Maria Paparella Creates Charity for Youths Aging Out of Foster Care
As an only child, Maria Paparella, a 2012 graduate of St. Sebastian Parish School, always dreamed of having a sibling. With her family, she had often volunteered to help fill and distribute backpacks full of school supplies for clients of Summit County Children’s Services, which coordinates care for children with a variety of needs, including those awaiting adoptions and in foster care. Maria dearly wanted to adopt one of the kids in foster care, but since she could not, she adopted them as a cause close to her heart.
While growing up, Maria kept tabs on the foster children awaiting adoption, especially hoping that one girl that she had always wished could be her sister had been adopted.
As Maria was approaching college, she wondered what would happen to this girl. “I was getting ready to head to college, I had the support of all my friends and family, and I wondered what happens to her when she turns 18?” Maria found out that when a young person ages out of the foster care system at the age of 18, Children’s Services helps them with many things, including finding a job and an apartment, but Children Services does not have the resources to help purchase furniture or funding for space to store donated furniture.
Maria wanted to help these teenagers, so she got to work and started a charity to provide each one with all the household goods and furniture they need to strike out on their own, from sofas, dressers and beds, to lamps, kitchen tables and chairs. She created a business plan, presented it to Children’s Services, filed 501(c)3 papers, received approval as a Children’s Services supplier, and held a launch party to raise funds and awareness. Maria secured the use of a delivery truck from Chez-Del Interiors, where her mother, Jackie DelMedico Paparella ’75, is employed at the family business. When Maria receives a referral from Children’s Services, she contacts the individual, creates a list of needed items, gathers them from the warehouse, and works with a volunteer team to deliver and set up the furniture.
Maria launched “Chair-ity” (she chose a name and logo that incorporates a chair to highlight the charity’s focus on furniture) in 2014 while she was still in high school at Western Reserve Academy. And remarkably, she has been able to keep it running while she attends Kenyon College and maintains a busy schedule as a full-time student and two-sport athlete (soccer and lacrosse). “This year has actually been the busiest [for Chair-ity] so far,” says Maria, reporting that about 11 young people had been helped this year, with four more in process. Using a comprehensive inventory list, Maria can plan for each delivery from afar, but she still tries her best to be in town for the actual delivery
Maria says people usually hear about Chair-ity from word of mouth, and then they will contact her and ask what’s needed. Donations come from many sources, often when people are moving, downsizing, or simply just buying new furniture. Since the charity was established in 2014, Chair-ity has helped about 40 young people and provided approximately 450 pieces of furniture. Chair-ity has also raised about $40,000, which is used to buy a new mattress, box spring and bed frame for each recipient. Maria was recently honored for her charitable efforts with the 2016 Summit for Kids Russ Pry Youth Award. Congratulations, Maria! St. Sebastian Parish School is proud to call you an alumnus.