Two brothers and a friend spent Sunday afternoon hosting a Hot Cocoa & Cookies stand in Barrington’s Oaksbury neighborhood to help Let It Be Us find families for children in foster care. The North Barrington Elementary School students offered cups of cocoa and cookies for fifty cents. With matching funds from family members, they raised $100.
Biological brothers, Spencer & George Kircher were adopted from Taichung, Taiwan. In 2010 their adoptive parents brought Spencer home to Barrington when he was 11-months-old. In 2011 they returned to Taiwan to bring his brother George home at 18-months-old.
“We chose adoption because we wanted to have a family and knew there were so many kids that needed homes,” their mom Julie Kircher says. “We had travelled and lived in Asia and felt that it was our second home so we were very comfortable choosing to adopt internationally.”
Julie says it was Spencer’s idea to host the hot cocoa stand. “When we asked what he planned to do with the money he immediately said, ‘give it to kids in foster care’. I think it’s because they are adopted and were in foster care and they have cousins who were in foster care so it really resonates with them.”
Their father, Tony Kircher is the Cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 229 in North Barrington and says they have several adoptive families in their pack. The boys’ friend, Emmitt Cook is also part of the pack and says he had a blast serving neighbors hot cocoa for a great cause. The pack hopes to find more ways to support the work Let It Be Us is doing to recruit and prepare foster and adoptive parents. “$100 is a modest sum,” Tony says. “But Spencer and George are always thinking of other kids who are waiting for their ‘forever family’.
Let It Be Us founder Susan McConnell says every effort plays a big role in helping them find families for waiting children. “It warms our hearts to see this outward action of support for children who need families. We are a small organization and their donation will go a long way to help the children we serve. Let us give great thanks for selfless acts of kindness just like this.”
Headquartered in Barrington and founded in 2014, Let It Be Us is a nonprofit organization committed to creating programs that match Illinois children in foster care with foster and adoptive parents. Through innovative parent recruitment and matching platforms Let It Be Us has developed a registry of over 1,000 waiting parents: 45% of whom are licensed and 55% of whom want to become licensed. If you or someone you know is curious about getting licensed as a foster parent, call 847-764-LIBU (847-764-5428) to connect with one of their foster and adoptive parent coaches. Learn more about their work or make a donation today at LetitBeUs.org.