This week we launched our ministry to foster children in Osage County. Many years ago we had a church member, Bill Waller, who was a case worker for foster care in Osage County. He lamented that Tulsa County had all these large churches who helped out at Christmas but Osage County was very poor and didn’t have the resources that the local students had access to for Christmas. That was the catalyst for this ministry that has been provided for thirty two years. Every child in the system in Osage County is provided Christmas by our church.
The number of students that we have helped each year has fluctuated from about one hundred and thirty to as low as sixty eight. These numbers are determined by the number of students who are at risk in Osage County. If you do simple averages, that means we have provided for about 100 children each year. And over the course of thirty two years that is 3,200 children. (This ministry is in addition to the work that we do with Care Portal all year providing for children at risk in Tulsa County. ) The cost of buying gifts has gone up every year and so if we do the same simple math of averaging about $100 per child that adds up quickly to $320,000 worth of toys given to children who have so little. Often the gifts that they receive from our church are the only gifts that they get all year.
As costs continued to rise, we realized that not everyone could sponsor a child but if they wanted to help then they could donate to the purchasing of gifts. Every dollar can make a difference in helping provide for these kids. Shop-A-Thon was created to use the donated money to purchase toys for the children. Volunteers of every age go to Wal-Mart and shop for the kids. The store even opens a check-out lane just for Faith to process all the toys! This year the director has asked us to spend no more than one hundred and seventy five dollars per student. This sounds like a very large number but I bet most of our kids receive gifts at a greater amount than this each year. These gifts are to be unwrapped and must be returned by Dec. 6th to be distributed to the families before Christmas. You can click here to sign up or to donate.
Let’s make Christmas a real blessing for these lovely neighboring children,
