Lubbock woman creates travel bags for kids in foster care

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock kids in foster care will soon receive new luxurious bags called the Immersion Bag. Natalie Craig used to work with CASA of the South Plains. The idea came from a luncheon Craig had with one boy who was sharing his life story with her.

“He said it wasn’t until the CPS came and picked him up, that’s when he felt, and put his toys in a trash bag that’s when he felt like trash,” Craig said.

That’s when Natalie decided to create something better than trash bags. A foundation gave her $5,000 to buy bags for kids in shelters, and she tried every Google search possible for six months.

“Everything you saw on the internet was girly, it was little boy stuff - it’s nothing that they really wanted to carry,” Craig said.

She was told to let the money go, and the bag design would come to her.

“I thought I dreamt it, but I actually woke up to my office and I had a paper, and it was all drawn out,” Craig said. “I did it in the middle of the night, but it was cool, and we did it just like this.”

The design on that piece of paper turned into a bag that’s making a real difference in the lives of these kids.

Craig spent a lot of time figuring out exactly what they needed.

“I spoke to counselors, I spoke to children, I spoke to the community about what these kids needed, and they needed something that they could put everything in,” Craig said.

Natalie calls it the Immersion Bag. With pockets galore, there’s a place for shoes, clothes, and a built-in bag for dirty clothes. One of the side pockets is for food, because Craig says kids were getting bullied for taking home brown bag lunches.

“So they wouldn’t take the food home...they just threw it away, and so now they have this bag, and they will be able to put their food here and take it home,” Craig said, as telling the story almost brought her to tears.

On Jan. 17, 500 bags will be delivered to Lubbock to be put in boutiques for Lubbockites to buy. Every bag you purchase provides a bag for one of these kids.

“We’ll sell those and then every time one is sold, the money is put away so we can order another 500, and those 500 will be donated strictly to the children,” Craig said.

The bags will sell for $299 each, but will be free to the kids. If you can’t buy a bag, you can donate to Craig’s mission directly on her Venmo: @nycregimen.

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