A couple opened up their arms and home to 11 foster children, something they never imagined, thanks to quickly discovering that saying “no” to a child in need “became impossible.” Dr. Ryan Senters and his wife, Sara, have furthered their commitment to children in need by starting their nonprofit Friends of Ohana which they started with a $20,000 cash advance on their credit card. From there, they started a restaurant Hãnai Coffee + Cocktails in Arizona to provide job training and employment to kids who were aging out of the foster system.
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They were inspired to foster early on.
Ryan tells CafeMom he was inspired to become a foster parent as a college student when he was working at a shelter for teens who were released from jail. As a result, he says that early in his marriage to Sara, they took classes “knowing that we had the heart and capacity to care for kids in the system.”
The couple acknowledged, however, that they had serious fears about becoming foster parents.
“We were worried about how it would affect our birth kids, our immediate family, and normal everyday routines. We were told many hard stories about fostering which made us fearful, however, we have been fortunate enough that for our family the rewards have outweighed the risks,” Ryan and Sara share via an email.
Neither came from a large family.
They weren't raised with lots of siblings, and they admit they had no idea how they ended up with 11 foster children. But even amid the self-described chaos in the home, Ryan and Sara say the kids are close in age and play sports or video games together.
“Of course, they fight and poke fun at each other but that’s what siblings do, we are just happy that they are having a normal family experience overall,” they tell us, adding that out of the nine living at home right now, seven of them are active in a sport.
The parents are still in awe of their impact through their involvement in the community with the restaurant.
“It has been so rewarding to see families gather after Saturday sports and sit on the patio to enjoy the weather and have all ages enjoy the environment and food," they share. "It has also been a blessing to have the ability to rent out a space so that local schools, businesses and others can have meetings in a space that might not be work walls and is a fresh change of scenery!”
The inspiration to open the restaurant came from the foster children as they grew older.
They added that they became inspired to open up the restaurant after some of the children in the system would reach out, inquiring about job opportunities. The couple quickly realized that a restaurant would be a “great training ground for our youth in care to learn job skills that they can take with them once they have moved on/out.”
Through their nonprofit organization Friends of Ohana, the couple continues to help thousands of kids receive the same opportunities as other children such as birthday and holiday celebrations and scholarships for sports.
As for what their future looks like fostering more children, “who knows?" they tell us.
