This Mother’s Day, we are honoring a local young mother who is working tirelessly to give her child the love and support she never had.
As a former foster child, Terry Brown, 22, is trying to break the cycle to provide a better life for herself and her son.
Brown is a barista at Covenant Coffee shop in Oildale where she’s working toward a new life, one cup of coffee at a time.
“I don’t want to walk in my mom’s footsteps,” said Terry Brown.
Her sweet 7-month-old baby boy is the reason why.
“I just want to give him everything,” Brown said.
Brown grew up in the foster care system, her mother a drug addict.
“It was hard. It broke our whole family apart. It’s not a good feeling,” Brown said.
Baby Rico is her number one priority.
“I’m always going to be there for him. I didn’t have nobody there for me when I needed somebody and I don’t want him to feel like that,” Brown said.
But now there is somebody there for her and baby Rico, her family at Covenant Coffee.
“She’s like my sister. I tell her that all the time and we always tell everybody that this is a family setting. We all come from the same kind of struggles and we need to be there for each other,” said Kenny Pearson, Assistant Roaster at Covenant.
It’s hope in a cup.
Love and support to help restore and transform the lives of generations of foster youth in Kern County.
“The CEO and his family have big hearts and really love what they do and they’re here for us and show us that there’s more to life than what we had you know growing up in Foster Care, they’re amazing people and I love their whole family,” said Balinda Amavisca,
Coffee Shop Manager.
Covenant works with 100-150 former foster youth, like Brown, each month.
Providing them with independent living skills, housing, vocational training and mentoring.
“I love Covenant so much. They gave me a chance. They want better for you. It’s not just yourself, they want better for you. When I didn’t have a place to stay they gave me a lot of help financially, emotionally like they were there when I needed somebody to talk to and I thank them so much. Just thank you,” Brown said.
Roasting coffee for a purpose on purpose.
“I love it because I’m going to strive for greatness,” Brown said.
Brown’s next step is college.
She wants to become a social worker to help foster children and with the help of Covenant she said she will be able to do so.
Every dollar raised at the coffee shop goes toward creating more jobs and more services for the foster youth they serve.
You can find Covenant at 1700 North Chester in Oildale.
They’re open 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
