Foster Hope - Quad Cities Area

06/16/2026

🎶🇺🇸 Join Foster Hope in the Geneseo Music Festival Parade! 🇺🇸🎶

We are looking for foster/adoptive families, supporters, friends, and volunteers to walk along with our float this Sunday, June 21st at 1:00 PM! ❤️

Come be part of the fun as we celebrate community, family, and the amazing families we support. We’ll be walking from the Geneseo Middle School lineup into Geneseo City Park, passing out necklaces and candy along the way! 🍬📿

Strollers and wagons are welcome — bring the whole family! 🇺🇸

If you’d like to walk with us, please comment below or send me a message for more information. We’d love to have you join our Foster Hope parade family! Please wear red, white, and/or blue!

06/15/2026

What a beautiful day the Lord blessed us with for Foster Hope’s Try-A-Kayak event! ☀️🛶❤️

We are so thankful for the amazing turnout, the laughter, the smiles, and the many happy children and families who came out to enjoy God’s beautiful creation. There was kayaking, fishing, giant bubbles, ice cream sundaes, face painting, and so many memories made!

A huge thank you to Tim Eastman for providing the kayaks for us each year and making this event possible. We are so grateful for Legacy Dogs - Quad Cities for bringing their furry companions to provide comfort, joy, and lots of smiles. Thank you to Carmen Rahn for the amazing face painting and to all of our volunteers who helped make the day run smoothly!

We are so thankful to Geneseo Fareway Stores for donating our hot dog lunch and ice cream! A heartfelt thanks to all of the incredible volunteers from the Geneseo Izaak Walton League who helped bait hooks, teach the kids, and cheer them on as they went fishing. There were fish caught, kayaks paddled, and memories made! 🎣

Most importantly, thank you Lord for blessing us with a perfect day and allowing Foster Hope to be the hands and feet of Jesus by loving on foster families and children in our community. ❤️

Thank you to all of our sponsors, supporters, and volunteers who continue to make events like this possible. We are beyond grateful for each of you!

“Every good and perfect gift is from above…” — James 1:17

06/11/2026

Because of the generosity of our amazing supporters, Foster Hope was recently able to help a young teen mom get established in an apartment of her own. We were blessed to provide household essentials along with infant items to help her create a safe and welcoming home for her little one.

Moments like these remind us that even simple acts of kindness can make a lasting difference. When a young parent is given support, encouragement, and practical resources, it can help lay the foundation for a brighter future.

Thank you to everyone who donates, volunteers, prays, and supports the mission of Foster Hope. Your generosity allows us to come alongside vulnerable families and share the love of Christ in tangible ways.

"Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." — 1 John 3:18

We are grateful for every opportunity God provides to be His hands and feet, serving others and sharing hope one family at a time.

Together, we are making a difference. ❤️

05/16/2026

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all of our amazing sponsors and supporters who helped make Foster Hope’s Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner such a special and memorable evening as we celebrated National Foster Parent Month! ❤️

This year’s event was extra meaningful as Foster Hope is also celebrating our 10th Anniversary of supporting foster families and children in our community. Because of your generosity and support, we were able to honor 52 local foster parents with a beautiful evening aboard the Celebration Belle Dinner Cruise on the Mississippi River. 🛳 🌅

Our foster parents enjoyed a relaxing night filled with dinner, dancing, music, laughter, door prizes, and breathtaking sunset views along the river. We were also honored to have our friend, Shaun Easton, provide wonderful entertainment for the evening. 🎼💃

Foster parents give so much of themselves every single day, often behind the scenes, opening their homes and hearts to children in need. It is our sincere hope that each and every one of them felt honored, appreciated, celebrated, and loved during this special evening.

Thank you for helping us recognize these incredible families and for standing beside Foster Hope as we continue our mission of supporting foster families for the past 10 years and beyond. We truly could not do this without our community and blessings from the Lord! 🙏💜

05/13/2026

Let us strive to become a people who sincerely ask this question, "How are the children?" 🙏❤️

Yesterday I sat in a mental health symposium listening to Steve Pemberton speak, and he shared something I cannot stop thinking about.

He talked about the Maasai people, a tribe in East Africa known for their deep sense of community, family, and tradition, and how they traditionally greet one another.

Not with “hello.”
Not with “how are you?”
Not with questions about work, money, politics, success, or status.

They ask:
“How are the children?”

Not your children.
Not just their children.
All children.

And honestly… something about that settled deep in my heart.

Because what if that was the way we measured the health of a society?

Not by wealth.
Not by influence.
Not by how polished everything looks online.

But by the condition of our children.

Are they safe?
Are they fed?
Are they protected?
Are they emotionally okay?
Do they feel loved?
Do they feel wanted?
Do they have someone fighting for them?
Do they go to bed afraid?
Do they carry trauma in little bodies that were never meant to hold that much pain?

How are the children?

The foster child who wonders if this placement will last.
The teenager silently drowning in depression while adults call it “attitude.”
The child who learned not to cry because nobody came anyway.
The adopted child carrying both love and grief in the same heart.
The little boy labeled “bad” when he’s actually heartbroken.
The baby born already suffering from withdrawal.
The child sitting in a classroom praying someone notices they are not okay.

How are the children?

Because if the children are not well…
then what are we actually doing?

I think somewhere along the way, we stopped seeing children as the heartbeat of a community and started treating them like someone else’s responsibility.

But children were never supposed to be invisible.
Their pain was never supposed to be ignored.
Their safety was never supposed to be optional.

And maybe that’s why this touched me so deeply.

Because I want to live in a world where adults ask that question again.
Not casually.
Not performatively.
But genuinely.

How are the children?

And if the answer is “not well,” may we be the kind of people who refuse to look away.

05/10/2026

Today, we honor all the mothers out there, especially the ones who answered the calling to step into the role as "second" mothers! 🫂🙏❤️

05/07/2026

This was such a wonderful experience for our kiddos! ❤️