Dashawn Patrick Donates Book to Foster Children for Christmas

For the past six years, Dashawn Patrick, author and graduate of the University of Washington, has been speaking to foster children throughout the country about the rewards of accountability, ownership and completion. "The social structure of foster children," Patrick states, "is based on the concept of temporary (new homes, schools, friends, neighborhoods...) so who will intercede to teach these young people the benefits of completion?" Patrick's passion for seeing young people succeed led to the founding of YOUTH IN CARE LAUNCHPAD, a nonprofit 501c3 organization that focuses on three areas:

-Teaching foster children the benefits of accountability, ownership and completion.
-Encouraging foster children to participate in extracurricular activities.
-Assist foster children with fees and equipment needed to participate in extracurricular activities.

"I founded YOUTH IN CARE LAUNCHPAD because I want foster children to realize their possibilities rather than fall victim to limitations and lowly expectations. It is vital that foster youth begin to expect more from themselves: expect to graduate high school, expect to graduate college or trade school, and expect to succeed!" Patrick's vision is that every foster child will be exposed to the rewards of successful qualities. He writes: "The mission of YOUTH IN CARE LAUNCHPAD is to motivate foster youth to enter high school with an expectation of graduating and going to college or trade school. We believe that shift begins with introducing foster youth to the rewards of goal setting, positive thinking, accountability, ownership, and above all 'completion.' YOUTH IN CARE LAUNCHPAD is founded upon those principles, and the book And Some RISE Above It was written with those same principles."

Patrick knows first hand of the lowly expectations of being raised in the foster care system. He, aged-out of foster care at 18 but went directly from the foster care system into the Seattle Mariner organization as a 19-year old professional baseball player. It was there he was introduced to coaches who taught him to expect more, to work harder, to think successfully. "If not for the Mariners giving me the opportunity to play pro baseball and paying for my education, I would have been lost. Very few foster children will ever be exposed to that environment and positive culture, so I am passing along to them what I have learned!"

In the United States, the high school graduation rate of foster youth is 47%. Patrick believes it is time for a greater investment in the lives of America's foster children. He says, "It is imperative that foster children be equipped with the tools that enable them to use their unique life experiences as fuel to succeed! We can raise the graduation rate, but we need to shift our focus on teaching these young people how to thinking successfully!"

Below are details of how to receive And Some RISE Above It as a free Christmas gift for foster children, foster parents or anyone working with at-risk children!

• Email amazonpromo(at)andsomeriseaboveit(dot)com
• Subject line: Christmas Promo
• Email content: Explain why this book will help the recipient You will receive a reply within 48 hours with a code to Amazon to redeem a free copy of And Some RISE Above It.

To learn more about the mission of Youth In Care Launchpad please visit http://www.youthincarelaunchpad.org. To read about the book And Some RISE Above It, please visit http://www.andsomeriseaboveit.com.

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