Evan Berlin ‘09 doesn’t remember the eight days he spent in foster care, but he can’t forget the kids who are there now.

“I have a passion for helping the kids in the system realize their full potential,” he says. “Although I only spent eight days in foster care as an infant, I am continually reminded how fortunate I am to have a substantial support network and great parents helping me do whatever I wanted to do — and it didn’t have to be me, but it was, so I have the responsibility to give back and help change these kids’ lives.”

After graduating in 2009, the strategic communications major with a minor in English went to work as a fundraiser for a Dallas-based non-profit serving orphaned children. While he believed in the cause, he missed actively working one-on-one with kids.

In 2011, he had the idea to start an organization to support the 16,000 children in Texas’ foster care system and joined forces with Austin child welfare advocate LaVonne Roberts ‘84 to create The Constellation Foundation to help give foster children and those aging out of the system the tools to help them succeed.

The foundation’s flagship effort is Camp Constellation, which serves children ages 10 to 17 who are under the conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family Protection Services. Located outside Burton, midway between Austin and Houston, they held the first session in May, welcoming 50 campers who had graduated out of the foster care system, and a second session followed in September with another 50 campers. Berlin hopes to bring another 100 kids to the camp this spring.

Berlin continues to serve as the foundation’s board chair while holding down a full-time job in Houston, where he’s a business integration specialist for a global oil and gas firm. He says he’s been amazed by the overwhelming support the foundation has received.

“We’ve been asked to speak at events from college campuses to the Supreme Court of Texas, sit on different commissions and boards, and participate in changing the foster care system at every level,” he says.

Berlin says working with the foundation has given him a meaningful way to give back to others, a lesson instilled during his days at TCU.

“The classes and professors kept the spirit of giving back and embracing the social responsibility we each have as citizens in the forefront of all our minds, while the opportunities to get involved and witness the positive impacts of new ideas kept us all inspired — it’s the perfect package.”

On the Web:
constellationfoundation.org