Jewelry making group gives 'hope' to young women aged out of foster care

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (WTVD) -- As young women age out of the foster care system, some of them will end up homeless, incarcerated or a victim of human trafficking. One Wake Forest group is working to change that cycle and give those young women hope.

Ntianu Nwakuche and Tabitha Kitrull are laughing, talking and working together to create beautiful jewelry.

"There's such a meaning and such passion that goes through this whole program and that's being put into the jewelry and I just love it," Ntianu Nwakuche said.

For Nwakuche and Kitrull their path was not always jewelry.

"I went to jail. That was a very scary thing and it clicked in, and I'd like to take it as a sign from God like, 'hey, sit down because this road you're headed on is not going to lead you anywhere,'" Kitrull said.

In and out of foster care most of their lives, they knew when they turned 18 they needed a plan. That's where Hope and Vine stepped in.

"We want to see them in a field they're working that they're passionate about. That they feel it's something they're called to do," Hope and Vine Executive Director Rachael Smith said.

The ladies hand make each piece of jewelry with a special meaning.

"The necklaces use pieces of jewelry that have been donated, so again it's taking that symbolism of our old discarded pieces and being made new," Smith said.

Small pieces you could add to your wardrobe or jewelry box that have made a big difference in a young woman's life.

If you would like to buy a piece of jewelry, click here.