SIKESTON, Mo. -- The city of Sikeston will soon add a facility to help caseworkers and house children going through the foster program, thanks to a large donation and local organization.
Spread Hope Now has purchased a home, called the Journey House, to help foster children and give them a place to sleep when they have no place to go at the time while their caseworker finds a home for them.
Spread Hope Now Director Mari Ann Moyers said to their board, “We already have a non-profit in Spread Hope Now, so we started praying about renting something so we could do this sooner rather than later."
So the board decided to help look for a place to rent, however, they received a call stating someone was making a very large donation towards getting a home for this cause.
“I don’t know how they heard about it, but it was miraculous,� Moyers said. “It would enable us to buy a small house.�
They later were able to find a home to buy and closed on it last week.
“They sold us the house and we received donations to pay for the entire thing,� Moyers said. “We took cash to closing, not because Spread Hope Now has that money, but because somebody on the outside saw in in their heart to do that.�
After some remodeling, the house should be up and running within the next three months. They are working with the state to get final approval before it becomes operational.
�(The state) is excited about it,� Moyers said. “We’re working closely with Children’s Division and the support this provides them is going to be a gamechanger.�
The home is called the Journey House, named after one of the children which were in foster care.
“We felt like that was a really fit name,� Moyers said. “We are not a destination, but we want to be part of the journey and we want to be a really good part of their journey.�
Because of this new house, caseworkers will then be able to have the help of volunteers taking care of the kids while they make calls in trying to find them a place.
“Volunteers will be required to have a thorough background check and they will come in and cook, and give kids baths, read to them, rock them, tuck them in and all those things so that caseworkers can go into the office that’s in the house and make calls without the child hearing them,� Moyers said. “It is traumatic to call five or six people in the family and the children hear them say ‘no, we don’t want them. We can’t take them.’�
Police will also be able to enter and exit in from a separate entrance so the children don’t see them.
“The main goal is to ease trauma for kids going into care and start them with new clothes and love and security and the second goal is to make it easier for caseworkers,� Moyers said. “We know their job is hard. They are feeding kids out of their own pockets in an office. It’s just an impossible situation while working.�
Spread Hope Now will be needing volunteers for the Journey House. Donations are also welcome.
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