When Paula Tarwater’s younger son, Joshua, turned 16, she felt a void.
“He and our older son, Matthew, were pretty much done with me mothering them, and it was hard,” she said. “I wasn’t through mothering yet.”
She also still felt a void from the death of their middle son, Garrett, who died of SIDS as an infant.
“When I was grieving, the Lord just laid it on my heart, that I was a mother who lost a child, and one day there would be a child who needed a mom,” she said.
It wasn’t long before she, with the support of her husband David, general manager for the Birmingham Terminal Railroad and the Alabama Warrior Railroad, figured out how to turn that void into a way to make a lasting positive impact in their community: After hearing a commercial about foster care, the couple took classes and became foster parents.
The need is great in Jefferson County: There are 1,000 foster children in the system; statewide there are 5,000.
Now, after adopting two of their foster children and with plans to adopt twins soon, the Tarwaters are setting their sights on helping even more: They’re preparing to open two shops to help those in foster care gain a sense of normalcy and work skills.
“I know loss, from losing Garrett,” Paula said. “And foster children are feeling loss, too – they’re pulled from homes, often late at night, with just what they can fit into a garbage bag.”
“It kills me, because I just hate for children to have to feel that.”
Paula wanted them to have luggage, and clothes, and the ability to have a bit of control over their own lives.
“I wanted them to have a little bit of dignity,” she said. “It’s what everyone deserves.”
She found the solution across the street from the social services office: two empty storefronts with a warehouse, all for sale. Perfect, she said, to fill with racks of clothing, toys, books, and other items for children. There would be no cash register; children in foster care would be invited to go to the “store” to shop for themselves, picking out what they want and need to take to their new homes.
With social services on board supporting the project, and with people throughout the community already prepared to donate, the Tarwaters filed for 501c(3) status and hope to achieve it by summer’s end.
And David, who has been on the railroad for 27 years, cashed in his 401K retirement fund to buy the buildings.
“He is such a good man,” Paula said. “He told me he couldn’t think of anything better than this to do with it.”
The couple already has a name picked out for the store: Garrett’s Place, named for that middle son they lost.
Anna Smith, a social worker and a member of the Tarwaters’ board of directors, said the impact will be “huge.”
“This will give kids a sense of normalcy, and that sometimes makes or breaks how well they do in a home. To not feel like they’re getting something second-hand, to actually be able to go pick it out like they’re shopping, can keep them from feeling like a foster kid,” she said. “And if they feel insignificant, if they feel like a foster kid, it can be very negative.”
Smith said the project has the potential to be a model to other communities, and likely will inspire community members in Birmingham to get involved.
“They’ll be leading by example,” she said.
As for the other storefront, the Tarwaters’ sons, Matthew, now 25 and an engineer on the Alabama Southern, and Joshua, now 22 and a conductor on ABS, have an idea for a project they’d like to support: Garrett’s Railroad Coffee Company, which would employ only foster children ages 18 to 21 who are about to leave the system.
“That was such a proud mom moment. Foster kids are pulled away from everything they know, then they are given a support system, then they hit a certain age and it’s time for them to go again.” Paula said. “There’s a huge number that run away.”
“My sons’ idea is to provide jobs to these kids so they learn to work for themselves, learn how to do paperwork and to serve Customers like they’ve been taught to serve them on the railroad,” she said. “Two train tracks run by this place, and at any given time you can hear trains. Being that they’re all railroaders, that theme just seemed to fit.”
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The Alabama Warrior Railway (ABWR) began operations as a Watco short line in August of 2009, but originally got its start in 1895 as the Marylee Railroad delivering coal around the Birmingham, Ala. area. Today, coal is still the primary commodity shipped on this short line. Products such as aggregates, pipe, scrap steel, cement and various other commodities also ride the rail on this 24 mile-long stretch. In addition to rail service, mechanical and transload services are also provided to Customers of this Southern short line.
Formerly known as the Birmingham Southern Railroad (BHRR), the 96-mile line provides service to more than 30 Customers in the Birmingham area, most notably the industrial and energy sectors. The railroad has the distinct advantage of access to barge traffic via Port Birmingham Terminal which is located on the Black Warrior River. The Black Warrior River is part of the Tenn-Tom Waterway which empties out into the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile, Alabama, providing the BHRR with the ability to ship commodities to and from all parts of the world. In addition to providing freight service, the railroad also boasts a mechanical and locomotive shop.