Transformations by Olympic Angels
Project: From Statistics to Strength: Love Box and Dare to Dream
Request: $15,000
Your gift builds the relationship that changes a child's trajectory.
Children and families experiencing foster care in Jefferson County face challenges largely hidden from public view. In a rural community, transportation barriers, limited access to services, social isolation and rising living costs make an already hard experience harder.
Many caregivers step into the role because a child needs a safe place to land, not because they were financially or emotionally prepared. A child may arrive unexpectedly, bringing immediate needs for food, clothing, transportation, school activities, household essentials and emotional support. Meanwhile the children and youth themselves are navigating trauma, grief, loss and uncertainty.
Olympic Angels supports children and youth experiencing foster care, kinship care, guardianship and adoption following foster care, along with the caregivers supporting them. In Jefferson County, approximately 50–75 children and youth and 30–35 caregiver households benefit in a typical year.
Two programs, one strategy
Love Box pairs trained volunteer teams with families, providing relational and practical support tailored to what that family actually needs — meals, school supplies, tutoring, help with activities, resource navigation, or simply being the consistent person who shows up. When community resources are hard to access or can't move quickly enough, volunteers fill the gap.
Dare to Dream matches youth with trusted adults who provide encouragement, advocacy, guidance and accountability as they pursue goals and imagine a future worth working toward.
Why relationships are the key
The adversity, trauma, grief, instability and disrupted relationships that many of these children have experienced are associated with increased risk for mental health challenges, academic delays, substance misuse, housing instability and chronic health conditions later in life.
But increased risk does not have to determine a child's future. Research on resilience consistently identifies one powerful protective factor: a stable, committed relationship with a supportive adult. As Olympic Angels puts it, we cannot erase what a child has experienced, but we can change what surrounds them moving forward.
Here are the problems you can help solve
Statewide budget cuts to foster care and support systems have had effects extending well into 2026. As public funding contracts, more nonprofits are pursuing the same private and local funding, creating far greater competition for limited dollars, while funders adjust priorities and models in ways that make funding streams hard to plan around.
Individual giving has been affected too. Inflation has led some longtime supporters to reduce their giving, while those same pressures raise costs for the families being served. Pressure from both directions at once.
Olympic Angels has responded by diversifying revenue, strengthening partnerships and operating lean: across the Olympic Peninsula, just 5.375 full-time-equivalent staff support approximately 160 trained volunteers serving nearly 75 children and youth and 30 families annually.
What your donation makes possible
Jefferson County program delivery costs approximately $152,457 a year— the staff who recruit, screen, train, match and support volunteers, plus background checks, emergency family support, transportation, enrichment, volunteer training, case management software and outreach.
The results: 100% of Love Box caregivers reported their child experienced increased belonging and support. 92% received resources and tools that helped them keep caring for children in their home. 75% said the program helped maintain placement stability. 90% of volunteers anticipated maintaining relationships beyond their formal commitment.
Your gift helps healthy relationships grow into healthy lives.
