Almost 56,000 children in California are foster youth, and approximately 184,000 households in the U.S. have a foster child, according to Alternative Family Services. Coco’s Angels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting youth in the Los Angeles foster care system, held a holiday gift drive at Archer starting Wednesday, Nov. 20 and ending Thursday, Dec. 5.
Archer alumna and founders of Coco’s Angels Layla Tehranchi (‘24) and Delara Tehranchi (‘23) worked closely with private foster care agency Guardians of Love to create their nonprofit foundation. Many of the gifts donated help forge creative passions that would not otherwise be supported. This allows the youth to expand their dreams surrounding their future goals and aspirations.
Service squad member Avery Greene (’26) helped organize the gift drive. Each grade level was assigned an age group. The donated presents included art kits, sports-related gifts, various toys, books and more. Greene said some foster parents tend to give their foster kids necessities, such as T-shirts, socks and underwear, which doesn’t provide them with the same feeling as more special gifts do.
“But for them, they don’t feel the love,” Greene said. “So being able to do this is a really great way to get a lot of foster youth gifts that make them feel special and loved.”
Students receive their gifts at the Coco’s Angels holiday event, which over 700 foster youth attend. Coco’s Angels allows each foster child to obtain the top three gifts on their wishlist — before Coco’s Angels, youth received general gifts.
“It’s the most beautiful experience to be able to see how happy and grateful these children are, and to see that they know how deeply they’re cared for and loved by so many people,” Delara Tehranchi said.
Sophomore Pasha Selig donated to the gift drive, and she said it was great to see Archer students make an impact on foster youth.
“I love helping both Archer alum who created such a great nonprofit and helping children in the foster care system who deserve so much love,” Selig said.
Although the Tehranchis have graduated, Coco’s Angels is still involved with Archer. Delara Tehranchi said she firmly believes that Archer is one of the most special communities she has been a part of, and the support and familial feel of Archer extends past graduation.
“In a world of takers and givers, what I’ve realized, and what is extremely and incredibly rare, is for people to embody what it means to be a giver and to have an open heart and generosity,” Delara Tehranchi said. “I see it in every single member of the Archer community, and that is incredibly special, incredibly rare, and a big privilege of mine to be a part of a community like this.”
Greene also volunteers with Hope In a Suitcase, which is a nonprofit that provides clothes and other basic essentials for foster youth. Greene said she has spoken with someone who was formerly in the foster care system, and they often did not get many chances to express themselves artistically. Thankfully, Greene said, they had a social worker who provided them with art supplies to support their creativity.
“Social workers are very busy, so they don’t have that opportunity,” Greene said. “When they can get that for Christmas — or holidays, whatever they celebrate — it’s very exciting for them because it’s something of their own.”
Delara Tehranchi said that it’s incredibly important for foster youth to be exposed to realms of expression in the arts because that is the only way doors can open up for them.
“Thousands of youth that are in this system are deprived of even the ability to dream because they can’t envision what that future even looks like for them,” Delara Tehranchi said. “When you provide youth with the opportunities to envision what their potential passions and futures can manifest to, that’s when we are able to give them the chance at pursuing those lifelong goals.”
![After the ceremony, Natalie Huang ('25), Lily Poon ('25) and Addie Meyers ('25) pose to take a picture. Many seniors took pictures with their family and friends after the ceremony to capture moments during Founders Day. "A moment that I enjoyed is right after Founders Day, when a lot of seniors were taking pictures," Curry said. "They were kind of doing things [to] soak up those last Founders Day memories. Because even if we forget what was said during the speeches, and even if we forget everyone who was in our class, who will forever have those pictures, and those will be cemented memories."](https://archeroracle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/k-1200x800.jpg)
