Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
‘You are worth protecting’
Saving Grace raises money to help raise young women
The Butterflies and Blooms luncheon was bursting at the seams with some 1,400 guests attending the sixth annual benefit for Saving Grace of Northwest Arkansas, helping raise approximately $100,000.
Saving Grace, a faithbased nonprofit organization, works with young women 18 to 25 who have “aged out” of foster care or group homes. Providing transitional living, the group also equips residents with independent living education, educational assistance and a support system that is missing for most of the girls. The nonprofit organization is 100 percent privately supported through donations and grants, with no federal funding.
Suzie Eller, an International Proverbs 31 speaker and author, former radio host and Bible Gateway blogger, provided the luncheon keynote address. Eller had a childhood similar to many of the girls Saving Grace aims to serve.
She said she “grew up in chaos and abuse” coming from “generations of broken men and women” but was able to survive because of faith in God and people who were positive influences who “wrote on my heart … ‘you are worth protecting,’ ‘I hear you,’ and ‘This is what family could be.’”
Eller said everyone can help somebody. “Don’t wait for perfection to change someone’s life,” she said. “It’s in the nitty-gritty, mundane and ordinary.”
She also encouraged guests not to “let overestimation of the problem underestimate your ability to help.”
An integral part of Saving Grace is that each girl has three mentors — one who is a sister age, one a mom age and one a grandmother age.
“We teach them those soft skills we learn from our mothers and grandmothers, as well as life skills,” such as budgeting, cooking on a budget and automotive basics, Becky Shaffer, co-founder and executive director, said.
Shaffer said they occasionally take resident girls out to dinner at local restaurants. She said it’s not just a treat, though. The girls learn to look at the menu and check it with their budget and are encouraged to order something new. Shaffer said they will almost always automatically order a hamburger. “They know it’s something they’ll like. We talk about food insecurity.” Based on their childhood experiences when many of them didn’t know the next time they would eat, ordering something could be a gamble that would leave them with nothing to eat for dinner. “That’s real food insecurity.”
In an effort to help even more young adults, the group launched the Chrysalis Scholars program in April with grant support from the Walmart Foundation and hired Kristin Page as educational liaison.
The group works with Court Appointed Special Advocates and the Arkansas Department of Human Services to reach high school students, boys and girls, who have been in foster care placement — before they age out — with the goal of encouraging them to pursue higher education. “A lot of them aren’t even considering college,” Shaffer said.
Educational support provided for scholars includes tutors, mentors, career mentors and assistance with purchasing text books. Shaffer said they also help students with supplies to outfit their college dorm rooms — comforters, snack food, bath supplies, etc — “those things parents normally get for them.”