Miss Quincy Outstanding Teen Shelby Rose Helping Foster Children

In a day and age when young people seem to get a bad rap, here’s one young person who is proving people wrong. Miss Quincy’s Outstanding Teen Shelby Rose decided back in April to provide “Cinch Sacks” for local Foster Care children. "Cinch Sacks are basically back packs with drawstrings. She set a goal of 100 "Cinch Sacks" and in just three weeks she reached her goal. Tomorrow, Rose with the help of volunteers, will pack all 100 sacks with donated essential items that foster care children need from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at Chaddock School. The Cinch Sacks will be given to any child who is placed into a foster care situation on an emergency basis.

The donated items became a reality thanks to Shelby’s classmates who wanted to help her. And help they did, when they surprised Shelby on Wednesday of this week with a check worth over $700 for her “Fostering Hope” campaign

According to Rose, half of the foster care children carry their belongings in garbage bags and hence, the reason for her project.

Rose’s mission as Miss Quincy’s Outstanding Teen is to advocate for foster children through her platform, “Fostering Hope.” The 14-year-old Quincy Junior High School student partnered with Alyssa Hummel of Pearl Girl Gifts and Legacy Martial Arts for this fundraiser.

According to statistics available from AdoptUSKids, there are 17,920 children in foster care in Illinois with over 3,300 children waiting for adoptive families. In a Herald Whig story in February, the Adams County Health Department had 99 foster children in 2015, 96 foster children in 2016 and 200 foster children in 2017. The contributing factor to the escalating totals is the unfortunate drug problem in Adams County.

Congratulation Shelby Rose on being true to your platform and helping kids in need.