Making a Difference
After a long drive past orange groves, cow pastures, strip plazas, and a few scattered homes and planned communities, Nick and his mom pulled up to the Collins’ foster homes in the Ferrari. Nick was driving and his mom was by his side with a pillow wedged between her body and the seat belt, so that it wouldn’t rub too hard against her sore ribs. They circled around the property along a road before entering the parking lot and choosing a parking space a short walking distance from the front door of the main facility.
The main facility was a large, freshly painted crème-colored home with rust-colored shutters and matching flower pots under the windows. It could be distinguished as the main facility by the sign that hung over the double doors, “Collins’ Home.” Its appearance matched the other homes on the wooded property, which were neatly organized along a circular road. As Nick walked up, he looked off to his right where he saw a large pond and a couple of young boys fishing. Beyond that, he noticed basketball courts and tennis courts, which were also occupied by boys and girls, along with a few older staff persons.
“Nice-looking homes,” Nick said as he noticed that each of the two story homes was freshly painted and featured colorful flower beds and freshly mowed, healthy green grass. The windows appeared sparkling clean and everything looked very new.
“Definitely. This looks like a good environment for kids. Look at the playground over there,” she said as she pointed to a large playground, with swings, slides, and climbing stations to the left of the main facility. The swings and slides were green, while the frame of the playground appeared to be a brown-colored artificial wood. It all blended into the natural wooded environment well.
“Nice.”
They walked through the front doors and greeted a receptionist.
“We have an appointment with the board. Nick and Catherine O’Brien.”
“Nice to meet you, Nick and Catherine,” an older Hispanic-looking woman replied. “They’re waiting for you just down the hallway and to the right. The Conference Room.”
“Thank you,” Nick said as they walked to the Conference Room. There they found eight board members, who all stood up to greet them. The one at the head of the mahogany-colored rectangular conference table greeted them first.
“Greetings! My name is Joan Landers. I’m serving as the chair of the board right now, in place of our founder Barbara Collins on an interim basis. These are our other board members, who each voluntarily serve three-year terms: Brian Cummings, Michael Richter, Janet Riley, Bob Chang, Ed Saltieri, Tyrell Perez, and Damien Dominguez.
“Nice to meet you,” Nick said as he went around the table and gave each a hearty handshake. He observed that they represented varying demographic groups, which he determined would pair well with the varying demographics of the children’s population in the home. He further observed that all were wearing suits. He was happy he dressed the part.
He noticed a framed picture of Jesus on the wall, which was the same one he’d seen before that had been painted by the child prodigy Akiane. Next to that picture was another picture of Jesus. This time he was kneeling down in front of a group of small children. A verse below read, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these (Matthew 19:14).”
His mom said, “I’d love to go around the table and shake all of your hands, but I’m recovering from a car accident. Please excuse me as I sit down.” She pulled out an empty seat from the middle of the table and sat down.
“No problem, Catherine. We will pray for your speedy recovery,” Joan said. “Everyone, please sit down.” The group moved around the table and took their seats. Nick sat by his mom’s side.
Joan turned to Catherine and Nick and said, “Thank you so much for visiting us in the Collins’ Foster Home. We’re proud of our Christ-inspired mission and vision and all that we do to serve the Lord and our children. We’re also honored that you’re here with us today. What brings you two here?”
“We’re well aware of Barbara Collins’ legacy and would like to offer our assistance in achieving your fine mission. Please tell us more about the home,” Catherine said.
“Wonderful! Well, our mission statement is simply to ‘Provide secure, safe, therapeutic, and loving homes for abused, abandoned, and neglected children.’ We currently have the facilities to provide care and shelter for eighty children at once. We’re blessed with a good number of volunteers who help us in our efforts, along with a handful of full- and part-time paid staff members who live here. We further have counseling, nursing, and therapeutic people and facilities, since our children have endured a variety of difficult physical and mental abuses and/or conditions. We partner with a variety of children’s organizations, hospitals, churches, nonprofits, and local and state governmental organizations.”
“Our location is ideal. We’re situated on fifteen acres of property and have the option to purchase an additional twelve acres of adjacent land if we secure the funding and the plans for additional home sites. We’re further zoned for the “A” rated public elementary, middle, and high schools, so our children can attend those free of charge. They’re bused a short distance to those schools during the school year. Those with disabilities that extend beyond those serviced in the public schools are provided schooling in the highest rated special education programs in the county. We also take advantage of other free county services offered by the parks and recreation departments to expand our children’s visibility in the community and to engage them further in the community.”
“We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, yet we have dreams to achieve more. We estimate that there are around a thousand children currently living in foster care homes in our county as a result of abuse, so there is still much work to do to help these children. Many move frequently between foster homes and never find a permanent place to consider home. Many end up frustrated and homeless once they are taken out of the homes when they turn eighteen. We want to provide our children with a sense of permanence and security, so they need not worry about rejection, further abuse, or the challenges associated with parental frustrations and bleak futures.”
