EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday.com.

NORTH LIMA — When Austintown native Nicole Tsarnas moved back to the area two years ago, she realized there was a demand for clothing and other supplies for foster parents and kinship guardians.

“When a child is placed with you and they come with no belongings, it is so stressful,” said Tsarnas, a foster parent herself. “While foster parents do receive a small monthly stipend, it is nowhere close to the amount that you need to supply a child with everything that they need and the cost to feed and support them.”

Tsarnas founded Mina’s Foster Closet, a nonprofit organization that provides new or gently used clothing from babies through teens, toys, baby gear, book bags, toiletries, furniture, diaper bags and other needed items through children services agencies in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

“I started Mina’s Foster Closet to make it easier on foster children and foster families to get the supplies they need. We owe it to these families to help in any way possible,” she said.

Mina was a child Tsarnas and her husband fostered for about a year until she was reunited with her birth parents.

Tsarnas said they began fostering after husband talked to her about it. They believed they were called by God and their Christian faith to do so.

This is her calling — to help heal kids, she said. Mina’s closet aims to help others carry out that mission.

Jennifer T. Kollar, spokeswoman for Mahoning County Children Services, said agencies find the closet extremely helpful.

“Our agency has a Kinship Navigation Program and our kinship navigators seek to identify appropriate relatives — grandparents, aunts, uncles or others who have had a longtime connection / relationship to a child. The goal is to find appropriate relatives to place children with if able to do so in place of foster care,” Kollar said.

Tsarnas, who moved back to the area to be near family after 10 years of living out of state, said she understands the support given by family and extended family to raise a child.

“I was made aware early on about the need for kinship guardians. They do not receive the same financial support that a foster parent receives. We quickly changed our policy to allow these families to use our services as well,” Tsarnas said.

There is also a demand for starter kits for a home or apartment for young people when they are emancipated from the foster system. Mina’s Foster Closet provides items such as a vacuum or microwave to dish soap and a cutlery set. Mahoning County Children Services has a Youth Independent Living Program where caseworkers help them acquire independent living skills.

“Teens who age out of foster care at 18, many times lack having a support network in place,” Kollar said. “Without strong support services and systems in place, they are at a greater risk for financial insecurity, homelessness, no or low graduation rates, pregnancy, substance abuse / addiction, incarceration and human trafficking.”

Foster families who have received help through Mina’s Foster Closet have had very positive experiences.

“We needed a double stroller so we could take it to stores and go through doorways,” said Kimberly Hughes, who is a foster parent through Trumbull County Children Services. “We exchanged a side-by-side double stroller for a front back double stroller and we received a potty chair.

“It was a very easy process and a wonderful resource for foster parents.”

Mina’s Foster Closet will celebrate its first year of existence in May, which is National Foster Care Awareness Month. The storefront is set up at the Old School Marketplace, 11836 South Ave., Building E, No. 3, in North Lima.

There are such resources for foster parents in other places she lived, but not here, she said.

“It took several months of planning and behind the scenes work. We received our official approval as a 501(c)(3) 12 months after we came back,” she said. The organization accepts donations.

On Mina’s Foster Closet’s website, www. minasfostercloset.com, Tsarnas writes: “When my husband and I started our foster care journey, I remember feeling anxious about many things. I was worried about having the time for another child, I was worried about being able to provide for them. I was worried about saying goodbye.

“I asked our licensing specialist, ‘How am I supposed to do these things?’ Her answer, ‘It’s not about you.’ I didn’t get it until she said that. This isn’t about my feelings, my worries, or my wants. This is their story not mine, and I need to do everything I can to be a blessing to these children.”

“My dream is to see Mina’s Foster Closet bless many foster children for years to come. I hope to take some of the burden off of foster families and kinship guardians. I hope the items that we supply will help these children have a little bit of normalcy.”

“I desire to see the community come together and make this about the children and not ourselves.”

Tsarnas encouraged others to foster or be part of a kinship program. She said that since moving back to the Mahoning Valley, she has seen many kids who are second- and third-generation foster children.

“There is a huge need for people to help the community by fostering,” she said.