Urbanna Oyster Festival Queen contestant Haylie Foster and her Little Miss Spat co-contestant Piper Anderson have spent much time together, working hard on their project, which is called Filling Empty Arms. Haylie and Piper organized many fundraisers to reach their goal, so they could fully stock a new hospital with Weighted Angels items. Weighted Angels is a nonprofit organization that provides comfort and support to families who are grieving from losing their child throughout pregnancy.
Haylie chose to do this project because her heart is set on working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with the premature babies and being able to help the families get through hard times. She also chose to do this project because her Little Miss Spat Piper lost her baby brother when her mother was 39 weeks pregnant. “I saw all the support my spat’s family received and I wanted to be a part of the ones who are helping other families through a difficult time,” Haylie said.
Haylie and Piper chose to offer an open gym at the Middlesex Gymnastics Center in Hartfield. They chose to do this fundraiser because Piper’s heart is in gymnastics and they wanted to incorporate something that Piper loved to do most. “Families got to drop off their children with us to have a little bit of free time,” Haylie said. “It was $10 per child that came out to support us.”
They ended up raising around $200 at this event. They also conducted a car wash/bake sale at the Hartfield Village shopping center on July 10 and raised around $580.
The last fundraiser they offered was a raffle drawing for a dinner cruise on the Rappahannock River. The dinner was provided by Portside Grill on Urbanna Creek. Haylie and Piper raised about $530 for this fundraiser.
To wrap up their project, they conducted a stuffing party at Portside Grill. This was done by volunteers only and no entry fee was required. Haylie did lots of prompting using her Urbanna Oyster Festival Facebook page to get the community involved. The girls are so grateful for the amazing turnouts each fundraiser had. Overall they got to present $1,977 to the Weighted Angels Organization to fully stock a new hospital with Weighted Angels items.
Haylie has been cheering for Middlesex High School since her eighth grade year. She has cheered for both basketball and football. She was captain of the junior varsity basketball cheer team her eighth grade year and is now captain of the varsity football cheer team her senior year. She has been a part of the competition cheer team her sophomore and senior years. Haylie has also been playing softball since the eighth grade.
Haylie was inducted into the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society her junior year and has served as class president her junior year of high school. She maintains around a 4.0 grade point average and receives honor roll each quarter. Haylie has received perfect attendance since fifth grade and continues to work hard. After graduation, she plans to attend Rappahannock Community College to pursue her career in nursing.
Haylie is the daughter of Tabatha Foster. She has two younger sisters, Abigail and Aylissa. She is the granddaughter of Debbie and Darryl Horsley, and Marilyn and Mark Foster.
Piper Anderson is the daughter of Heidi and Daniel Anderson. She has a younger sister named Blakelee.
She is the granddaughter of Bonnie and Dwayne Thomas, Clinton and Sherry Smith, Andy and Deborah Andersen, and she is the great-granddaughter of Catherine Ferree.
Piper loves doing gymnastics, going to school, and playing with her friends.
