"This has been going on for 100 years and it hasn't changed. We're not doing it better."
Sharon McGinley, founder of Eddie's House, is trying to do it better by providing young people with support, in the form of therapy sessions, by providing them with housing, jobs, guidance and hope; things they would be hard-pressed to find on their own.
"They have a trash bag full of clothes and a lot of baggage from the past, emotional baggage and there's no resources for them."
Eddie Lewis, the inspiration for Eddie's House, knows all too well what it was like when he left foster care more than a decade ago.
"I'm not the same person I was!"
Eddie had given up on life.
"I didn't feel like I was worth anything," he said. "I felt like I was taking up space even going to dialysis."
Eddie has been receiving regular dialysis treatments since he was 21. He suffered kidney failure, the result of beatings he endured from his father before he was sent to his first foster home.
"He used to take slats from the bottom bed and beat him with those and that contributed to his kidney shutting down," said Sharon.
Sharon wasn't sure Eddie would live, but new she had to do something.
"I wanted him to know he mattered that he touched someone."
That's when Eddie's House was born offering invaluable resources to Eddie and dozens of young men like him and young women.
Tiara Parks entered the foster care system when she was only two. The cruel cycle of moving from home to home took a terrible toll on her self-esteem.
"By the time I got in a house with a family who really wanted me there I just didn't believe it."
Tiara left foster care 3 years ago, and ended up in jail.
"I got out August 5th and Eddie's House moved me into an apartment August 30th so it was good."
She is now planning to finish high school and attend college, but she would not have been able to consider either, without help from Eddie's House.
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has a special empathy for young people like Tiara and Eddie because he comes from the same place; he lived in 2 foster homes. But Williams knows he was blessed when he was adopted by a loving family at an early age.
"I recognize that my life could have been much different," he said. "I could have been a child who went from one foster home to the next or who knows were or I could have been just another young man caught up in the criminal justice system."
And like D.A. Williams, Eddie Lewis is thankful for Sharon McGinley and Eddie's House.
"One person can make a difference and she made a difference for me."
Eddie's House is non-profit and is looking for volunteers and donations, if you would like to help click here for more information.
