One Simple Girl Transforms the Life of Arielle Teppert
“At One Simple Wish, we believe that every child deserves love, hope and joy. Every year nearly 500,000 children are impacted by abuse, neglect and trauma and spend time in our nation’s foster care system. It can be lonely, confusing and a bit scary. Through our innovative wish-granting platform, you can send some love to a child who needs it. When wishes come true, kids not only have a chance to just be kids, but they can also make important connections, experience new things and find their passion! 500,000+ kids spend time in foster care each year. 100,000+ kids are waiting to be adopted. 22,000+ young people age out without stable, permanent connections.” (© 2022, One Simple Wish, https://www.onesimplewish.org/site/about )
December 9, 2022
Arielle Teppert.
Popularly known as pageant queen, captain of the cheer squad, or anchor for the morning announcements. Arielle is all of these things and so much more. People don’t see these attributes from behind a screen or walking past her in the hallways, unaware of all the people in our community and country that she has impacted. “From a young age, I have always cared about others and wanted to help whoever I could,” said Arielle.
And that she has. Her service journey began at the young age of 12. Just beginning 6th grade at Latrobe Elementary School (LES), Arielle knew she wanted to do something more for others.
“Being an only child was tough, having two parents with full-time jobs and spending a majority of my time with nannies became super lonely” says Arielle. She wanted a sibling. After years of begging her parents, Arielle realized that this idea was not a possibility, but she knew she still wanted to be a big sister.
Arielle came up with the idea to become a tutor for younger students at LES. Her parents knew how much having someone to mentor as a “younger sibling” meant to her and they helped her make this idea reality. Unaware of the strong impact that this service would have on her life, Arielle was matched up with a 6-year-old girl named Hailey. Hailey, just a shy kindergartener at the time. At the first tutoring session, although she was very reserved and needed some help with her schoolwork, Hailey’s passion for school shined through. Arielle saw how much Hailey wanted to learn and truly wanted to be a determining factor in that improvement and growth.
Over time and lots of tutoring sessions, Hailey began to really come out of her shell. Arielle described her as “a super spunky and sweet little girl.” They formed a close bond with Hailey and their relationship fulfilled the younger sibling that Arielle always longed for.
Months went by and Arielle still met with Hailey weekly. Then all of a sudden one day Hailey just didn’t show up to her tutoring session, confusing Arielle because she had never missed a session before. Later in the week, Mrs. Holler, still the principal at LES to this day, called Arielle down to her office to talk. Mrs. Holler informed Arielle that Hailey had unfortunately been put into the foster care system.
When Arielle found out about Hailey’s situation she was very upset because over the past year Arielle had become very close with her and felt as if Hailey was fulfilling that younger sibling role that Arielle always felt she was missing in her life.
Arielle became curious about the foster care system and questioned the process of being put into foster care. “I just wondered how that could happen so quickly, I saw her one day and she was gone the next,” said Teppert.
This is the sad reality of children in the foster care system, one day everything is normal and they are going to school and the next they are picking up their entire life and moving into another family’s home.
Arielle said, “I’ve learned to be more grateful for what I have because you see people who aren’t in good situations then you look at your own life and realize how much you have compared to those in the foster care system.” Some of these foster kids don’t have access to the bare necessities like shoes, toiletries, and a normal roof over their heads.
Arielle was so inspired by this entire experience that she reached out to the nonprofit program “One Simple Wish,” where she decided to partner with them to support their cause.
With help from the community, Arielle managed to raise around seven thousand dollars through an online giving page and small in-person fundraisers for this special cause that impacts children in the foster care system all around the country.
This whole experience has taught her most of all, how to be compassionate for others. “I have always been a caring, people person, but it’s really taught me how to have compassion for everyone because we don’t always know the situations people are in or have gone through,” said Teppert.