{"id":52271,"date":"2026-04-27T10:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/?p=52271"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:48:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:48:52","slug":"help-foster-youth-by-donating-to-accs-2026-luggage-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/2026\/04\/27\/help-foster-youth-by-donating-to-accs-2026-luggage-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Foster Youth by Donating to ACC\u2019s 2026 Luggage Drive\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, about 60 Austin-area foster youth will graduate high school. When foster youth turn 18 and\/or graduate high school, they age out of the system with nothing more than a plastic bag to hold all their belongings. Austin Community College District (ACC) wants to change that through ACC\u2019s Annual Foster Care Luggage Drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I was moving from home to home in foster care, all I was given was a brown paper bag or a trash bag. That made me feel like trash because not only did I have to move, but I was given something trash goes in.\u201d Former foster youth, ACC graduate, and current ACC employee Shilda Fresch spoke on just how important this support is.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How You Can Help<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Donate a Suitcase:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can drop off new or gently used carry-on-size rolling suitcases with ACC\u2019s CARE Coordination Team. <a href=\"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/care-network-center\/contact-us\/\">You can find all the CARE Coordination Team Offices here.&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Make a Monetary Donation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.touchnet.com\/C20395_ustores\/web\/store_main.jsp?STOREID=15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visit the ACC Marketplace web page to contribute.<\/a> A $45 donation covers the full cost of one new carry-on rolling duffel, but any amount makes a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All contributions benefit the Department of Family and Protective Services\u2019 Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program. <strong>Donations will be accepted throughout May.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDonating is crucial because a single act of kindness can change a life. You never know what obstacles someone might face on their path to success, and lending a helping hand can uplift and inspire others,\u201d said Shilda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since ACC started participating in the Foster Care Luggage Drive in 2009, more than $17,000 have been donated. This year, the College hopes to donate $2,700 and\/or 60 pieces of luggage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year, about 60 Austin-area foster youth will graduate high school. When foster youth turn 18 and\/or graduate high school, they age out of the system with nothing more than a plastic bag to hold all their belongings. Austin Community College District (ACC) wants to change that through ACC\u2019s Annual Foster Care Luggage Drive. \u201cWhen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":48112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1545,999,1544],"class_list":["post-52271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-for-you","tag-care-coordination","tag-donation","tag-foster-luggage-drive","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}