Local foster teen Christmas program expands to help young adults

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Since 2019, a local church has been holding a gift card drive through their Foster Teen Christmas Outreach program. Now, organizers are expanding their mission of helping teens who are entering adulthood.

“We started this Foster Teen Christmas Outreach after having a conversation with Franklin County Children Services and essentially they shared with us that a lot of times during the holidays people like to buy gifts like little toys but the teens get left out,” said Dionna Carter, Director of Foster Teen Christmas Outreach.

The program is organized by One Church in Gahanna. Each holiday season, they collect gift cards for foster teens. The first year was only for Franklin County but it has since expanded to the entirety of Ohio. Carter said they have given out nearly $1.2 million worth of gift cards. 

“Gift cards really help provide autonomy to these teens who a lot of times don’t have the opportunity to make decisions,” said Carter. After seeing how much support they can rally, organizers decided to expand this year with a Foster Hope Holiday Fest.

Carter said they are still hoping more teens will sign up. It’s open to anyone in foster care or who just aged out. “We have vendors like Macys who will be there talking about interviewing skills and what to wear to an interview. We will have United Way of Central Ohio, Jewish Family Services, so many vendors who want to really come out and support this demographic,” she said.

The fest is on Sunday, Dec. 15, at COSI from 6 to 8 p.m. for 15 to 20-year-olds. Registration is free and each person can have one guest. Learn more about how to register here.