More than 6,000 children are currently in foster care in Alabama.Foster families receive a stipend equal to less than $14 per day per child.
Micah Melnick and her husband, Blake Melnick, who received his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from Auburn, are working to help these families through their organization, BigHouse Foundation.
Micah and Blake work with a small crew which includes Susannah Steele who has worked with the organization for five years.
Susannah and her husband Ben Steele foster two boys.
Allison Bendall, senior in human development and family studies, interns at BigHouse Foundation.
Bendall said she receives 12 credit hours for interning, which all seniors in her major must do.
“My favorite part is picking out clothes for referrals,” Bendall said. “They will give you a name and size, and I get to choose their clothes.”
BigHouse Foundation is a privately funded organization with about 75 percent of their support coming from individuals in the community.
The organization started in 2009 when Micah said her parents began fostering children, which was Micah’s first encounter with children in foster care.
Micah’s parents started with a group of five siblings, since Micah said there is a large need for taking siblings into foster homes together.
BigHouse Foundation works with 40-45 local families to provide clothing for children in foster care in the community.
The organization’s Clothes Closet is its longest running program and is located at the headquarters in Opelika.
The closet is free for any foster families in need and relies on donations from the community.
However, BigHouse Foundation recently started a new campaign which will be an extension of the Clothes Closet.
An old school bus donated from another local mission is being transformed into a Clothes Closet on wheels.
The program’s goal is to travel to communities that have no other resources and provide attire to foster families.
“We’re able to pull into town, [the clothes closet] is already set up, the family can shop and we can pull out,” Micah said. “It really streamlines our process.”
Before the mobile program, planning a weekend and recruiting enough volunteers was a big undertaking for the BigHouse organization staff.
“It enables us to have only two staff go, instead of 10 or 15 volunteers,” Micah said.
Micah said she envisioned the bus to not only provide an important service, but also be a cool, relaxed place for visitors.
“That’s the goal with having it gutted out, redesigned and painted with graphics on the side, so that when it pulls in it’s not like going on a school bus,” Micah said. “It’s like, ‘What is this cool mobile store?’”
BigHouse Foundation launched a Kickstarter which raised more than $22,000 for its bus campaign.
The organization staff hopes to have the project completed and ready to ride by February 2016.
BigHouse also has other events throughout the year.
In December a Santa’s workshop will be held for children in foster care to pick out and wrap gifts for their families.
To find out more visit OurBigHouse.com.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
