New Member Inductions

On Friday we inducted new members Annette Mannion of Rise in Love and Dillon Swank of Gerspacher Real Estate.

Kathy DiVincenzo, Founder & Executive Director, Honey from the Rock

Kathy DiVincenzo, founder and executive director of Honey from the Rock, shared how her experience as a foster parent led her to create Cleveland’s only foster care closet.

She began with the story of “Ruby,” a five-year-old entering foster care who arrived at a hospital with no clothing after being removed from her home. Kathy explained that Ruby’s experience is shared by many children entering the foster care system and inspired the organization’s mission to restore dignity and provide immediate support.

As a foster parent, Kathy frequently received late-night calls asking her to welcome children into her home with little notice. While licensed foster families prepare as best they can, they often spend hundreds of dollars purchasing clothing, toiletries, beds, and other essentials. The challenge is even greater for kinship caregivers—grandparents, relatives, and family friends—who are unexpectedly asked to care for children in crisis.

After discovering there was no foster care closet serving the Cleveland area, Kathy launched Honey from the Rock with a single community donation drive. The overwhelming response quickly outgrew the original space, leading to the organization’s current 10,000-square-foot facility.

Honey from the Rock provides customized emergency orders tailored to each child’s age, size, interests, and specific needs. Rather than simply distributing supplies, the organization focuses on preserving a child’s dignity by providing items chosen specifically for them.

Among the organization’s key programs are:

• Gap Packs – Ready-to-use bags stocked at MetroHealth and the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services containing clothing, pajamas, underwear, socks, and other essentials so children no longer leave hospital triage wearing only hospital gowns.
• Busy Bee Bundles – Activity kits that help comfort and occupy children during the foster care intake process.
• Emergency Orders – Personalized clothing, hygiene products, bedding, toys, and other necessities delivered quickly to foster and kinship families.
• Special Programs – Birthday bundles, road trip backpacks for children being transported to residential facilities, and ongoing support for reunified and adoptive families.

Kathy emphasized that giving children simple choices—such as selecting between two pairs of pajamas—helps restore a sense of control during one of the most traumatic moments of their lives.

In just 18 months, Honey from the Rock has:

• Served more than 1,400 families through emergency orders.
• Logged over 5,000 volunteer service hours.
• Expanded its reach beyond Cuyahoga County to families throughout Northeast Ohio.

During the question-and-answer session, Kathy noted that because the nonprofit is less than three years old, it is not yet eligible for many larger grants and currently relies heavily on community support and family foundations. She identified new adult underwear and sneakers in all sizes as the organization’s greatest ongoing donation needs.

She concluded by encouraging everyone to remember that while not everyone is called to become a foster parent, everyone can support children in foster care through volunteering, donations, or simply helping spread awareness of the organization’s mission.