When a child enters the world on their own for the first time, most have a family to catch them: a mom to call, a dad to help move boxes or a sibling to check in. For young people who age out of foster care, that safety net often doesn’t exist. They emancipate at 18, sometimes with little more than a bag of belongings, and step into adulthood largely on their own.

Love and Luggage of Northwest Ohio was founded to change that. The Maumee-based nonprofit serves young adults who have emancipated from the foster care system in Lucas County and the surrounding region, providing them with practical support, community care and, above all, the reassuring message that someone is in their corner.

At the heart of it all is Sarah Otis, who, along with her husband Jim, launched the organization in 2021 after more than 20 years of thinking, praying and preparing for how they could best serve this often-overlooked population. “We really wanted to figure out where there was a service need,” Sarah shares. What they found was a natural next step in a journey already well underway. LCCS’s Independent Living team walks alongside youth through high school, mentoring them toward graduation — and when those young people emancipate at 18, Love & Luggage is there to receive them, continuing that support into the next chapter of their lives.

 

A Story That Started with Two Black Garbage Bags

The seeds of Love and Luggage were planted decades before the organization ever came to be. In December 1999, Sarah and Jim welcomed their daughter Amanda into their home through Lucas County Children Services. Amanda arrived on their doorstep accompanied by her caseworker, carrying her entire life’s possessions in two black garbage bags.

“We were both pretty shaken,” Sarah recalls. Though they had gone through training to prepare for adoption, nothing quite readied them for that moment. The image stayed with them. They knew there had to be a better way.

Amanda, now a married mother of two, has navigated her share of challenges rooted in early childhood trauma. But with the love of a strong family, a supportive church community and people who believed in her, she found her footing. That experience became the blueprint for what Love and Luggage would eventually offer to others.

“Jim and I knew in our hearts that maybe we could do something different,” Sarah says.

 

Meeting Youth Where They Are, Without the Red Tape

One of the things that makes Love and Luggage truly distinct is what it deliberately does not do. There are no lengthy intake forms, no eligibility hoops to jump through, no caseworker assignments. The only requirement is a connection to foster care.

“We don’t have any qualifications except foster care,” Sarah explains. “We just don’t have them fill out four forms.”

For young people who have spent years navigating a system built on documentation, qualification and oversight, that simplicity is transformative. “They feel safe and untethered,” Sarah says, and that word says it all.

The organization works closely with the Independent Living Unit at Lucas County Children Services to connect with youth at a meaningful inflection point: their foster care graduation. Each year, LCCS hosts a celebration honoring graduates who are turning 18 and have earned their high school diploma, a milestone worth recognizing. Love and Luggage extends that celebration, bringing graduates to First Presbyterian Church in Maumee for an event where they are affirmed, honored and sent off with something tangible for the road ahead.

Each graduate receives a rolling duffel bag (the luggage that gives the organization its name), along with a selection of household essentials to help furnish their first apartment. Items are laid out on tables for graduates to browse and choose freely: glassware, kitchen towels, pillows, sheets and more, all sourced through an Amazon wish list and donated by community partners. That autonomy is intentional.

“They deserve that dignity,” Sarah says simply.

 

Community Care Meals: A Place to Belong

The luggage and household items matter. But Sarah is quick to point out that they are the second part of what Love and Luggage offers. The first part, and the more enduring one, is love.

Every six to eight weeks, the organization hosts Community Care Meals, gathering emancipated youth together for a warm, home-cooked meal in a welcoming space. What began during COVID, with masks on and folding chairs in a church fellowship hall, has grown into something remarkably powerful.

“These are the kids that were in foster care together,” Sarah explains. “They really understand each other’s trauma and struggles.” The meals create a reunion-like atmosphere, an alumni gathering of sorts, where young people who share a common experience can reconnect, support one another and simply feel at home.

Over the past several years, Love and Luggage has hosted graduation celebrations for more than 75 young people. This May will mark the organization’s sixth annual graduation event, with 23 graduates expected, the program’s largest class yet.

 

An Independent Living Pantry Built on What SNAP Can’t Cover

Food stamps help. But there is a gap that many people don’t realize exists: SNAP benefits cover groceries, but not the everyday household items that make a home livable. Toilet paper. Deodorant. Laundry detergent. Shaving cream. Women’s hygiene products. Paper towels. These are the items that Love and Luggage’s independent living pantry is built around.

“SNAP is exclusively things you can cook with,” Sarah explains. “They can’t purchase household cleaners, hygiene items, paper goods — those sort of things. You have to live through it, but you can’t get the product.”

At every Community Care Meal, graduates are invited to fill a bag with whatever they need from the pantry, selecting what works for their household, with no judgment and no limits. It is a small act that carries real weight.

The pantry is sustained through community crowdsourcing, and Sarah says expanding those partnerships is one of the organization’s most pressing current needs. Organizations, businesses and community groups can make a significant impact simply by collecting a list of 10 or so items over a few weeks.

“We give them the box, we give them the PR,” Sarah says. “It’s very simple.”

 

A Success Story That Sticks

Sarah speaks carefully about the young people Love and Luggage serves, protecting their privacy. But there is one story she returns to often: a young woman, bright and articulate, who came through the program and went on to earn her medical assisting certification.

The road wasn’t straight. There were stretches of unemployment and underemployment, moments when it felt like everything was falling apart at once: a sick child, a car that gave out, sleepless nights. But the Love and Luggage community was there, steady and supportive, helping her focus on the next right step.

“You really need a person who will say it’s going to be okay,” Sarah says. When she spotted a job opening at a chiropractor’s office, she passed it along. The young woman got the job. Today, she’s working, thriving and raising her daughter.

“She would say that the people in Love and Luggage have been supportive and caring so that she could get through those tough times,” Sarah reflects.

 

What’s Ahead: A New Chapter for Love and Luggage

Love and Luggage is on the cusp of an exciting transition. The organization, which has operated as a program under the fiscal sponsorship of Adopt America Network, is in the process of securing its own 501(c)(3) status as Love and Luggage of Northwest Ohio. That official name reflects both an expanded geographic reach, extending service into Wood County, Ottawa County, Lima and beyond, and a broadened mission.

At the same time, the organization is bringing on an executive director, whose pastoral leadership already spans the Northwest Ohio region, creating a natural overlap with the work Love and Luggage does. A formal board is being established, with Sarah and Jim taking on leadership roles.

The timing couldn’t be more important. There are currently an estimated 200 young people between the ages of 14 and 18 in Lucas County Children Services alone, in foster care, group home care or kinship care, who will age out of the system in the next four to five years.

“The need for capacity building to meet the needs of 200 kids is really at the right time,” Sarah says.

 

How the Community Can Help

Love and Luggage of Northwest Ohio runs on community, and there are meaningful ways to get involved.

Crowdsource the Independent Living Pantry: Organizations, workplaces and community groups can partner with Love and Luggage to collect household essentials not covered by SNAP benefits, including hygiene products, cleaning supplies and paper goods. It’s a simple, high-impact way to make a real difference.

Support the Amazon Wish List: Donate new household items like kitchenware, bedding and towels to help graduates furnish their first apartments.

Give Financially: As Love and Luggage establishes its independent 501(c)(3) status, donor support will be essential to sustaining and expanding programs. To learn more or get in touch, contact Sarah Otis at ssotis@bex.net or 419-283-4298.

“The truth is,” Sarah says, “if every child in the foster care system got adopted, we’d go away. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

Until that day comes, Love and Luggage of Northwest Ohio will be right there, with a warm meal, a rolling duffel bag and an open door, making sure no one has to face adulthood alone.

To learn more, visit www.loveandluggage.org.