hey everybody it's Rob Shar the founder of comfort cases and I am so so excited to be here in beautiful Phoenix Arizona today is the day today is a day that I'm going to over in about 30 minutes to meet my friend Isaiah his wife his friends their kids um they're hosting a packing party right here in Phoenix it's where he actually lives during off seon he plays for the Giants um if you got to see him do that amazing touchdown where he had his cleats on that had Comfort cases logo um this is for a big thank you to say thank you Isaiah for truly making sure that you bring awareness to kids who are in our foster care system so um stay tuned cuz there's a lot more to [Music] see we are actually here at clutch Sports Group getting ready for our packing party with Isaiah from the Giants we're so so excited um going to take us a couple minutes to get set up but you know it's going to be a great day the best part about it is when I pulled up on the front of the building it says be a good human who would have [Music] thought [Music] already know you know thank you so much thank you [Music] than I was wondering if what if the kids are going a girl huh thank you getting so B you one now she wants to see what's happening oh my gosh this is my You Tristan what's up man how you doing this is my son Tristan hi trist play C and come here yeah I think you got some friends that are here okay so maybe if everybody like moved over on this side cuz that could be the best pack drop ever so first of all I want to say thank you I want to say thank you first of all I want to say thank you to Isaiah um my name is Rob shear and I am the founder of an international nonprofit called Comfort cases you know I always think about when I get ready to give a talk um how I actually made it here you know um most people don't talk about the word foster care um we don't understand what the statistics are today and I know for a fact what it felt like see the fact is I'm actually the youngest of 10 kids my mother had been married six times we lived in and out of every shelter in Maryland Virginia in DC I never once remember a picture on the wall I never once remember Christmas tree I never remember a birthday cake and I never remember her saying I love you but the sad part is is I remember the monster that she allowed to live in our home the man that she expected me to call Dad and I remember as he would walk into the house each of my brothers and my sisters would think to ourselves gosh please don't let today be the day that he calls our name and sure enough he would yell my name out Robert ter and my little legs would run as fast as I could to the refrigerator I would grab that PS Blue Ribbon out of the refrigerator and run back to the chair I kneww no matter how fast I ran when I was two when I was 5 when I was seven that he was going to do the same thing to me that he did to my brothers and sisters and that is take his cigarette and put it out on us and that was my family that was life and then all of a sudden my brothers and sisters started falling away on the Wayside they started doing and going into to what we call Foster Care see the fact is is that once you put the f word in front of a child's name in our system we automatically BR their disposable we know for a fact that kids in foster care what the statistics show us and my brothers and sisters were doing those statistics teenage pregnancy incarceration drug addiction as we all gather here today 80% of our death row inmates we're actually in foster care we're actually in foster care you know Nelson Mandela said it so clearly to each and every one of us we are judged in society by the way we treat our children just think about it by the way we treat our children and kids who are in foster care they don't belong to you they don't belong to me they belong to us and I started to get ready to go down that path understanding that only 54% of the 400,000 kids in our system will actually graduate high school that's it only then the fall of 1984 I turned 18 I remember I had a little Cockiness in my sta when I was coming home from school and then I noticed it my dad's car why was he home he normally didn't get home until around 5 and by the way I called him dad because I knew that somewhere deep down he had to abup me and I then also called her mom because even though she never put a picture of me on the Manel and even though they never once threw me a birthday party or let me play sports or let me go to camp like they did their other children somewhere she had to have loved me and when I walked in the front door there it was my trash B sitting in the middle of the living room those first couple of nights were so scary I didn't know what to do who was I going to tell and by the way kids like me we tell people they stick Us in psychiatric hospitals they stick Us in juvenile detention centers and for me I just wanted an education so I took my bag I hid it behind a bush and I walked into school and I walked into school every single day no matter how many kids spit on me no how many times I was pushed in a locker because I smelled I knew I smelled by the way you didn't have to remind me of the holes in my shoes I felt the water every time it rained it made sure that I was disposable that I was invisible and that I did not matter I walked across that stage I left the auditorium and I went in the backpacking lot and I sat down and I truly CRI I cried for my mom and dad I wanted to feel their punches and their Burns anything just beat it for me cried for my foster parents how could you give up on me because of a check and then I cried for all of you my community my