation makes a difference. I hope that you will consider joining our mission.
I invite you to contact me at jstone@childrensaid.org or 205-943-5336 if you have questions about our Grad Bag mission. It does, indeed, take a village, and you are a part of our community.