Savannah Bananas celebrate foster families with Bananas Foster nonprofit
While crowds are dazzled by their performances on the field, co-founder Emily Cole says the team is honored to give back to the communities they visit in other ways as well. During games, the Bananas celebrate foster families and encourage others to get involved with their nonprofit extension, Bananas Foster.
Having spent years highlighting youth living in foster care here in Colorado in weekly Wednesday's Child stories, CBS Colorado talked with Cole prior to their Denver visit.
"My husband Jesse and I are foster parents," said Cole. "We have adopted our two daughters out of foster care, so we've seen first-hand the struggles that are going on in the system, and we've been doing it for about six years now. We started Bananas Foster in 2023."
The Coles got into foster care in a non-traditional way. "I was looking at adoption with my husband, not because we couldn't have children. We have a biological son; it was just something that was on my heart, and I was thinking about adoption and there is such a beautiful space for private international domestic adoption. In my research, I learned about foster care. It made me stop in my tracks and say, rather than wait for a baby to be born to adopt, there are 400,000 children right now in America who need a mom figure."
Cole knows that being a foster family is a triumph. That's what keeps Bananas Foster going. "We say, 'Hey, this incredible family is doing this right in your community.' And they get standing ovations, and my favorite part is when we walk them off the field and the crowd is coming into the stairwell and people are hugging and high-fiving and saying I had no idea this was going on in my community."
"There are probably people like me who just need to hear about it," continued Cole. "And people who have the love to give and who have a home and want to share it with kids who need them. So here we are, shouting it from the rooftops."
To nominate a foster family to be recognized at an upcoming Savannah Bananas game, click here.
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