We were lucky to catch up with Kim Vehon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
Eleven years ago, my husband and I made the decision to embark on the journey of becoming foster parents. That started a whirlwind that continued when we got a call and said yes to sharing our lives and our family with a little 17-month-old boy. That one moment – one decision- forever changed our lives. It shook up our family and caused us to step out of the comfort of what we we knew and into so much unfamiliarity. It led me to walk away from the security of working for an organization to start a foster care-focused nonprofit. We said yes to three more siblings that became our forever children. It tore open our hearts and our lives to the reality of the pain that takes place around us every day. And it showed me first hand the incredible kindness and generosity of those who live in our community. I learned to not let fear or comfort keep you where you are but, to lean into the unknown – you never know what risk or opportunity could be your defining moment and lead to the greatest adventure of your life.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
In the summer of 2013, I was having a normal morning driving to work. My mind was thinking about the reality we would be adopting two of our kids we had been fostering. We had made the decision to step out of the foster parent world once we adopted and I was having a hard time walking away from all the kids still in the system. It was on that drive that I got an idea to start making videos. I wanted to tell stories of kids and families. My thought was, if more people knew what was going on in foster care, more people would want to get involved and do something.
From that moment, Foster Arizona was born. What started out as doing a few videos has grown into an amazing space of offering hope through connections.
Our Programs Include:
+ Young Adult Housing – Supporting young adults age 18-24 that have experienced foster care with a safe place to live while offering resources and support.
+ Kid Initiatives – Meeting meaningful needs for fun, connection, and essentials for kids who have experienced foster care and their family units.
+ Foster Cooperative – An open-sourced online community powered by Foster Arizona for anyone helping children and youth facing adversity to find connections, peer support, quality resources and training, community events, and innovative communication methods to be empowered with tools needed to succeed.
+ Education Initiatives – Connecting the community to foster care and at-risk populations through Real Stories, Fostering Voices Podcast, Educational Videos, and more.
+ Advocacy – We use our voice to support positive systematic changes for families and children at-risk and impacted by foster care.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had believed that people are where they are because of the good or bad choices they make along the way. Our society celebrates success and the messaging I received all my life is that everyone has equal opportunity to win. I have since learned so much about the challenges that are brought on simply from living in poverty. I have witnessed first-hand the struggle to overcome generational trauma. And, I can no longer see the world through the lens that my initial learning had me viewing it through.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
I believe this was my path. Everything I did and experienced up to this point prepared me for the journey I am on today. I am blessed to do work that means something to me with people that have the same heart. I get to share my love with my family. My kids and my husband work side by side with me in the community. And because of that, my kids have such compassion for and connection to the people we get to serve every day. Their eyes are open to really see others and not be afraid to step into the messy spaces with them. That is one of my most rewarding and unexpected blessings that came from this journey.
There has also been so much hard. As I am coaching others starting non-profits, I tell them to expect the hard and lean into it. It is when you lean in that you see things more clearly and you find the purpose in the journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fosterarizona.org/
- Instagram: FosterArizona
- Facebook: FosterAZ
- Linkedin: Foster Arizona
Image Credits
Brian Vehon