Fostering Hope for Children Inc.

08/05/2026

Good morning! Here are current needs this week! We are in need of boys socks and underwear. Yesterday we passed out 147 pairs of underwear 👀 Check out our Amazon wishlist for a complete list of needs. Any and all donations are a blessing.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/TOOTZCI260LU?ref_=wl_share@

08/02/2026

“What does Fostering Hope do throughout the year?”

Fostering Hope for Children operates a children’s clothing closet that provides essential items to children entering foster care, kinship care, and families experiencing hardship. We provide clothing, shoes, socks, underwear, pajamas, school supplies, hygiene kits, blankets, stuffed animals, and toys to help children feel cared for during difficult times.

“How are you able to accomplish all of that?”

Every Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., we collect new and gently used donations from our community. Our dedicated volunteers sort donations, create complete outfits, and pack bags tailored to each child’s needs. As a volunteer-run nonprofit organization, everything we do is made possible through the generosity of our volunteers, donors, and community supporters.

“How do you know each child’s needs, and how do you reach them?”

We partner with a variety of agencies throughout Allen County and Northeast Indiana. Caseworkers identify each child’s specific needs and submit a clothing request through our website. Once a request is received, our volunteers carefully select clothing and other essential items from our inventory—made possible through generous donations from our community—to create personalized outfits and care packages for each individual child. Every outfit is thoughtfully assembled for one specific child because we believe every child deserves to feel seen, valued, and cared for. Once the request is complete, the caseworker picks it up and delivers it directly to the child, ensuring they receive the items they need as quickly as possible.

“How many children has Fostering Hope for Children served?”

Over the past 12 months, we have served 455 children by providing essential items that bring comfort, dignity, and hope during times of transition.

“How can we help?”

There are many ways to make a difference. Check our page each week to see our most-needed items, donate new or gently used children’s items, join our team of volunteers, or become a monthly financial supporter. Every donation, every hour volunteered, and every financial gift helps ensure a child has the essentials they need when they need them most. Together, we can give children not only the items they need, but also the reassurance that their community cares.

DONATE HERE
Website: https://fhforc.com

07/29/2026

🍎👕 Help Us Fill Our Shelves & Support Local Children! Many of you have asked what we need so every Wednesday we will post our current needs. All donations are appreciated.

Every child deserves to feel confident, prepared, and cared for. Right now, Fostering Hope for Children is in need of donations to help children in foster care and families facing difficult circumstances.

We are currently collecting:
👕 Children’s clothing: boys size 3, girls sizes 3 & 5 and adult men’s small
🧦 New socks: Girls size medium
🩲 New underwear: Boys size 6,8,10 & 12
🎒 School supplies

Your donations make a direct impact by helping children head to school with confidence and ensuring they have the everyday essentials they need.

Donations can be dropped off at 3506 Stellhorn Rd. College Park Offices, Fort Wayne IN on Tuesdays from 9:00-2:30.

Thank you for helping us bring hope, dignity, and encouragement to children in our community. ❤️

Please like and share this post to help us reach more generous supporters!

07/01/2026

Lorraine Hood designed these coloring books and donated a bunch to Fostering Hope! Thank you Lorraine!

Here is a link to one of the books: https://a.co/d/07WwvLVZ

06/20/2026

People say, “At least you got them at birth.” As if that somehow means they came without trauma. As if being there soon after the first breath erased every loss that came before or after.

But that’s not how it works.

One of the biggest myths in foster care and adoption is the idea of the “clean slate.” Children are not blank slates. They are human beings with stories that began long before we entered them. Even babies experience loss. Even newborns carry experiences their bodies remember, even if their minds never will.

I think sometimes people assume that if a child is placed early enough, love will prevent every struggle. I wish it were that simple. Love matters. Safety matters. Stability matters. But none of those things erase what happened before.

I’ve watched children who were loved from the very beginning still wrestle with fear, grief, anxiety, and questions they couldn’t put into words. I’ve seen loss show up in behaviors that didn’t make sense on the surface. I’ve seen children test the very people they love most, not because they want to push them away, but because they’re trying to figure out if those people will stay.

That’s the part people don’t always understand.

Love is not a cure for trauma.

Love is the willingness to walk through it with them.

It’s showing up again and again when the answers aren’t clear. It’s staying present when the behaviors are hard. It’s sitting with the questions that don’t have easy explanations. It’s loving a child enough to acknowledge that something was lost, even while building something beautiful in its place.

