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Connections 2 Independence hosts Thanksgiving meals for youth in foster care

C2I is a safe place for youth in foster care. Every year, the non-profit serves a big meal a week before Thanksgiving.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Thanksgiving is a week away. Some will celebrate early. And others will mark the holiday with those who are not their biological family.

Instead, it will be spent surrounded by loved ones who came into their life at just the right time. Thursday, Connections 2 Independence will host its annual Thanksgiving dinner.

C2I is a safe place for youth in foster care. Every year, the non-profit serves a big meal a week before Thanksgiving. 

Nikki Lindsay, 20, is looking forward to the celebration. When she was in foster care, Lindsay moved from house to house. Everything she owned fit into garbage bags. She says C2I has helped her transition into adulthood and made the holidays a bit easier.

"We aren’t able to be around our real family and it helps being with staff who I consider my own family. It really makes you feel like you are home with your family,” she said. “I was taken away from my biological mom when I was 15 and placed in foster care.”

 Jessica Rogers runs the non-profit.  The program, which supports 14 to 24-year old’s shows participants how to apply for college, navigate relationships and secure jobs

Rogers says the youth who they serve create the menu. The goal is to give something traditional they experienced before foster care. 

“We make sure we can remind them of comfort and love and good times during the holiday season,” she said. “Holiday times are hard for everybody. Just imagine if you couldn’t be with family and loved ones.”

Holidays weren’t easy for Rogers who sees herself in some of the children she helps. 

“I was born into foster care myself. My biological mother was 15. My biological father was 36. It was a non-consensual relationship,” she said. “This is more than just a job for all of us. This is something these kids are missing and that they really need.”

This year’s dinner  hosted by Christianson & Company, a local commercial real estate company. To learn more visit https://www.c2iyouth.org/

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