I was a young girl with a dream. Then I became a young woman carrying the weight of other people’s stories—stories that eventually became part of my own. Somewhere along the way, that weight became purpose and my reason to help change the trajectory for those coming after us.

For nearly 17 years, I loved someone who grew up in foster care. He had dreams. He loved sports. He wanted a real chance. But I watched him be failed, over and over, by the systems that were supposed to protect him before he ever learned how to protect himself. What started as young love became years of courtrooms, hospitals, rehab centers, addiction, heartbreak, and trying to save someone from circumstances bigger than both of us.

I learned what happens when a child grows up without stability. I watched potential get buried beneath survival. And I learned the hardest lesson of all: love can carry someone, but love alone cannot fix a broken system.

The November Saturdays Foundation was born from everything I lived, everything I witnessed, and everything I could never unsee. I know what it feels like to look back and wonder what could have changed if the right person, resource, or opportunity had shown up sooner.

That is why this work is personal. It is for the child in foster care who still deserves a future, the athlete who needs the game to stay grounded, the family doing the best they can with what they have, and the young person carrying battles nobody else can see.

Sports are where we begin because sports can create structure, belonging, confidence, discipline, and hope. But this work is bigger than sports. It is about stepping in early, bridging the gaps, and giving children the support they need before their circumstances decide their future.

I cannot change the beginning of the story that brought me here. But through The November Saturdays Foundation, I can help change how someone else’s story continues.