Jan. 1, 1970
‘Touch their hearts’
MURFREESBORO – Inside the Hawks Nest at Chowan University, a multitude of items were spread out across several tables, just waiting to be tucked away into colorful backpacks.
Then all of a sudden, things became organized chaos. Students, faculty, and other volunteers converged on the tables and then moved like a well-oiled assembly line until every bag was filled to the brim.
This was the scene on August 26 for an event hosted by Comfort Cases, which provides those bags to local youth in foster care.
Historically, foster kids are given trash bags to carry their belongings when they go to a new home. Comfort Cases works to eliminate this practice with help from volunteers like those in attendance at the Chowan event.
“We want to be loved. We want to know we matter,” said Rob Scheer, founder of Comfort Cases, as he shared his story to those in attendance last week. “What about giving these kids some dignity? Some hope?”
Scheer was in the foster care system back in the 1970s and 80s before aging out, and he talked about what it was like to have to use a trash bag back then. When he and his husband took in foster kids years later, they also arrived with trash bags.
“It was 14 years ago, we decided we had to do something,” Scheer explained. “Carrying trash bags is not acceptable. So Comfort Cases was born.”
The bags are packed according to age group, spanning from birth all the way up to those about to age out of the system. Each one includes pajamas, a hygiene kit, a blanket, a stuffed animal, an age-appropriate activity (such as a book or journal), and a card signed by the person who packed the bag.
Scheer reminded the Chowan students that after they graduate, they might not remember the names of every person they met on campus or every detail of their college experience. But they will remember how they felt, even decades later.
And he pointed out that foster kids deserve to feel loved. Even though the students won’t meet the ones receiving the backpacks, those kids will feel the love from those who packed each case.
“You do not have to know someone to love someone,” Scheer added.
Together, the group packed over 200 bags which were then distributed to Department of Social Services offices in the Roanoke-Chowan area to ensure they go to local kids. For this event, Comfort Cases partnered with Healthy Blue NC who donated the items for the bags.
Since its inception, the organization has packed over 320,000 cases that have been distributed in all 50 states as well as DC, Puerto Rico, and even the United Kingdom. This was, however, their first event at Chowan.
Chowan University President Dr. Rosemary Thomas said Scheer’s story was such an inspiration, and she appreciated him sharing it with them.
“It is so reassuring to know that our students want to come together to make a difference in a way that will impact people that they don’t know,” she said. “They might not ever see their faces, but they’re able to touch their hearts.”
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