Embrace Washington

Embrace Washington joined the community for an evening full of fun during Trunk or Treat at Travy's Waffles Plus. Excited kids of all ages in costumes enjoyed trick-or-treating, playing games, and so much more during this safe, family Halloween event! Thank you, Gabe, Travis, volunteers, and Travy's Waffles Plus, for making this event a success.

Just a reminder to be kind to everyone this Halloween. 👻🎃

Be kind to the child who can’t say “trick or treat.”

Be kind to the adult in a Superman costume.

Be kind to the little girl who doesn’t say “thank you.”

Be kind to the child who doesn’t understand he’s not supposed to go inside your house.

Be kind to the child who’s not wearing a costume.

Be kind to the little boy who speaks very loudly.

While you may think these behaviors are due to rudeness, often they’re caused by an invisible disability or simply shyness.

To put it into perspective, Halloween is one day a year. You get to make many kids and adults happy just by giving a few pieces of candy. I say that’s a pretty good deal 😊👻🎃

Credit: Eileen Lamb, Mom with Asperger’s | Two boys on the Spectrum (Level 1 and Level 3) | Published Author

Trunk or Treat 🍂 Oct 31st, 4 pm to 7 pm, 🎃🍁 🍂 Travy's Waffles Plus, 2625 N. Monroe Street 🚗 Food, Games, Candy, Warm Drinks 🍭 For more information, call 509-326-2317 🎃🍁 🍂 Share this post with your family and friends. 🎃🍁 🍂 See you there! 🎃🍁 🍂

They gave away dragon eggs and a whole cauldron of candy during the Spokane Hobbit House fundraiser for Embrace Washington! See you next year! Thank you, Spokane Hobbit House! We are so grateful ❤❤❤

IMPORTANT REMINDER! Sunday (October 27th) is your last chance to trick or treat at the Spokane Hobbit House. It's a fundraiser for Embrace Washington. If you'd like more information and an address, please send a Facebook message to Spokane Hobbit House.

📸: Kara Czernik

Travis Schueller and Gabe Montelongo are the owners of Travy's Waffles Plus on Monroe Street (2625 N Monroe Street) ❤️

Since Embrace Washington began, Travis and Gabe have spent endless hours holding book drives and supporting various fundraisers to support children in foster care. They also volunteer and help other non-profits in the Spokane area ❤️

On Halloween, they are hosting a trunk-or-treat event, and everyone is invited. All the details are in this post. Please share with your family and friends ❤️

Trunk or Treat 🍁
Oct 31st, 4 pm to 7 pm 🍁
Travy's Waffles Plus 🍁
2625 N. Monroe Street 🍁
Food, Games, Candy, Warm Drinks 🍁
For more information, call 509-326-2317 🍁

Embrace Washington is excited to announce the addition of Sarah Shapori to our board of directors. With a robust public relations, event production, and brand marketing background, Sarah brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to our mission.

Born and raised in Spokane, Sarah has grown up appreciating the profound impact of mentorship and community support she experienced as a young child in the SYSA-Spokane Youth Sports Association, as a Bullpup at Gonzaga Preparatory School, and as a young professional.

Reflecting on her journey, she stated, “I have been genuinely blessed to have always had people who showed me what mentorship was. I've also been close to individuals who didn’t always have family support. Every person needs one person to look out for them and have their best interests at heart when things feel hopeless. I believe that’s what foster families do for the children in our community. Being part of som**hing that ensures no child feels unloved aligns perfectly with my values.”

Her commitment to purpose-driven work ignited when she began collaborating with brands dedicated to making a difference. Sarah sees immense potential for amplifying Embrace’s narrative, emphasizing, “There are countless ways we can engage with the community so that everyone understands the stories of these children and their foster parents. Organizations like Embrace need passionate advocates to illustrate that we are not just about feel-good gestures; we are here to affect real, lasting change in children's lives.”

While acknowledging she has much to learn about the foster experience, Sarah is driven by her heart and passion for helping kids. “The only thing I want people to know is that my heart is fully invested in this mission, and I’m eager to make a meaningful impact,” she expressed.

We are grateful for Sarah’s enthusiasm and commitment. Her energy is infectious, and we look forward to seeing her spread that passion throughout our community!

Sunday (October 27th) is your last chance to trick or treat at the Spokane Hobbit House. It's a fundraiser for Embrace Washington. If you'd like more information and an address, please send a Facebook message to Spokane Hobbit House.

