Chaska teen gives back to a cause close to home

Miranda Nelson had to start her life over at age 12.

With no belongings of her own, Nelson arrived on the doorstep of her foster family in Chaska with her 4-year-old sister, Mariah. The 16-year-old now lives with her adopted family and is giving back to foster children through a high school project.

Nelson is donating duffel bags with care kits to children in the Carver County foster care system. The Chaska High School junior has assembled more than 20 bags so far as part of her independent final project for graduation, or capstone project.

Nelson said she started the project to give foster children something that could be their own.

"I never had anything to myself," she said. "When I first came here I literally came with the clothes off my back."

Nelson stocks the bags with toiletry items and winter clothes. She also thought it was important that each bag also include a notebook — she wrote in a journal to cope with her post-traumatic stress disorder.

"A lot of the kids have been through really traumatic things, and not all of them go to therapy right away," she said. "Writing was my way to talk through with myself the things that I was going through. We make sure we have notebooks in there so everyone has some place that they can talk about things."

Nelson said she was used to her mother disappearing. She would often tell her she was going on a shopping trip and would not return for months, leaving Nelson and her sisters without food, she said. Nelson would often stay home from school to take care of her younger siblings. Her father was an alcoholic who came in and out of her life while her mother was physically abusive and in and out of prison, she said.

In the summer of 2012, her mother fled to Kansas with Nelson's 1-year-old sister. Nelson lived with her sisters alone for three weeks in the summer before her grandmother called Carver County social workers.

"My grandma was our hero," Nelson said. "She was always there, and I could always call her."

Nelson and her sisters were then placed in foster care. For the first time, Nelson said she was able to attend school for an entire year and live in the same house. At Wendy and Ron Nelson's house, the family made sure Miranda had everything she needed, she said.

"The first day I was here, they were like, 'What do you need?' " she said. "We couldn't take anything from our old house because it was a meth lab."

Wendy Nelson said Miranda has really embraced her new life.

"There are still triggers and certain things she goes through," Wendy Nelson said. "She wants to find ways she can give back because she feels like she was really fortunate and given a chance."

The Nelsons were looking for a family philanthropic activity to fulfill together when Miranda had the idea to donate duffel bags. During her winter break, Nelson and her mother went to businesses asking for donations. The two became discouraged when none of the businesses wanted to help out with donations.

Then Chaska police got involved. Miranda donated six duffel bags to the department for officers to keep in their cars in case they come across someone in need. The department then sent out a letter urging the community to get involved.

Officer Kelly Boll distributed fliers that the Nelsons created to help get support from the community.

Wendy Nelson said Miranda then decided to use her duffel bag idea for her capstone project.

Carver County has about 29 foster care homes for children. And the county is in need of more foster parents, said Michelle Selinger, Carver County child and family manager.

"We have seen a steady decline in our foster homes over the last several years," she said.

Nelson plans on donating two bags to each foster home in Carver County. She said she wants to even expand the project to other counties down the road.

"This will be an ongoing project even after I graduate," she said.