Foster Children's Foundation Executive Director Suzanne Geske gets right to the point because she doesn't have the time to mince words.

"We need a new home," she says of the nonprofit organization she formed three years ago to supply foster parents and children with everything from clothing and school supplies to services such as mentoring. "We need 2.5 to 5 acres of buildable land. If nobody steps up, we won't be able to provide the children with the things they need, and families will struggle more."

The clock is ticking because a road widening project is forcing the foundation from its current site on Abbotts Bridge Road near downtown Duluth. While Geske says the new asphalt will provide needed relief for local drivers, the project is bad news for the approximately 1,000 people a year the foundation serves.

Foster Children's Foundation board chairman Herman Pennamon is just as direct.

"We're asking the business community to give these kids some hope," says Pennamon, a Lawrenceville-based community relations manager with Georgia Power. "We want to give these kids a chance they otherwise would not have. It's a tremendous thing to have foster parents - what they do is amazing to me, and I feel for folks with a heart like that."

Jacqueline Smith is one such parent. Wrestling with the question of how she could make a difference, she became a foster mother to babies Lauren and Jay-Alan - whom she has since adopted. Since losing her job as a customer service manager with WorldCom, though, Smith has been relying on her retirement savings to provide for her new family.

Spend an afternoon with Lauren and Jay-Alan and it's easy to see the difference the foundation makes. The smiles on their faces say it all: They've got someone who loves them, and a foundation providing booster shots of help for their mom.

"The children come to foster parents with only the clothing on their backs," Smith says, while goofing off at a playground with the youngsters. The siblings let out howls of laughter as the three whoosh down a slide. "They need clothing, shoes and support. The foundation provides us with things we need. For me, the support has been as more mental and emotional (than material) - it means a lot to me."

Geske can relate. She and her three younger brothers were placed in an orphanage after her parents divorced when she was six years old.

"It was a financial issue," she reflects. "There was a time when my mom couldn't take care of us. The day we left the orphanage to live with our mom again was the happiest day of my life, but I got in the car and felt sadness even though we were with our family again. I thought about the other kids were still orphans, and I felt almost guilty that I couldn't take them with me. I made the conscious decision then, at age seven, to do something to help kids some day."

Her first steps came through a Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce effort in which she volunteered with some 250 people on a variety of projects to help children. Climbing over bags of donated clothing items intended for children at a government agency, she realized she was ready to give up her job with her own marketing firm and launch a nonprofit that took care of foster parents and children.

The new organization sprang to life quickly thanks to a number of events. Among other acts of benevolence:

• The Gwinnett Coalition coordinated a Great Day of Service project that collected toys for foster children. Other projects continued over the next three years.
• Proof in the Pudding gave the foundation a chance to start raising money through a concessions program with the Gwinnett Gladiators hockey team.
• Businessman Steve Thomas donated the use of the Abbotts Bridge Road facility he was no longer utilizing as a tannery and cabinet shop.
• Duke Realty organized more than 20 subcontractors who donated their time to preparing the building for its new mission.
• Bowen Family Homes donated kitchen equipment.
• Members of the Duluth City Council took on projects like removing staples from the flooring.

"It's wonderful to have the community behind us," Geske says.

Still, the potential shut down of the foundation is looming. Without it, she echoes, families won't have a resource for obtaining vital necessities. Children won't have access to special programs enabling them to start developing dreams for what they would like to do with their lives. And mothers like Smith, who has now brought two more foster children into her home, won't have a place to turn to when the inevitable foster parenting obstacles arise.

"If the foundation closes," Smith reflects, "the needs of the children would not be met and foster parents would get discouraged. We need a place we can go to for help and hope."

Tears but a click away
Visit to Foster Children's Foundation makes impact on photographer

by Jennifer Stalcup

With the help of my lens, I am usually able to distance myself from subjects, but the morning I visited Suzanne Geske at the Foster Children's Foundation in Duluth, the cold metal was no match for the burning sensation filling my eyes and heart.

It all started with a little pair of used "Dorothy" slippers that were waiting at the foundation for a new home, much like the many displaced children who depend on Geske's organization. The toes were a little worn, but the glitter still evoked a sense of drama, a sense of dreams coming true. It was tough to get through, knowing that I had just treated my kids to a night on the town (Chuck E. Cheese, ice cream, sleep over, etc.) and still felt guilty that they hadn't "done enough" on their spring break.

Geske told me about the shoes. A little girl- much like me, I'm sure - had been attracted to them, but they didn't fit. "I want these Dorothy shoes," the little girl had said. "They will help me find my way home."

Driving away, my heart sank: The shoes didn't fit. I was crying like a baby.