Shop Small Savannah

May 12, 2021

What does it mean to meet the needs of foster care in Savannah?

Tersh Blissett talks with Whitney Gilliard of Gilliard & Company about how we, as small business owners, can help shine a light on the Youth who live in foster care! Today's episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at how emotional Tersh gets when it comes to helping those who can not always help themselves. This is a rare occurrence where you get to see the sensitive side of the main in the suite! A little about Gilliard & Company - This is Their Story! "Whitney entered congregate care at the age of 14 and wasn't taken in by a foster home until age 17. Through the turbulence of life, Whitney found her purpose in advocating for foster youth who feel they've had no voice. Whitney's story consists of traveling to 18 placements with a trash bag of her belongings, over-prescription of psychotropic drugs, and the fight for dignity while she was in the system. The name, "G&Co", came to be after Whitney survived a life-changing car accident, while in foster care, that left her with a traumatic brain injury, a broken spine, and a broken leg. During her recovery Whitney's, only, means of mobility was by wheelchair. As healing felt impossible, Maurice understood, he has witnessed his mother's overcoming. Maurice's mother was also a youth battling the hardships of foster care in Germany. Compelled to remind Whitney that there is hope in her recovery. Daily, Maurice would remind Whitney of all that she has been through, and would always say "I know this is frustrating for you, however this time you are not alone - you'll always have company". From then on, their journey kicked off. Through the birth of their son, Aemon, they became devoted to stopping the cycle of abuse and abandonment, not only for their child but for others as well. Whitney is an advocate for fostering and adopting and during her events Maurice is right beside her delivering hard facts about the truth of the American Foster Care system. Together their goal is to remind others and lead by example on how small acts of companionship can result in life-changing resilience. G&Co means never giving up on each other. G&Co means being there for those who are afraid. G&Co means meeting the needs of each other, together." Resources Learn more about Whitney & her team by visiting below: * Donate www.DonateToFostercare.com * https://www.gilliardandcompany.org/ * DO YOUR PART BY HOSTING AN ONLINE FUNDRAISER! * Charity starts at home! Learn more about Tersh & Service Emperor HVAC & Refrigeration below: * https://serviceemperor.com * Connect on social media @tershblissett Closing thoughts for Tersh... Foster care is NOT an adoption agency!! We must work together to serve prevention and preservation of families!! Transcription: Meeting the Needs of Foster Care is Meeting the Needs of Humanity! Whitney Gilliard.mp3 Tersh Blissett: [00:00:02] the Hello, everyone, out there in podcast world. I hope you're having a wonderful day. You were listening to or watching the Shop Small SAV Podcast. I'm your host, Tersh Blissett. Today we have Whitney here. Whitney, she is with Gilliard & Company and we've met. I mean, we know each other very well, but we met a couple of times here and there and then buy local lunch, you know, just networking in general. We do a ton of networking together. And one of the biggest things that are it just stands out is abundantly clear. Any time Whitney in the interview room is how much she cares about others. And today I really am excited to talk to her about just that, where it came from, a little bit about that, a little bit about what it is that Gilliard & Company does and is and how it makes up just an integral part of Savannah and Georgia and Southeast and just make a massive impact. And they're one of those organizations that doesn't get enough recognition, which I'm glad that we're here and we can get recognition, but definitely is one of those things where you don't really think about. So my goal with this show is to just bring attention to those businesses in and around Savannah that really make a massive impact. And with that being said, welcome to the show, Whitney. Whitney Gilliard: [00:01:46] Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited about this. When our team met you, I was like, that's the guy with the orange and the like. What it was like with the orange, you know, like with the Service Emperor, all the best of the orange have the orange like that guy. And they thought I was a little wild at first. I was like, but no, I'm so excited. So when our relations manager, Patricia Perry, she's amazing at getting us connected and she landed that I was really excited. I really was there. Yeah. Yeah. Tersh Blissett: [00:02:16] So I'm excited for everyone that is watching this or listening to this to learn more about you and why you created this organization. Whitney Gilliard: [00:02:29] Ok, so I'm reporting back for anyone reporting back to the system, for those who follow me, obviously It's I share all the time about what life was like in the system. And then I try to highlight as much as possible what life is like outside of the system because I used to be a ward of the state and I was that I was one of the states at the very critical times that even currently right now the state is currently trying to kind of understand, which is that adolescent phase. I came into the foster system at 14 and then I left at aged out at twenty-one. So one of the best things I was ever said to me by a staff member in a group home when I was sad when I was mad, was this pain is going to be used for one day, and wow. And I, and I did it and I think that was the best. I don't know. But we will find out the answer. And so here I am reporting back to these facts and, you know, trying to just trying to make the pain useful. Tersh Blissett: [00:03:29] Yeah, that's really that's powerful. I mean, that's extremely powerful in the fact that you remember that that obviously made a huge impact on your life. And what I want the audience and listening audience and the viewership to really to understand and take in and embrace is you're so involved in the day to day of this business and making an impact, not just a business, but just impacting the lives of these adolescents that you may hear a little bit of background noise and that's perfectly fine for them. That is just massive lives being impacted in just amazing ways. And the things that they're learning are things that I could pull. I never learned. I mean, obviously, my parents taught me some of it after I was 16 or 18. But, you know, it's not stuff that I ever learned in school or anything like that. So, I mean, kudos to you for teaching that as well. You know, Whitney Gilliard: [00:04:31] I wanted to I think you asked earlier about, like, what exactly it is that your company does. And I think I forgot that I really like doing this. I remember. But we are a nonprofit organization here and in the heart of Savannah, Georgia, and we provide housing for youth aging out of the foster care system for 18, 19, 20, 21 days. But that's a little bit forgotten. They are not forgotten through us. Tersh Blissett: [00:05:01] Yeah, it's very common. So when you think of one when I think of foster care, adoption in that type of thing, most common, I'm thinking of babies or toddlers or maybe preteens, possibly early teenagers. But when you think about eighteen to twenty-one, that's like, wow, like when I was 18 it was, you know, I'm not normal. I bought my first house when I was eighteen, but it was very much like my parents really helped out. They supported me and they You've had a question. I had somebody to go back and ask questions to and lean on. And I can imagine someone who had not gone through an adoption process and there at the eighteen to twenty-one-year-old range by then, I guess you're probably out of high school. Are they in college or what? Can you tell me how that works or I mean, I'm ignorant to the whole situati…

37 min