community who felt that this boy did not even deserve one person to clap and at that moment I realized that we as a society we give children in foster care only three choices that's it Choice number one we give up suicide rate in foster care is higher than we have ever seen Choice number two we give end we do exactly what you expect to us we join gangs we end up in your detention centers into your prisons we end up addicted to drugs for Choice number three we Give It All We Got and that's exactly what I did see the fact is is that we all must understand something that our community our community is not our ZIP code our community is our human race so what affects people right here in Phoenix Arizona affects people where I live in Johnstown Maryland which then affects people in California and San Francisco we all have to take responsibility last month my husband and I finalized our son's adoption so my kids now are 15 16 17 19 and 23 thank you so as I said you know this is all done because of Isaiah putting on fets that had Comfort cases on them and making that amazing touchdown play action from deito Endzone catch is made touch down Isaiah Hodgins I cannot thank him enough and his wife for all the support they've given us and so we're going to actually do is we're going to pack the cases and the nice part about it is these cases are staying right here um there's an organization that we've been supporting for many years and there she's right over here to represent the organization um it's right here in Arizona it's a Statewide organization that helps families who um bring children and Foster Care into their home um they actually get our cases and deliver them so they just changed their name to Foster Alliance am I right but they used to be called um helping hand Arizona Helping Arizona Helping Hand so um so yeah so jimie you're going to take the cases just real quick Jimmy i' I'd like to ask you've seen people your organization get these cases that we give you because we've been giving them to you for years um how does it make them feel I mean there are very few words so everything that Rob just explained I just kept being like mhm mhm and that's what we also see and what we try to identify um so we are the state's leading provider of Essentials and basics for children and families on foster care and so what that means is families that are children that are maybe not as lucky as those that are in your home um that are sold in the system we have folks from DCS that will take the items to them um one common thing that he just mentioned was you know an unexpected right so often times we hear of when there's a placement or a call A lot of times families don't know and so they may not always have the financial resources so they come to us and they get them so relief is a huge thing but really identity and worth so when these items get to a child not only is it someone is thinking of me it's someone handpicked these items not only is it an item it's brand new it's quality and so all of that really adds up um and these are items that these children will remember for years to come and again really just reminds them that they matter um so with every individual item that you pack into the bag today please know that it really really adds up it does it does so this is how we're going to do it I'm show you how we're going to pack the case we actually have four different stations okay so everybody's going to start down here Isaiah I'm going to get you to come and be van white so the first thing you're going to do is you're going to actually grab a backpack okay all of our backpacks are brand new all of our backpacks are different and we do not brand anything whatsoever so the next thing that we're going to do is we're going to grab a pair of pajamas we're going to grab these pajamas and there's going to be a tag that's right here you're going to take that tag off you're going to put those pajamas right in there and I'm Isaiah and I are doing a boy he wears a 6t so as I say then we're going to take this tag and we're going to tie it on this Loop probably one of the hardest things that we have to do today by the way um the reason you need to know that it's a 6t boy as you're going down the aisle but what this does is this tag right here helps the social worker so the social worker doesn't have to go in and find out what size it is they see right here that it's a 6t boy so the next thing we're going to do is we're going to grab their lotion their shampoo their conditioner um put that right in there we're they going to grab their blankie stick that right in there I'm going to grab their toothbrush and toothpaste put that in there then I'm going to put pick out a book that's age appropriate um house for hermit craft sounds good don't and for kids under the age of 10 we actually give them coloring book and crayons so we're going to take their coloring book put that in there their crayons now this is the hard part for guys women always get this right guys you just sometimes you just you're slacking on this okay you're going to actually get your stuffy and you're going to give it a hug really show it some love okay and then you're going to put that in there and then the very last thing is you're going to take this card it says always remember you're braver than you believe stronger than you feel smarter than you think and loved more than you know who said it Winnie the Pooh Winnie the Pooh and on the very back of it you're going to sign your name kids ask me all the time Mr Rob why I say why what why would somebody do this why would they give me all of this new stuff I tell the kids as I tell each