Micah Melnick knew she wanted to start a non-profit organization to help foster children after her own parents became foster parents while she was an undergraduate student at the Capstone.

“My parents got a sibling group of four for their first placement as foster parents,” Melnick said. “The kids were definitely dealt a bad hand, and I knew I wanted to start an organization to help foster parents pay for the necessities of raising multiple children at once.”

Melnick said her parents received an allowance from the state government of $75 per month for each child to help offset the costs of buying clothes, food and doctor’s visits.

“That isn’t much at all when you think about how expensive it is to raise a child,” Melnick said. “And if you don’t know a foster family personally, it’s hard to get people to donate clothes or money, so I wanted to start a program to help assist those families.”

Since graduting from the University in May 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in art and human development, Melnick and her husband Blake have started the BigHouse Foundation in the Auburn/Opelika area, which provides clothing, babysitting, tutoring and after-school sports programs to foster children in the county. They also have a fully functioning clothing and toy closet for foster children.

“The locals have been so generous by donating new and gently-used clothing to us to give to the kids,” Melnick said. “During the month of a child’s birthday they get to come and pick out a toy free of charge, and they always love going through all the toys here.”

The Melnicks have also applied for a $25,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, which is giving away $1.3 million every month to ideas that help others in need. The BigHouse Foundation project is currently ranked fifth out of 294 ideas in the $25,000 dollar category. Anyone with a valid e-mail address is allowed to vote for their favorite ideas, and at the end of April the top five winners of each division will receive their requested grant money.

Melnick said if the organization wins the grant money, they hope to be able to expand their services to children outside of Lee County.

“As long as we don’t fall back any spots, we will get the money for BigHouse and we will be able to really kick-off our after school programs,” Melnick said. “We really want to be able to improve the quality of life for kids who have been placed in foster homes.”

The Wesley Foundation has teamed up with BigHouse for the second year to host a swimsuit and towel drive until the end of the semester. The towels will be monogrammed with each child’s name when they are collected and given out mid-May.

“The kids always get so excited about having something special with their names on it,” Melnick said. “And without the help of the Wesley Foundation and the University, we wouldn’t be able to give these kids these special gifts.”

Alex Lann, mission chairwoman for the Wesley Foundation, said the organization is excited to be helping out Bughouse.

“We are trying to help out Micah and her husband as much as possible,” Lann said. “Since they were both former members of Wesley, we felt the need to help them out in their efforts to grow.”

Every month, the Wesley Foundation hosts a “focus of the month,” to combat different social injustices. Lann said April’s focus is foster parenting and the effects it has on children.

“Just because BigHouse is located in Lee County doesn’t mean we can’t reach out to them,” LeAnn said. “We are just so happy to be helping BigHouse and we are trying to continue spreading the word about voting for their project and helping them win the $25,000 they need for expansion.”

To vote for BigHouse in the Pepsi Refresh competition, go to refresheverything.com/bighouse.