INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hundreds of children in Indiana’s foster care system will soon get a gift of dignity and hope–all thanks to a special packing party at Victory Field.

Over 30 volunteers with the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the Indianapolis Indians, and Comfort Cases, a nonprofit to help children in foster care, are working quickly to pack more than 200 backpacks. Each one will be given to a child in foster care, filled with essentials and comfort items to remind them that they are valued and not forgotten.

“The fact is that most people don’t realize that we have one child every two minutes in the United States who enters foster care. That’s 700 a day. They enter carrying this, a trash bag. See, I know that firsthand since I entered foster care in the ’70s and was handed a trash bag. Then in the 80’s when I aged out and was homeless, I was also handed a trash bag,” Comfort Cases Founder Rob Scheer.

Instead of being handed a trash bag to carry their belongings, these comfort cases provide something new: pajamas, blankets, hygiene kits, books, and even a stuffed animal. Scheer says he has been doing this for thirteen years, with eight years in Indiana. They’ve packed close to 5,000 cases in the state alone.

“We’ve done like I said, 268,000 cases, and we’re a 96% volunteer-run charity. Just imagine that. You know, I genuinely do understand that in a community, when you tell them of a problem and show them how to solve it, they will solve it. This trash bag is being eliminated. We’ve already passed bills in states where you can no longer give a child a trash bag. We’re going to do that here in Indiana as well,” Scheer said.

Indiana’s foster care system currently supports approximately 14,000 children, part of the nearly 400,000 youth in foster care nationwide.

“We hope to give them a sense of dignity through these bags. We have organizations such as The Villages and Firefly coming out and distributing these backpacks to support children going through a tough time,” Anthem Marketing Manager Nicki Gilbert said.

“We really love giving back to the greater Indianapolis community. Obviously, as we get back to school, kiddos need some backpacks. We have the necessary resources to host this event at the Elements Financial Club. We have several of our staff members helping us out today. It’s really an opportunity for us to lean into the back-to-school season and help kiddos out around central Indiana,” Indianapolis Indians Director of Communications, Anna Kayser, said.

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