The Independent Adoption Center is proud to sponsor the first annual Adoptee Night at the San Francisco Giants game. The event will take place on July 24th as the Giants play the San Diego Padres. We sat down with Adoptee Night organizer Holly Bachman, founder and CEO of the Mixed Roots Foundation, to find out more about this special night.
What is Adoptee Night, and how did the idea develop?
In community partnership between the Mixed Roots Foundation and the SF Giants, the first ever Adoptee Night is a special event that will take place in helping to raise more awareness about adoption. Since it’s our first year, we hope that we can drive as many people as possible to attend, so that next year the SF Giants can fully sponsor this event next year and hopefully years to come. Full sponsorship will include a reserved section for the adoption community, a pregame show, as well as an Adoptee Night sponsored promotional item.
But for this year, we are kind of doing everything separate – just to get the momentum for next year (smile). We will be hosting a separate pregame gathering at Lucky Strike that is located right across from AT&T Park at 4:30 p.m. We will also be handing out Adoptee Night rally towels and T-Shirts, so Adoptee Night attendees can show their support for this one of a kind event. The Ultimate goal is to replicate Adoptee Night to other sports teams in the country.
The idea of Adoptee Night kind of came from the concept of the other SF Giants special events but to really recognize and celebrate all who have been touched by adoption. As an adoptee myself and attending all of the other SF Giants special events – I thought to myself why isn’t there one for the adoption community??? Six in ten people are touched by adoption – that equates to about over 100 million people here in the U.S. and there are over 10 million adult adoptees; I think we are a pretty big community. Also, there is a need for creating more awareness. We all know that adoption isn’t going anywhere, so as the first and only national/global multicultural adoptee led foundation (all of our board members are adopted whom are representative of the international, domestic, and foster adoption experience) – we believe from our own personal experiences of being adopted – it is critical that we as the adoptee community help streamline more post adoption resources for adoptees and their families.
Can you tell me more about Mixed Roots Foundation?
Again, the Mixed Roots Foundation is the first and only organization doing what we are doing. What really sets us apart from any other nonprofit organization or even foundation – is that we are focusing on post adoption resources as well as really serving as the global philanthropic arm of adoption as well as being creative and leveraging all the resources that are available including the resources in the arts & entertainment, business, technology and health and science communities. We really are trying to address the changing needs of adoptees and their families throughout the whole life cycle of the adoptee – from birth to death. We also hope that this will provide a space / platform that individuals and their families can call home by giving back to the community and getting their voices heard both on a national and global level.
We hear George Lucas is a supporter. What was his involvement?
Yes, It was amazing to hear that George Lucas had accepted our invitation to participate in our public service announcement (PSA) that will broadcast at Adoptee Night on July 24th. We interviewed him because he is an adoptive parent of three children – two girls and one boy. We hope that we can get George and his kids more involved with the Foundation as he has shared a very positive experience with his adoption and wants to do anything he can do to help others.
How can people get involved with Adoptee night?
Buy Tickets and Represent! Again, due to this being our first year – it is critical that we show the Giants that we are a community and that we have the numbers to prove it. Also, we are looking for volunteers to help hand out materials both around the stadium as well as the pregame and in the stadium as well. All materials need to focus on post adoption resources whether that is mentoring or providing activities for adoptees and their families after they adopt.
What’s next for Adoptee Night and Mixed Roots Foundation?
There are actually a couple of other organizations that have started a similar Adoptee Night event in Texas and possibly in Missouri, Minnesota and New York! That is exactly what we would like to happen. The main goal is to raise awareness about the adoption experience and how we can further support adoptees and their families. If we can create Adoptee Night to go viral at every sports team game – that will be a true success!
As for the Mixed Roots Foundation, due to being only a year old – we really are operating on a grass roots level, so our plea is to garner as many donations as possible, so we can meet our financial goals to continue the awareness events as well as create national and global models of post adoption resources that can be replicated to positively directly impact local adoption communities everywhere.
In the Fall, we will be re-launching our charter Adoptee Mentor Program (AMP) where we match caring and positive adult adoptee mentors with children who are also adopted. We will also be officially launching the first ever Global Adoptee Genealogy Project (GAGP) where we are helping adoptees and their families discover the biological and cultural roots through DNA testing.
For those who would like to support our work, you can feel free to direct them to our website – http://www.mixedrootsfoundation.org or our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/mixedrootsfoundation.
In this excerpt from a blog post by Jim Thomas, a prospective adoptive father, he warmly reflects on the love he felt from his own father as a child and the love he longs to give to the child he is waiting to hold. While reminiscing about the relationship he once had with his father he looks forward to what he wishes to give to his child – strength from the arms of a father and love to carry him/her through.
