When she was living in Los Angeles a little less than a decade ago, Kim Bigler was copied on an email chain of friends asking for a space heater. The heater was for a young woman who was recently emancipated from lifelong foster care. Living in an apartment with no furniture or heat, this young woman needed help desperately.
“What are we as a community doing if it takes a mass email to get something as simple as a heater for someone in need?” Kim asked herself.
A voice inside challenged her: “Well, what are YOU doing?”
Kim founded James Storehouse in Los Angeles in 2012, and upon returning home to Louisiana in 2015, she re-established it in Covington. James Storehouse is a nonprofit that ensures children who enter into the foster care system have everything they need to thrive in tough times. When children arrive to foster care without enough clothes, or when foster homes need an extra bed to keep siblings together, Kim and the James Storehouse team step up to meet those needs—day or night.
James Storehouse also helps foster children connect with safe family placements and supports those “aging out” of the system to reach stable independence. Last year, Kim and the team of James Storehouse served more than 1,000 foster children on the Northshore.