On this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Rita Soronen, President and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Leading the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity, since 2001 and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption-Canada since 2004, Soronen works to find adoptive families for the more than 150,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems.

Under her leadership, the Foundation has significantly increased its grant-making while developing strategic initiatives that act on the urgency of the issue. In 2021, the Foundation dedicated more than $40.9 million to grants and award-winning programs, such as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, Adoption-Friendly Workplace and National Adoption Day.

Additionally, through public service announcements, social media campaigns, articles, events, sponsorships and more, the Foundation is building awareness around the growing need for foster care adoption. Marshall caught up with Soronen when she was in Mississippi to announce a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Children Protection Services.

Listen Here:

catch up on mississippi stories

Mississippi Stories: Joe M. Turner

Marshall Ramsey speaks with magician and speaker Joe M. Turner to talk growing up in Mississippi, the pandemic, and Turner’s magical career.

April 17, 2022July 5, 2022

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
• Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

For print publications:

• You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.

Mississippi Stories: Rita Soronen

by Marshall Ramsey, Mississippi Today
May 1, 2022

<h1>Mississippi Stories: Rita Soronen</h1> <p class="byline">by Marshall Ramsey, Mississippi Today <br />May 1, 2022</p> <br /> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/vZZr1EQtemk </div> </figure> <p>On this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Rita Soronen, President and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Leading the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity, since 2001 and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption-Canada since 2004, Soronen works to find adoptive families for the more than 150,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems. </p> <p>Under her leadership, the Foundation has significantly increased its grant-making while developing strategic initiatives that act on the urgency of the issue. In 2021, the Foundation dedicated more than $40.9 million to grants and award-winning programs, such as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, Adoption-Friendly Workplace and National Adoption Day. </p> <p>Additionally, through public service announcements, social media campaigns, articles, events, sponsorships and more, the Foundation is building awareness around the growing need for foster care adoption. Marshall caught up with Soronen when she was in Mississippi to announce a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Children Protection Services.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide" /> <h2 id="h-listen-here">Listen Here:</h2> <div class="wp-block-group"> </div> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2022/05/01/mississippi-stories-rita-soronen/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1028546&amp;ga3=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

1