📸: Kara Czernik

Tricor Brand Communications, with roots in the Pacific Northwest for over 50 years, is excited to announce its expansion into Spokane, Washington. To mark the occasion, Tricor hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Dry Fly Distilling. During the event, our Executive Director, Terri Crafts, shared how Embrace Washington is changing the lives of children in foster care. Thank you to our board member, Sarah Shapori from Tricor Brand Communications and Greater Spokane Incorporated, for inviting us to participate in this fantastic event.

Embrace Washington was honored to host a special retreat for our incredible foster moms, giving them a chance to relax, recharge, and connect with one another. These amazing women do so much for others, and we were grateful to offer them a moment of respite.

A big thank you to Numerica Credit Union, Project Beauty Share, Travy's Waffles Plus, Coordinated Care, and Quantum Financial for making this retreat possible. Your support truly made a difference!

We’re so excited to celebrate foster moms this weekend at Embrace Washington. Thanks to amazing volunteers like Beth Child, we can offer them a pamper-filled weekend and a warm, snuggly handmade blanket.

Beth recruited church and grange members to help tie 50 of these bright-colored fleece blankets. For her, volunteer work is part of a circle of giving.

“I’ve been the recipient of people’s kindness,” Beth said. I like to look for opportunities to help. It provides awareness of other people and things they might need and that I might have a way to help.”

You might know Beth. She heads up our Duffles for Darlings program so children entering foster care can carry their belongings in a unique, hand-painted duffle bag rather than a garbage sack.

“If I can help a child, even in a little way, and help brighten their life, I think that's som**hing I can certainly do,” said Beth. She also loves spreading the word about Embrace. “It’s a great organization, and they're always looking for opportunities for children.”

Thank you, Beth, for all you do to brighten the lives of children in foster care and foster moms.

Embrace Washington welcomes new board member David FitzMaurice!

He first learned about our mission to enrich the lives of children in foster care a few years ago. The more he discovered, the more he felt we were a perfect fit. David has two sons. He knows how critical a stable, loving environment is for children.

“The ability to help families and children in the system find the success they need and to do it realistically really spoke to me," he explained.

FitzMaurice is the SVP Financial Treasurer with Numerica Credit Union. He hopes to use his professional experience to help Embrace Washington and expose potential new donors to our mission.

"It was a good match to work for a great company like Numerica looking to ensure community involvement and having their support when I found an organization I felt strongly about,” said David.

We’re glad you’re on our team, David! Thank you for being committed to changing the lives of children in foster care one child at a time.

Trick or treat at the Hobbit House on Sundays in October! It's a fundraiser for Embrace Washington. Send a message to Spokane Hobbit House for more information and directions.

Thank you, Ryan Oelrich and Spokane Hobbit House.

Our Executive Director, Terri Crafts, is an Honorary Commander for Fairchild Air Force Base! The position allows Terri to learn more about the Air Force and its mission. The goal is to build strong relationships that benefit the base and our community. The program takes civilian leaders, like Terri, on base tours, flights on a KC-135, and events with high-ranking Department of Defense personnel.

Congratulations, Terri 🥳🎈🎉

Thanks to our friends from Bombas, we donated boy's underwear to Teen & Kid Closet. When the donation arrived, volunteers from AgWest Farm Credit were happy to help children in need. We are grateful for our partnership with Teen & Kid Closet ❤️

Embrace Washington is honored to pay 17-year-old Landon’s hockey fees.

“Hockey has always been a constant for Landon,” explained foster mom Tara. “It’s an outlet for when things were tough.”

Landon lived with Tara for about a year and a half. During that time, he wrapped up one season, played house hockey for another, and then faced down a near-overwhelming obstacle—a compound leg fracture of his tibia and fibula. That injury alone might have squashed his dreams of playing college hockey.

“We didn't know if he was even going to be able to put skates on,” said Tara. “That was hard to think about. It was honestly hard to imagine him not getting to play his senior year.”

But Landon refused to give up, and neither did his foster family. He followed the doctor's recommendations, returned to the gym, and laced up his skates.

“He's only been able to skate for about a month,” said Tara. “The mental hurdle of getting back out there was difficult. The first time he told us, it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. But it is a little bit better every time he goes to practice.”

We are cheering for you, Landon, as you skate closer to your goal of playing college hockey.

Together, we can help children in foster care feel valued and loved. Find out how to make a difference in a child's life at our website: https://embracewa.org/donate-today.

Thank you to Project Beauty Share for their generous donation of beauty products for our upcoming foster mom's retreat! These unique gifts will be a wonderful way to pamper and show appreciation to our incredible foster moms, who do so much for others.

Project Beauty Share provides personal hygiene, cosmetics, and beauty products to non-profit organizations that serve women and families, helping to restore hope and dignity in their lives.

