Adoptee uses non-profit to provide suitcases for foster children

This holiday season, a Naples woman is on a mission to bring foster children something many take for granted: a suitcase filled with dignity.

Sophie Kruszewski is working to make kids in foster care feel better about themselves with one piece of luggage at a time.

• RELATED: Collier and Lee counties host mass adoption hearings in time for the holidays

Kids moving from home to home usually carry their stuff in garbage bags.

It can be crushing, and it can strip away their sense of self-worth and self-esteem. A young woman and former orphan herself is determined to change that.

“I was adopted as a baby,” said Kruszewski.

Her adoption journey left her with questions that still lingered.

Kelly Kruszewski is her adoptive mother. She said her daughter not knowing her history makes her emotional.

“The sadness of her not really knowing why she had to come here, why did she have to be adopted, it’s heartbreaking,” said Kelly Kruszewski. “In her case, not knowing her history is really sad.”

Those questions have become her inspiration.

“A lot of foster children have to bring their belongings in a garbage bag, and that can be very demoralizing, dehumanizing and overall, really have an impact on one’s self-worth,” said Sophie Kruszewski. “So by providing something for them to call their own, it can help them feel more accepted.”

At just 15 years old, Sophie Kruszewski started a non-profit that collects gifts, and now suitcases for foster kids, and the community has rallied behind her.

“My fiancée, she was a foster child,” said Cape Coral resident Dan Carney, “and I never realized how these kids, when they moved around from house to house, they put their clothes into a plastic bag, and that’s sad, and my fiancée said that’s exactly what she did.”

Rose Mary is a donor to the non-profit and she said that people do care about foster children.

“Somebody cares about them and especially now at Christmas time,” said Mary.

Sophie Kruszewski’s mom said her passion has shaped her entire family.

“She’s a huge blessing to her entire family,” said Kelly Kruszewski. “We love her so much. I can’t even imagine our life without her. She takes the reins, and she’s proud to say she’s adopted.”

Kruszewski partnered with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to collect hundreds and hundreds of suitcases. The Department of Children and Family and One More Child helped distribute them to the needy kids.