OVERCOMING THE ODDS</br><h2> Former Foster Child Kristen Thomas</h2>

Watch Lidia and Kristen prepare a Panzanella Salad together, with Brussel sprouts, butternut squash, and kale.

Growing up, Kristen was in and out of foster care as her mother struggled to make ends meet. Though she longed to be a part of a stable family, she aged out of the foster program without having been adopted. Aging out of a foster care means that you are essentially deemed your own parent. She had graduated high school at 16, so when she aged out she did what she thought young adults were supposed to do—she got a job and an apartment. But she’d never been taught how to manage finances, cook for herself, etc. So she ended up homeless.

View photos of Lidia's visit with Kristen Thomas in Raleigh, NC

A woman at her church offered to have Kristen stay in her home and encouraged her to go to college. Kristen did, and once she graduated from college and got a job, she knew she wanted to help other foster children. She had experienced food anxiety as a child and wanted to give the children who might come to stay in her home the gift of food and shared meals, so she reached out to a group called One Simple Wish and asked for cooking classes. One Simple Wish (a nonprofit organization serving children in 49 states through a network of over 800 community partner agencies) provided those cooking classes, and Lidia supplemented them with her own personal culinary course.

Since her cooking classes and opening her home to foster youth in need, she has hosted numerous youth in need of support and love. She recently fostered a young woman who wished to be adopted, and they began the process of adopting.