GMA honors Georgia mom Rose Diggs for nonprofit helping foster children

Rose Diggs turned a family commitment into a statewide support network, and Good Morning America put that work on national display by naming the Georgia mom of two this year’s Breakfast in Bed honoree live on the May 8 broadcast. Through Down 7 Up 8 Inc., the nonprofit Diggs founded in 2016, she has provided short- to medium-term housing for more than 300 children over 11 years and kept six separate sets of siblings together for two years or more.

That record points to the gap Diggs has filled: foster children often need more than a placement. They need stability, tutoring, clothing, holiday help and adults who can keep showing up after the initial crisis has passed. Down 7 Up 8 says its work is built around enrichment programs, mentoring, tutoring and community outreach for fostered, adopted, underprivileged and at-risk children, a model that blends shelter with the practical supports that government systems rarely deliver on their own.

The nonprofit’s reach has extended beyond housing. Earlier reporting on Diggs’ work said she fostered more than 300 children and provided free virtual tutoring for more than 700 children across Georgia, a scale that suggests her operation has become a regional support pipeline rather than a one-household effort. Down 7 Up 8 also says it hosts annual events including Boys to Men and Princess for a Day, along with its Holiday Hearts Program, which supplies school materials, Christmas gifts, shoes, clothing and pajamas.

Diggs’ impact has also been recognized in Cobb County. She was named the 2024 Smyrna Citizen of the Year by the Cobb Chamber’s Smyrna Area Council, which cited her long-standing service to foster children and families. Her work has drawn support from organizations including Amerigroup, the Georgia Families 360 Program, the North Cobb Civitan Club and the Adoptive and Foster Parent Association of Georgia, reflecting the kind of cross-sector backing that often determines whether foster services reach children in consistent, meaningful ways.

Diggs’ story is compelling because it is personal, but its lesson is institutional. A single nonprofit cannot replace a child welfare system, yet Down 7 Up 8 has shown how targeted housing, tutoring and holiday support can keep children connected, clothed, learning and seen. The question for Georgia and other states is not whether Diggs’ model is admirable. It is how much of that model can be built into the system itself, so more children find the stability she has provided for so many.