Answering the call – Amarillo ministry provides resources for fostering families

By Abby Hopkins

A young, single woman decided last year to answer a calling on her heart she felt since a young age. She decided to become a foster parent. This “yes” brought four placements and many struggles over the course of eight short months. To ease the stresses and anxieties, Fostering Hope in Amarillo provided for Shelby’s needs.

Fostering Hope is a Texas Baptist Hunger Offering supported ministry that seeks to serve children, families, and foster care agencies by supporting and equipping them to better adjust to new placements and fostering hardships.

“Hunger Offering funds help meet the basic needs of the children who have been taken from their homes and the families who have been enlisted to provide for them,” said Trevor Brown, associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Amarillo. Fostering Hope is a ministry of First Baptist.

The church hosted a lunch more than three years ago with the purpose of engaging those who may be interested in foster care and adoption. David and Sydney Rieff, members of the church, felt a call to partner in the work, not through fostering themselves, but by equipping those who do. They launched Fostering Hope for this purpose.

When an agency goes out to place a child with a foster family, Brown said it usually happens quickly and unexpectedly, and the families are not always equipped. Fostering Hope’s Care Closet has everything the family may need, including furniture, clothes, toys, diapers, and more.

Additionally, Brown said one of the biggest impacts Fostering Hope has is providing immediate meals for the families, which is where the Hunger Offering funds come in.

“It’s inspiring to see the gospel come alive in the midst of our church as people from our church and community are the hands and feet of Jesus to the most vulnerable in our midst,” Brown said.

Providing for these basic needs has allowed the ministry to expand and care for its community on multiple levels.

“It’s neat to see the way God brought needs in front of us that we didn’t know existed,” Brown said.

Instead of backing away when God has called them to more, Brown said volunteers are passionate about engaging in whatever way they see fit.

“We see our volunteers constantly walking into homes full of brokenness and neglect and abuse and hunger, and they’re able to provide for needs and be the love of Jesus in the midst of some of the most challenging circumstances people can face in life,” Brown said.

The Texas Baptist Hunger Offering supports ministries like Fostering Hope around the world by providing funds for hunger relief and development programs. To give, click here.