Before Simone Biles became a world-famous gymnast, she had to endure so much in her younger years. She and her siblings were left in foster care after their biological mother was deemed unfit to raise them.

Memories of her time in foster care remain vivid in Biles’ mind even two decades later. She’d play in the backyard, diligently do her schoolwork, and talk to her older siblings through the vents as they slept in separate rooms.

She’d also sneak into her brother’s room at night to check on him. She feared waking up in the morning to find her brother gone and transferred to another foster home.

Nowadays, Biles volunteers to provide children in the foster system with clothes and school supplies. While people might see this as a publicity stunt, it’s way deeper than that for the gymnast, who knows what it’s like to be one of them. She once said:

“I know exactly how it is, and I know exactly how you feel being a foster kid. I can be a voice for them. I can help them, and I can tell them that they’re not alone and that it’s going to be okay.”

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She is involved with Mattress Firm Foster Kids, which is a program that provides six annual drives to collect items that foster children and families can benefit from. The program is affiliated with 115 nonprofit organizations across 40 US states.

Biles, now 26 years old, has a whopping 32 Olympic and world medals, matching Russian Larisa Latynina’s record. Biles has seven Olympic medals, tying Shannon Miller as America’s most successful gymnast in the prestigious Games.