Former foster mom battling stage 4 cancer continues helping kids with pajama drive: ‘It’s a simple pleasure'

Tampa, Fla. - A woman who helped raise 32 foster children in addition to her own five kids and dreamed of providing a pair of pajamas to all foster kids before being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer is seeing her wish start to come true. 

West Florida Foster Care Services says Hillsborough County leads the state in the number of children in foster care with 3,000 children in the foster care system.

Janet Rinaldi, the director of family advocacy, says it started the Family Advocacy Program in 2020. She says 50% of foster parents don’t renew their license after the first year, which lead them to create this program to provide foster parents with more support.

"When you have a child come to your home, especially if they come in the middle of the night, and you have nothing and they come with nothing, that’s a bad position to be in," Rinaldi said.

Robyn Walters fostered 32 children and had 5 biological kids. 

The agency is now helping make one former foster mother’s longtime dream come true.

Robyn Walters always dreamed of starting a non-profit to continue helping children even after she was no longer a foster parent.

READ: Duffels of Dignity helps foster kids adjust to new environments

"All I wanted to do was be a mother," Robyn Walters said. "Literally, that’s all I ever wanted to do, was be a mother. There just wasn’t anything else I wanted to be."

Walters raised five biological children and 32 foster children over several years.

Clothing at West Florida Foster Care Services. 

"Most showed up with nothing," Walters said. "Children would show up with pants that were five sizes too big for them."

No matter how long her foster children stayed for, she always made sure every single child had one thing.

READ: New Life Village adds more homes for foster families as it celebrates 10th anniversary

"Everybody should have pajamas," Walters said. "It’s a simple pleasure in life."

Walters says her own mother always made sure she had pajamas growing up. She continued that, by making sure her biological children always had pajamas, and then would go out and buy brand new pajamas for each one of her foster children. 

A set of children's pajamas at West Florida Foster Care Services. 

"Pajamas are something a lot of people take for granted," Walters said.

She’s originally from Georgia but moved to Florida and found her way into getting involved with West Florida Foster Care Services.

READ: Florida program aimed at keeping kids out of foster care, helping families stay together

Walters started helping with the Family Advocacy Program, which has built closets around Hillsborough County with basic necessities, clothing and everyday items to help families when they get a foster child.  

Walters had a dream of starting a non-profit to help give every foster child their own pajamas, was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in March. Her diagnosis and chemotherapy treatments sidelined her. 

Robyn Walters was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March. 

"Every time a family comes in and they pull a pair of pajamas out of a bin, I tell them about Robyn, and I get to tell them about how this is going to mean the world to her," Rinaldi said.

Walters’ dream was sidelined when she was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in March.

READ: Adopted foster children and their families find stable environment at village created by Tampa nun

While she was undergoing chemotherapy one day, she says she got a text asking if West Florida Foster Care Services could start a pajama drive in her honor.

"What we’re doing is just trying to give these kids the dignity of having the life that we all take for granted," Rinaldi said.

West Florida Foster Care Services is holding a pajama drive in Robin's honor. 

Walters never thought a small thing that was part of her family’s bedtime routine would have such a lasting impact, but it’s exactly the legacy she hopes to leave.

"To know that hopefully, this is something that will carry on after I’m gone, means the world to me," Walters said. "It means some little something I did right there right along the line, that’s going to carry on for a long time and help a lot of children who deserve it."

Click here to learn more about the pajama drive and West Florida Foster Care Services.