Stacy Maciuk's life got off to the worst of starts. Abused as a toddler, she was removed from her home and bounced around in foster care. "Whenever I moved, I lost people I thought loved me," she says. "It was constant grief."
A FRESH START
Then, at age 9, Stacy caught a break. Shirley Jones, a Nashville interior decorator, took Stacy in to live with her brood of seven biological, adopted and foster kids. "At first, she cried and was afraid of us," recalls Jones. "I told her, 'Honey, there's an empty chair in here, and we'd be so happy if you filled it.'" Eventually, she did—and began to experience a normal childhood. "I loved being part of a big family," she recalls. "We took vacations to Florida that were a blast! The first time I saw the ocean, I stood there for the longest time."
A GUARDIAN ANGEL
One day, when Stacy was 12, she accompanied Jones on a job at the home of Eric Raefsky, a hematologist-oncologist, and his wife, Tori Heil. Stacy, Raefsky recalled, "was obviously bright. It was clear to me she wanted more." So the Raefskys made an extraordinary offer: to pay for Stacy's private education. That generosity allowed Stacy to attend the rigorous Father Ryan High School, where she earned As and Bs, and then to go to Nashville's Belmont University, where she gave the commencement address at her 2005 graduation. "I developed self-confidence," says Maciuk, now 24, "and learned how to persevere." Last year, she landed a job as office manager for Al and Tipper Gore.
PAYING IT FORWARD
While at Belmont, Maciuk joined a group working to improve Tennessee's foster care system. Her first project—collecting 2,500 suitcases for kids to carry from home to home—showed her "that I had a tangible impact on people's lives—an incredible feeling."
But she knew suitcases only went so far. So she challenged her college to do more to help foster kids who, having turned 18, had no parents to help foot the bill for school. "It cut like a knife," recalls Belmont president Dr. Bob Fisher, who has since secured roughly $2 million for a scholarship fund for foster kids.
Maciuk didn't stop there. During an internship at a nonprofit the following year, she drafted legislation to establish a state scholarship for former foster kids—and relentlessly lobbied legislators for support. The scholarship was added to the budget last fall, and 61 students have already received aid.
THANKS TO STACY
"Other kids are like, 'Oh, I need $500? I'll call my mom or dad'—I don't have that," says 21-year-old Chey (last name withheld), a former foster child who earned a B.A. in psychology in May. "Stacy has made my journey a lot easier. I know if I need anything—advice or for her to come pick me up—she'll be there." Callie Frazier, 29, had been going to school on and off for eight years and was $40,000 in debt; scholarship funds helped her finally earn her degree in business at Belmont last year. "I'm ecstatic," says Frazier, who is the development director of the group home where she once lived. "This is a completely different life than what I would have otherwise had."
No one knows that better than Maciuk, who got married last year and is building a house with her husband, James. "It's remarkable," she says, "just how powerful someone's belief in you can be."
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