When it comes to giving back and opening her home and heart to children, Nancy Miles goes the extra mile. “To those who much has been given, much is expected,” is an expression Nancy lives by. “I don’t mean that in a monetary way.

“I grew up with a happy inclusive Irish family,” she explains. “We were taught to accept everybody for who they are and always give back and help people because there are so many people who need help. “You’ll see somebody and just your smile or saying ‘hello’ to them can change their day; an act of kindness can change somebody’s life—that’s the way I was raised.”

In 1991, she had her biological son, Evan Miles. A Montclair High School graduate, he was a standout wrestler and majored in criminal justice at Centenary University. An avid fisherman, Evan spearheaded, oversaw and competed in Centenary’s first bass fishing club. He is 32 now, lives in Mississippi and works in law enforcement. While blessed with her son, Nancy opened her heart and home to other children—more than 70 to be exact— as a foster mom for the past 30 years, and to her adopted son Quinn Miles.
“When I was in my mid 30’s, I had expected to be married and have kids by then, and that just didn’t happen,” explains Nancy. “Every time I turned around, I saw an ad for foster parents.” She found her calling. After a year of getting approved by an adoption agency, she started taking in foster children.
“There are kids who need a safe haven in a storm,” she says. “Their parents are going through a difficult time, which can be homelessness, drug addiction, domestic violence, and you provide that safe haven for the amount of time the kids are with you. “Most do not stay; my little guy Quinn did,” she smiles.

Nancy took Quinn as a foster child from the hospital just three days after he was born. “Then he was 1, then he was 2 and then he was 3,” she says, and that was when she adopted him. “In some ways it was a tough decision based on my age,” she admits. “If I would have said ‘no’ he would’ve gone back into the system. He was with me at birth; God knows what would’ve happened to him. He’s my boy; I’m his mom. How lucky are we?”

She offers some advice to other adults considering fostering a child. “To have the opportunity to change a child’s life, there’s almost nothing more important,” says Nancy. “To provide that safe haven, safe harbor; to have the opportunity to potentially change a child’s life, I could think of nothing better, but you have to be resilient and flexible because it is not easy to navigate. “To live life grateful, basically every day, but with grace and grit, just what life throws at you,” she concludes. That’s how Nancy lives her life….as long as she still has time for pickleball.