One small promiseat a kitchen table.
From 47 children in 2006 to 1,514 last Christmas, and a year-round mission to help foster youth feel seen, supported and hopeful.
- 2006
- first Christmas, 47 kids
- 1,000+
- volunteers and donors a year
- 3
- counties served from one center
- $0
- paid to any director per the 990

The story
“For the second year in a row, not one child on her caseload had received a Christmas gift.”
On New Year's Day 2006, Theresa Toia sat at the kitchen table with her family when her daughter, a caseworker for the Department of Health and Human Services, said it. That moment lit a spark. Theresa made a promise: no child in foster care should feel forgotten during the holidays.
That first year, with help from family and friends, she brought holiday joy to 47 foster children. As the effort grew, so did the impact: from her living room into donated spaces, and eventually into a permanent home on Celeste Drive in Shelby Township.
Today FOFK serves foster youth in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, delivering thousands of personalized gifts each Christmas with the help of hundreds of volunteers. The work continues year-round: clothing within 24 hours of removal, graduation tubs, mentors, and a prom dress for every teen who wants one.
Twenty Christmases
From a living room to a warehouse.
2006
A promise at the kitchen table, and Christmas for 47 foster children from family and friends.
2008 to 2011
Filed for nonprofit status, then approved. The work moves from a living room into donated spaces.
Celeste Drive
A permanent home in Shelby Township: the warehouse, the wrap tables and the prom shop.
2025
1,514 children and youth at Christmas, 2,421 graduates helped, 811,962 gifts in all.
The people behind it
A volunteer board, and a thousand helpers.
Every director serves without pay. The board as filed with the IRS for 2025, and the people you will meet at the center.

Founder and President
Theresa Toia
Started Friends of Foster Kids at her kitchen table on New Year's Day 2006, after hearing that not one child on her daughter's caseload had received a Christmas gift. Still takes kids shopping herself.
Jennifer Kee
Board member · Fundraising and Homecoming
The contact for anyone hosting a fundraiser, and for the Homecoming & Prom shop.
Hosting a fundraiser? Jen is who you talk to.Amy Sheehan
Board member · Volunteer for 15 years
“Once you've done one thing, you want to do more. You see the need and the effect it has, and you just naturally gravitate.”
April Matalavy
Treasurer
Keeps the books for a nonprofit whose board serves without pay.
Linda Roberts
Secretary
Keeps the board's records and minutes.
Beverly Bousson
Board member
Serves on the volunteer board that governs FOFK.
Ellen Sousa
Board member
Serves on the volunteer board that governs FOFK.
Only the founder's photo is on the current site; the board's headshots drop into these tiles.
Volunteer voices
“Whatever they ask of me!”
Liz C., who makes the comfort babies every child receives
“Once you've done one thing, you want to do more. You see the need and the effect it has, and you just naturally gravitate.”
Amy Sheehan, volunteer for about 15 years and a board member
Find a shiftNo. 01
Spirit of Christmas wrapping
No. 02
Emergency Response shoppers and stagers
No. 03
Event and fundraising team
No. 04
Marketing and PR
No. 05
Social media
No. 06
Grant writing
No. 07
Tech
No. 08
Mentoring (ages 13 to 23)
Partners
The Angel Network, and the neighbors behind it.
Friends of Foster Kids works alongside the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, whose caseworkers know each child, and the Angel Network, whose support funds up to three scholarships a year.



















What people say
Kind words
Keep the promise going.
501(c)(3) nonprofit · EIN 26-3886394 · 51341 Celeste Dr, Shelby Township, MI 48315
