Succeeding Beyond Emancipation: Reuel Mack's Story

By C.J. Hirschfield

Five years ago, I wrote a column about an extraordinary young woman, Reuel Mack, who’d been referred to Fairyland from an organization called Beyond Emancipation, which is Alameda County’s primary provider of services for former foster youth. Reuel had been in the foster system, in many different homes, for most of her life. As a child, she never knew her biological mother. Her father was in jail. She eventually learned she has 11 siblings.

Today I’m proud to share with you a very happy update to Reuel’s story – a story that Reuel herself will tell the guests at our 23^rd annual gala fundraiser on Wednesday, May 30.

Reuel came to Fairyland when she was 20 and newly emancipated. She was starting to take classes at Laney College when she happened across a booth on campus that was staffed by Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS). Established in 1969, EOPS supports students with language, social and economic disadvantages. It collaborates with Beyond Emancipation to help former foster youth succeed at Laney and beyond.

Reuel says EOPS changed her life. The program helped her move in with her cousin, and then worked with her to plan a year of classes, offer tutoring, and even provide food and other services when she needed them. EOPS staffers also took Reuel on tours of four-year universities like UC Davis.

While taking classes at Laney, Reuel began working as a paid intern in our animal department, eventually earning a promotion to paid ride operator. Over the years she also worked in our café and box office and in our summer camp program. She’s now a ride supervisor.

Reuel with a young friend and one of our gentle donkeys, 2013

But it was in the animal department the Reuel found herself. She overcame her initial fear of animals and learned how to make animals feel safe. “But most important,” she says now, “working in the animal department gave me a sense of purpose.”

One of Reuel’s jobs involved working with our Junior Animal Caretaker program, an outreach program for children who have experienced trauma or who have social and emotional issues. One of the kids in the program, River, “was like a little sister to me,” Reuel recalls. “When she first came, she was shy and nervous. I told her I’d grown up in foster care myself, and there is a better life ahead!”

Fairyland changed Reuel, and Reuel changed Fairyland. Because of our positive experience with her, we brought on four additional paid interns from Beyond Emancipation to work in our horticulture, animal and theater departments.

Reuel is now 25 – she turns 26 in June – and in the years since she came to Fairyland she has earned two degrees from Laney College, an AA and an AS. This month she received to medical certificates from Merritt College, in clinical and administrative work. In the fall she will attend West Coast University to complete a nursing degree.

Reuel at her Laney College graduation

And after that? “A master’s degree, I hope!” she says.

When I first met Reuel, nearly seven years ago, I noticed a tattoo on her forearm that said “Unique.” It’s the nickname her cousin had given her, because “everything I do is unique. I like to stand out, to be a leader.”

True to that nickname, Reuel has proved her leadership ability over and over. We’re tremendously happy to have played a role in her success, and we know she’ll continue to make us proud in the coming years.

Reuel Mack

If you’d like to learn more about Beyond Emancipation, go to their website. And if you’d like to help Fairyland give other former foster youth opportunities similar to Reuel’s, you may make a donation on our website.

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C.J. Hirschfield has served for 15 years as executive director of Children's Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation's oldest storybook theme park.