Ripple Effect

No one ever knows the ripple effect of what they do. How could we have predicted that a film documentary maker who attended one of “match party” would lead to 170 children living in foster care having the opportunity to hear a weekend concert by Jay-Z in Philadelphia? Leah Stauffer, who is working on a documentary about foster care and adoption was so impressed by the children and social workers she met at a “match party” several months ago that she was determined to stay in touch with us, arranging to interview the our executive director and communications director as her work progressed. When she had the opportunity over Labor Day weekend to get several tickets to a special Jay-Z concert in downtown Philadelphia, she knew she wanted to make them available to the children she had met. Within 48 hours, a social worker for SWAN, Pennsylvania’s statewide adoption network, had emailed her families. Leah was stunned when emails flooded her computer—dozens of children with their foster parents wanted to attend. When Leah passed the word on to the Shawn Carter Foundation, started by Jay-Z and his mother, Gloria, the director there told her to include as many children as wanted to come. That number turned out to be 170. Jay-Z was so moved by the experience that he made a similar offer to children living under the care of New York's foster care system for a concert at the new Barclay Center in Brooklyn!