Foster care and adoption are not stories about children being rescued from their past. They are stories about children learning they don’t have to carry that past alone.

And sometimes the most powerful thing we can give them isn’t an explanation or a solution.

Sometimes it’s simply our presence.

Day after day.

Year after year.

No matter what.

04/27/2026

A super simple way to support Fostering Hope is by linking your Kroger card to our organization! A small portion of each purchase will go to us!

To Use the Kroger Community Rewards Program:

Visit http://www.kroger.com. Once logged into your Kroger account they can search for FOSTERING HOPE FOR CHILDREN INC either by name or RY881 and then click Enroll. New users will need to create an account which requires some basic information, a valid email address and a rewards card.

*Customers must have a registered Kroger rewards card account to link to your organization.

*If a member does not yet have a Kroger rewards card, please let them know they are available at the customer service desk at any Kroger

04/27/2026

https://www.facebook.com/100064191210269/posts/1338846058265089/

The Church loves orphans… just not the ones in foster care.

That sentence makes me uncomfortable.

But maybe it should.

Because if we are being honest… there is some truth sitting in it.

We love orphans when they are far away.
When they are easy to picture.
When their stories feel inspiring instead of complicated.

We will sponsor a child across the world
before we bring a meal to a foster family down the street.

We will cry during a sermon about adoption
but hesitate to step into the real, raw, unpredictable world of foster care.

We will share Scripture about defending the fatherless
while there are children in our own cities sleeping in offices, in group homes, in places that were never meant to hold a child.

And I am not saying this to shame anyone.

I am saying it because it matters.

Because somewhere along the way, we started loving the idea of caring for vulnerable children…
more than actually doing it.

We love the stories that wrap up nicely.
The testimonies that make us feel good.
The before and after moments.

But foster care does not usually look like that.

It is messy.
It is unpredictable.
It will stretch you in ways you did not expect.

It is children who do not know how to receive love yet.
It is behaviors that come from pain, not disobedience.
It is biological families that are complicated and broken and still worthy of prayer.

It is courtrooms and case plans and long nights and hard goodbyes.

It is not comfortable.

And because it is not comfortable… we call it someone else’s calling.

But here is the tension we cannot ignore.

James 1:27 does not say, “If you feel called.”
It says to care for the fatherless in their distress.

That is not just a suggestion.
That is a command.

And no, that does not mean everyone is meant to foster.

But it does mean everyone is meant to do something.

Because if the Church does not step in… who will?

Who is going to show up for the child who has been moved again… and again… and again?

Who is going to sit with the foster mom who is holding it together for everyone else… but is falling apart inside?

Who is going to make space for the teenager who has never been invited, never felt wanted, never believed they belonged anywhere?

We cannot keep saying we care…
and then look away when it costs us something.

Jesus never called us to comfortable compassion.

He stepped into the mess.
He drew near to the broken.
He loved people who were hard to love.

And then He said,
“Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.”

So Church… this is a call back to what matters.

Not just talking about it.
Not just posting about it.
Not just feeling something for a moment.

Living it.

Right here.
Right now.
In the middle of the hard, the messy, the unseen.

Because these kids are not just a cause.

They are people.

And they are worth more than our comfort.

04/23/2026

Current Needs:

3T boys summer shorts and tops
Size 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 boys shorts
2T boys shorts and tops
Girls 10,12, 14, 16 and 18 shorts and tops

We can always use diapers & wipes as those go quickly!

04/04/2026

Thank you 21Alive for sharing our story and the update! It’s been an amazing few weeks!

Fostering Hope for Children was $12,000 behind on rent and facing closure.

REPORT: https://www.21alivenews.com/2026/04/03/donations-save-fort-wayne-foster-care-charity-closure/

04/04/2026

Now that we do not have to move, at least until the end of the year, we are able to continue taking donations of physical items! Here is the list of what we are currently low on:

• Blankets for babies and older kids
• Winter clothes for boys sizes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
• Girls 12 months winter, 18 months, 2T, size 12
• Baby wipes, size 5 and 6 diapers
• Baby lotion and baby wash
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Children’s shampoo
• Pajamas, all sizes
• Men’s medium and Large summer athletic wear

If you have donations, we are open Tuesdays from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. You can also drop off at a volunteer‘s house Southwest area anytime between now and next Tuesday.

Thank you for continuing to support children in our local community through your donations.