Katy Perry and Angela Lerche reflect on childhood struggles as their foundation ignites hope for youth

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Katy Perry is set to make a tangible difference in the lives of underserved youth.

The singer and her sister Angela Lerche opened up about their childhood which was marked by their reliance on food stamps and food banks and they also struggled financially. 

What is the Firework Foundation about?

In 2018, Perry and her older sister Lerche launched the Firework Foundation to help children in underserved communities access the arts.

Perry, who was raised by strict Pentecostal parents, shared the struggles she faced as a child.

"You want to talk about food stamps? I can talk about food stamps. You want to talk about food banks? I can talk about food banks. You want to talk about busking in the street as a teenager, hoping to make $20 to cover yourself, I can talk about that too," said Perry.

Speaking about Perry's journey to her successful career in music, Lerche said, "A lot of times it's reminding them that we didn't come from anything either."

"[Katy] wasn't born into some musical family that had all this access. She worked so hard for so many years to get to be where she is," she added, according to People.

Katy Perry wants to support young people throughout their educational journey

The foundation has hosted more than 400 middle schoolers to Camp Firework over the past few years. The project aims to help children from underserved areas surrounding Los Angeles, California, to be able to participate in shoe-designing workshops, songwriting sessions, and choreography classes.

"I'm up with them in the morning, and they're throwing whipped cream on me in the evening," Perry said of the camp.

"The kids know me as the girl that sang 'Roar' or 'Dark Horse,' but I hope [by the end] they [think], 'I too can live out my dreams like Katy Perry. She's just like me, in a lot of goofy ways,'" she added.

Children participating in the camp are also encouraged to implement what they have learned from mental health tools like Transcendental Meditation in their life.

"We [want to] support these young people throughout their whole education journey," said the singer.

Witnessing the growth in the campers, Lerche said working on the foundation has been an emotional experience, and calls her time working along with her sister a "dream."

"I'm just so grateful. It's so overwhelming because you hear so many stories from these kids, and what it's like back home and what they're dealing with," said Lerche.

"They give so much to us, and I'm just grateful that we're able to show them that there is something better out there," she added, and Perry added, "If in a hundred years nobody knows Katy Perry or the song 'Firework,' but they know what the Firework Foundation is, then I'll have fulfilled my purpose."