of you you don't have to know someone to love someone you truly don't and these kids deserve to be loved you stick the card right in there you zip up that case and you've just completed packing a comfort case any questions we have 250 to pack my friends okay let's get it done [Music] I mean it's real powerful you know just understanding that you're helping out these kids um kids that you don't even know but seeing what they go through um all the struggles behind it you know Rob explaining his story and you know I I know a little bit of it um had a foster little brother adopted sister so that's why this is so close to my heart personally so it it's awesome to be able to get back and [Music] home [Music] [Applause] [Music] number one Isaiah I'm going to ask you is um how did it feel to pack those cases it felt great just knowing um you helping change lives that you know you'll never meet those people but you're helping them give them at least a fresh start for the new Journey that they're on so it was awesome yeah yeah I agree and now I'm going to ask you since I seem like you really like you are packing away how do you think that the child is going to feel who actually receives that case impact I feel love I feel if there's there's something there there's someone out there that there's an angel out there that's looking out all yeah yeah you know it's a huge huge difference for kids you know I'm very very fortunate that I get to meet a lot of kids who get our cases and I'll never forget I was in um Naples Florida doing one of these events and whenever I do these events I always visit group homes and I was visiting a group home and there was two sisters a 9-year-old and a 10-year-old and um they were in this group home for about a month and I I they got their cases and I sat on the floor with them and um and so I always like to ask kids what do they really like in their case and normally you know they they their stuffy or their book and um the 10-year-old little girl pulled out her toothbrush and she said my toothbrush I said your toothbrush I said how can that be the most important thing in that bag for you she said because my sister and I have been in this group home for a month and we've been sharing one I went to the executive director and I asked her why would this happen and she said they didn't tell me let me tell you something children in foster care we don't want to be a burden so we don't tell okay and we don't talk about it and the thing is is that what you did today you know Isaiah what you and your wife brought together actually starts the Journey of people talking and normalizing Foster Care as much as we possibly can and if there's anything that you can walk away from is understand that after today it doesn't have to stop for you you know you can still do things to help you can find local organizations and donate to them donate your time each and every one of us no matter what is our skin color no matter whether we're great gay or straight male or female we all have the exact same thing in common and that is our time our time and time is so so valuable so donate that time go and you know help you know throw some football with you know at a boy's home by the way they're all over the place I mean you know go read a book to a kid in foster care I mean it truly can make a difference for them to know that they matter and then last thing I will say is make sure that you change your vocabulary as I was telling the ladies um the fact is is that these are kids they're kids they're kids who have been delivered a book that you know they didn't truly want but they're kids and if we don't stop calling them foster kids we're never going to to break that mold where they're different because they're not different okay they deserve to have everything that we have and how you do that is first you stop labeling them we as a society have been able to change our vocabulary and no longer say look at the homeless man we say look at the man who's experiencing homelessness why because it's experience foster care is an experience and that does not define who they are what defines who they are is how their Community loves them and that's what we all should do so again Isaiah you know thank you so much my uh you know clut Sports Group thank you for doing this and allowing us to be here um visit comfort cases.org you can find out so much more about what we're doing um our growth has been so crazy we're getting ready to expand into Canada this year um we're in the UK where we serve 84,000 children in the United Kingdom and again we're 96% volunteer rant organization so every single time you help us it truly does help a child so enjoy the rest of your day and guess what we finished it that's exactly right Phoenix Arizona thank you so much Isaiah I cannot thank you enough you and your beautiful wife and your daughter you know putting this amazing packing party together means so much it's going to be a huge huge difference for so many kids and Foster Care 250 cases that's exactly right 250 cases and um I think we did it in record time so Isaiah how do you feel feel great uh it was awesome to be able to get back um have friends and family come out and support so uh it was just a great experience yeah I will tell you it was great to see his friends his family and again you know each and every one of you you can make a difference just like Isa is doing just like his wife is doing um do me a big favor follow us on social media make sure that you share Okay and like all of our post the more people that see this the more the trash bag will go away and this will be the norm have a great day everybody