Connecting adoptive families through education, community, and scholarship.
Welcome!
Grayson's Gifts is a non-profit dedicated to the promotion and education of adoption. During our adoption journey, it became apparent there was a lack of resources and scholarships available to us as hopeful adoptive parents. We didn't qualify for scholarships if we weren't members of a specific church or if we didn't limit ourselves to only adopting a child of a specific race. While there are a few national scholarships available, our generic application would be added to a pool of hundreds of thousands of other families hoping for the same scholarship. We knew it could be done better.
Grayson's Gifts will give local Des Moines area residents an opportunity to be awarded a scholarship to help with the expense of creating their family. Finances shouldn't be the only obstacle standing in the way.
Meet Our Founders
Grayson's Gifts started because its founders, Rachael and Ryan Harms, felt very isolated during the adoption process. They quickly realized there was a need in the community for resources regarding adoption.
The number one reason that people don't adopt is financial. One of the main goals of the organization is to offer scholarships to help offset the cost of adoption. Read more about our founders here.
Our Vision
A non-profit built for adoptive parents and families that offers an opportunity to:
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Provide a financial scholarship program to those who want to pursue adoption
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Raise awareness about adoption
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Establish a network of adoptive families and a support system
Scholarship Recipient Story
This year we were able to gift five scholarships to hopeful adoptive parents thanks to everyone's donations and support.
This is one of their stories!
After meeting the birth mother and her family, forming an instant connection, we brought home Mackenzie Mae-Penelope on Saturday, September 11th and our lives have been forever changed for the better.
We are so grateful to our friends and family (including the new family we have with the birth mother) for all their love and support on our adoption journey.
We also want to give a special shout-out to Grayson's Gifts. Not only did they help provide financial assistance to our adoption dream, but they helped us connect with other wonderful families that have grown their families through adoption. We look forward to volunteering with Grayson's Gifts in the future to educate and raise awareness about the wonderful gift of adoption.
Thinking we were getting a reminder call for our home study update the next Monday, our social worker instead asked "Do you want to be dads?!?" on Friday, September 10th. After two years of being home study approved and waiting for this very call we were feeling ALL the feelings...and on vacation in Austin, Texas no less.
We were asked to come home that same day to meet birth mother and our soon to be baby girl, born September 8, 2021. We obviously stopped the vacation early and booked it home on the next flight out. While travelling back Nick's mother bought a car seat and some baby essentials as we only had a pack n' play at home and picked us up from the airport.