“Education provides a future for our children, so we do all we can to ensure that they end up in either college or in vocational schools, depending on their skill sets. We have relationships with several of the state and private universities, along with a large number of vocational schools, and we offer assistance in completing scholarship applications and related applications to ensure that our children take those paths. We don’t want our students to miss any of the educational opportunities that may be available to them and to take wayward paths. We further should note that we have relationships with college recruiters and high school counselors for the purposes of ensuring successful futures for our students. We have an extremely high success rate and many of our so-called graduates end up returning and volunteering in our facility.”
Nick said, “Great work! So, in a perfect world, you’d be able to offer safe and secure homes to the additional thousand children in the county, right? Your mission gap is a thousand?” He waited for an answer from Joan, who was wearing a grey pinstripe pantsuit with a crisp white button down shirt. Her dark skin and short, curly black hair gently blended with her outfit and projected warmth, while her bright white smile and the whites of her deep brown eyes both contrasted and merged with her outfit.
“In a perfect world, no children would need our services. What a shame that we don’t live in a perfect world. In our imperfect world, our mission gap is a bit smaller. Some of the thousand have been well-placed in the well-functioning foster homes and some are nearing adulthood, while others get adopted, particularly those under five years of age. We estimate that there are three hundred children we could help if we had the means and the facilities. We consider ourselves a “best kept secret” and we’re always working on ways to get the word out. There are many people in our county who’d be glad to help us out, if they knew we existed. We need better public relations and a strong social media campaign.”
Nick looked at his mom, who was taking notes on her tablet. She said, “So, the five homes each provide shelter for sixteen children?”
“Yes, each home features eight bedrooms, double occupancy. We’ve considered triple occupancy, but we feel that a larger occupancy would make socialization more difficult for our already challenged children. When there are three, one is often left out.”
“To shelter an additional three hundred, you’d need a hundred and fifty bedrooms of double occupancy. If each home provided ten bedrooms, an additional fifteen homes could satisfy those needs, right?”
“Ten bedrooms could be difficult. The homes would need to be redesigned and we’d have to add another staff member for each home,” Joan said. She pulled out an income statement and a balance sheet, which documented all of the financials associated with running the foster home.
Catherine took the paperwork and placed it down in front of her on the table. “Let me take a moment to study the numbers. You can continue the conversation as I’ll keep my ears tuned in.”
Damien said, “Well, let me just say that we appreciate your interest in Collins. This place is so rewarding. I started here as a volunteer and made my way onto the board. I find giving and serving so much more rewarding than receiving and taking.”
“Amen to that,” Janet added.
Michael added, “We do the best that we can to ensure that our children make a positive difference in this world, and making a difference in their lives makes a difference in our lives. Whew. Lots of differences and here we’re all working together.”
Nick chuckled. He’d responded to each of them with a nod of approval as his mom continued with her review of the numbers.
She looked up. “These numbers seem reasonable and in line with my expectations of a facility of this type. I’ve been studying your organization for a short while and am interested in your mission. I love what you’re doing for the children.”
Joan added, “Children are our future and the future of our world is in their hands. Aside from providing them with a safe and secure environment, we try to do what we can here at Collins to guide their future paths by instilling Christian values and identifying and utilizing their callings and gifts. Our late founder Barbara was all about identifying their spiritual gifts and blessings to help them develop their futures.”
“I applaud your work and the work of your founder, Barbara Collins,” Catherine said. “I had the great privilege of listening to her when she served as the key note presenter at the Orange Bay Annual Women’s Luncheon a couple of months ago.” She looked at Nick and grabbed his hand. “Nick and I would like to provide some of the funding that you need for an expansion. What we can’t fund, we’ll raise. I have numerous connections in the region who would be happy to contribute to this excellent cause.”
“Wow!” Janet exclaimed. “That’s wonderful news.”
The board members glanced around the table as they nodded their heads with wide smiles before looking back at Catherine and Nick. Joan offered a hearty “God bless you two and God bless the children! You’ve answered our prayers.” She paused and said with a slight chuckle, “Perhaps Barbara is up there by his side cheering us on too.”
“God inspired us to be here and we’re so glad to have this opportunity,” Nick said in a serious tone.
Catherine said, “Can we take this list of expenses and any architectural plans you’ve drawn up for the current homes or for additional homes to our people? We’d like to iron out some specifics and numbers in the next couple of days. And I’ll need to make some calls to a few of my friends from the Chamber and Fox ‘n Fields. Would you be willing to meet again on Thursday?”
“Absolutely.”
“Excellent. We’ll see you then,” Catherine said. “It was a great pleasure meeting with all of you.”
“Likewise,” Joan replied.
“Yes, we’re honored indeed,” Damien said.
She and Nick got up, shook hands, and walked out. Nick could feel the excitement in the room as he exited and walked down the hallway with his mom to the front door. Feeling a mix of passion and joy, he smiled. His mom was smiling too, seeming truly happy.
“Giving is always superior to receiving,” he said.
“Definitely.”