Suitcases help kids pack up for new life
SHUFFLING from foster home to foster home throughout her childhood, Tiffany Prioleau carried what little she owned in black plastic garbage bags.
Moving from homes with cockroaches, she’d often bring the critters along with her possessions.
“Before I could get into the garbage bag, you could see the roaches come out,” said Prioleau, now 20.
Last fall, Prioleau was given her first set of luggage from The New York Foundling — one of the city’s oldest child-welfare agencies.
She was able to schlep her belongings in a set of five army green suitcases to upstate New York, where she recently completed training in Job Corps.
The Foundling hopes to collect more than 1,000 pieces of luggage — one for each child in their care — in their “Cases for Kids” drive by May 1, the start of Foster Care Awareness Month.
“Sometimes, the family doesn’t have the money for it or the move is sudden and they’re just not equipped,” said Foundling spokeswoman Debbie Haber.
“This is one way to try and give them an anchor and feel connected to their lives,” Haber said.
Prioleau’s voice cracked with emotion as she recalled her tumultuous childhood.
“It was embarrassing,” she explained. “I didn’t feel good about myself.”
Suitcases are often overlooked in the donation process where people normally think of toys, toiletries or linens, Haber said.
“When a child is placed in foster care, they’re being told where to go and being removed from a home and they don’t feel like they have control over their lives,” she said. “This gives them more stability in an unsettling time.”
Prioleau — who works at a Gap clothing store in Brooklyn — is looking forward to enrolling in fall classes in a criminal justice program on the road to becoming a court officer.
“Something as small as a suitcase made me feel whole,” Prioleau said. “I know it would definitely make a big difference for other kids, too.”
“It would really make a child feel worth something.”
For details on how to donate, visit nyfoundling.org/casesforkids or call (212) 886-4039.