Embrace Washington knows how critical it is that every child in foster care has their own bed, whether it is a crib, a twin, or a bunk bed for siblings.

Our Sleep Safe Program has a simple goal, to make sure brothers and sisters can stay together when they enter foster care. We know that gives them security when their world has been turned upside down.

If a potential foster home does not have enough beds, siblings are sometimes separated. We want to prevent this, so we have launched the Sleep Safe Program.

Embrace finds a bed for each child and then takes it one step further by finding personalized bedding and pillows tailored to each child's likes. This helps create a safe and comforting space for them. We need your help to make our Sleep Safe Program a success. Thank you for all you do to help the most vulnerable among us thrive.

Learn more about our Sleep Safe Program here: https://www.embracewa.org/sleep-safe.

Cutest adoption photo ever! Sealing the papers. 😍❤️😍

📸: BigHouse Foundation

Spokane Valley residents Jailynn and Robert cared for developmentally delayed adults and children for years before they became foster parents. Their dream of their own family seemed out of reach until this week when they adopted 3-year-old Milo, thanks partly to Embrace Washington's support.

“I didn't know I would fall in love with him as much as I did,” said Robert. “For a long time, I thought I would not be able to love somebody else’s kid like that. But I was wrong. I fell in love with him so fast.”

Robert says Milo has a quick sense of humor and loves to laugh. The three first met in May 2023. Milo is medically fragile with cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder, and a feeding tube, with health issues that stem from exposure to he**in and m**h in utero. It all adds up to extra care and frequent doctor’s visits. Embrace Washington stepped in last December and presented Jailyn and Robert with a minivan to accommodate Milo’s wheelchair and make transportation easier. Then, with full and grateful hearts, Embrace Washington helped them through the adoption process.

Jailyn and Robert will tell you Milo is making gigantic strides. He passed a swallow study with “flying colors.” Jailyn describes this as a huge accomplishment, which means he can start eating by mouth.

“He’s overcome all the hurdles that have been tossed at him,” said Jailyn. “They said that he would never sit up. He is almost able to sit up by himself now. They said he could never talk. He said his first sentence of ‘I love you’ to his dad just the other day.”

If that doesn’t make you tear up, we don’t know what will.

Congratulations, Robert, Jailyn, and Milo! Embrace Washington is grateful to our supporters who’ve made it possible for us to help these three become the family they dreamed of.

Learn more about Embrace Washington on our website: https://www.embracewa.org/.

The Embrace Washington annual board retreat was nothing short of inspiring. Our incredible speakers reignited our passion for serving children experiencing foster care, and we worked hard to develop a strategic plan for the year ahead. Together, we're more committed than ever to making a difference in the lives of those who need it most.

A big Embrace Washington thank you to Hoffman Music. Embrace Washington co-founder Alene Alexander stopped to buy a trombone for a child in foster care. But it doesn’t matter which instrument a child needs—guitar, trumpet, or saxophone—we’re grateful we can always turn to Hoffman Music to support children in foster care who love music.

Today is one year that this sweet girl has been in our house. She wanted a party, so party we did. When the cashier saw the balloons, she asked what we were celebrating.

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I paused. Should I tell the truth, or would that embarrass her? Maybe I should just say it’s her birthday or pretend I didn’t hear the question. There wasn’t much time to think before she excitedly shrieked, “We’re celebrating that I’ve had the same mom and dad for a whole year.”

I thought we were celebrating one thing. It turns out we were celebrating som**hing completely different, som**hing more meaningful than a date on the calendar. She wasn’t celebrating September 18th when we signed placement papers and welcomed her into our home. She was celebrating that for the first time in her life, at age 9, she’d had two adults commit to her for an entire 12 months. Let that sink in.

Credit: Real Life Foster Mom

Embrace Washington has been proud to support Cindi and Carol Jackson as they have lovingly cared for twenty-plus children in foster care since the pandemic.

Carol, Cindi, and Embrace Washington know how important it is for children to feel loved. They shared this photo with us after Embrace gave the family passes to the Flying Squirrel Spokane Trampoline Park. Two are foster children, so we cannot show them their faces. But Carol and Cindi adopted little Grace. Carol told us all three had a fantastic time jumping and exploring. It's not the first time Embrace stepped in to help Carol and Cindi’s foster kids.

“Embrace has provided car seats for kids when needed,” said Carol. “We asked for bunk beds to have siblings live here. They provided that. We asked for bikes. The bikes went home with the kids when reunited with their dad. We always reach out to Embrace every year.”

Thank you, Carol and Cindi, for sharing your love with children in foster care.