Foundation, Freddie Mac Volunteers Send Valentine's Day Care Packages to 'Orphans'

325 Freddie Mac Volunteers worked for two days to assemble and ship off Valentine's Day packages for 2,500 former foster youth in college.

More than 325 Freddie Mac volunteers recently prepared Valentine’s Day “care packages” for 2,500 college students who had aged out of foster care. The event – hosted by Freddie Mac at the company’s headquarters in McLean, VA and underwritten by the Freddie Mac Foundation – was designed by the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA) to draw attention to and meet the needs of thousands of young people who leave foster care without any emotional or financial support. The Freddie Mac Foundation is the founding partner of the effort, which involves three packaging events every year.

Care packages from home are a practical and emotional lifeline for most college students. Thousands of former foster youth can only imagine the joy of opening boxes filled with love and support from their families. OFA’s Care Package program is designed to help those students experience the same excitement that their roommates and friends feel when they receive and open a care package.

Thousands of foster children age out of the system each year, with no family or home to call their own. Studies show that less than fifty percent of foster youth graduate from high school and less than ten percent go on to post-secondary education or vocational training. Former foster youth who receive scholarship funds, mentoring and support – including care packages – from the Orphan Foundation of America have a thirty percent higher rate of graduation than their peers without such support.