We recently connected with Tracy Hanson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tracy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Seven years ago I started out as a Guardian Ad Litem advocating for children in the dependency system. While working closely with the caregivers I became aware of the fact that there was not enough funding to help these children experience a sense of normalcy. I feel that every child should be able to participate in sports, camps, dance, and gymnastics. If they have a passion to participate in any activity I had the passion to make sure they were able to experience their dreams. Children that have been removed from their homes and placed with new families need to feel a part of something and participating in activities with other children help them take back a little control of their lives.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After moving to Dade City eight years ago I decided I wanted to become more involved in my community so I decided to become a Guardian Ad Litem and help children. I founded Caterpillars to Butterflies Charitable Foundation four years ago to continue my desire to help foster children in our communities. We have a foster closet where the children can come pick up necessities, clothes, shoes, etc. as soon as they enter the system. Many of these children are dropped off at a foster home with only the clothes on their back and not much else. The next thing we want to do for the children is make sure they have a sense of normalcy in their not so normal world. We do this by funding activities of their choosing so that they don’t feel different than the other kids, we make sure they are not sitting on the sidelines. Back to school time we give the kids gift cards so that they can pick out their very own shoes instead of just taking a pair that someone gives them. This allows the child to express who they are and helps them feel good about themselves. When you see a child hold their head high because they feel proud of an accomplishment, there are no words to describe the feeling.
In the four years that we have existed we have touched the lives of 1900 children in some way.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Starting Caterpillars to Butterflies did not require a lot of funding to get started. Once we became a 501c3 that is where it got a little tougher. As the founder I give speeches to any organization that will have me and they usually will fund some children. We have held a community garage sale where all the proceeds came to us, charity bingos, and most recently a Bourbon and BBQ fundraiser was held for us. Most of our donations come from individual sources that have heard about the work we do and want to help us with funding for the children. We work hard to tell our story and the story of the kids we help.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I don’t have to manage a team because I surrounded myself with people that were all ready helping children and shared the passion to make their lives better. When a caregiver lets us know what a difference we have made in the life of a child that always lifts our morale and keeps us working on ways to help even more.

Contact Info:

• Website: Caterflies.org
• Instagram: Caterfliesforkids
• Facebook: Caterpillars to Butterflies Charitable Foundation, Inc.