It started with a desire to make a difference.
High school senior Gray Guenther has always had a heart for adoption, an interest that only grew after watching the movie Instant Family.
In the film, married couple Pete and Ellie meet and ultimately adopt siblings Lizzy, Juan, and Lita. Instant Family highlights many aspects of the adoption journey, including the importance of building trust and connection within a family.
Though not an adoptee, Gray identified with this, having seen the value of connection within her own family.
“My mom worked for a family services organization, so I grew up always hearing about parent-child relationships,” said Gray. “At the dinner table, we were always playing games or using conversation cards. It was definitely something that made me feel comfortable talking openly with my parents.”
While Gray enjoyed the conversation cards, she found that many of the questions were a bit dull or didn’t lead to deeper conversations. She decided to create her own version, specifically designed to encourage better connections between kids and their families. With help from her school, she conducted interviews with kids ages 6-12 and collected data about the topics and questions they wanted to discuss.
Gray then took that data and began developing her game. A talented artist, she designed the cards and created the artwork for the box and, using an online tool, turned her concept into reality.
Gray’s game, The Connection Bank, will be making its debut this fall at an event in her local community where vendors can display and sell their products. And Gray has committed to donating the profits to Kidsave to help more kids in foster care connect with their forever families.
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