Children are the future of our communities and church—the future of this world. Unfortunately, our fallen nature can produce broken situations where families fall apart and so many children are placed into the foster care system. I want to bring love and hope to these children and push them upward to a bright future.

Maybe there is some way to support the needs of foster children and families in Oklahoma. After talking with the Foundation, I learned about the Circle of Care. I have a large acreage that I won’t use, and they explained how I can gift the property to the Foundation, and the proceeds of the sale can be used to start an endowment with my church to support foster families.

Vera Mae Eversole was a quaint woman with a huge heart—and a large amount of land. She had inherited the property and wanted to gift some of it to the First United Methodist Church in Alva. She also cared deeply for the needs of children. Through her gift and direction, an endowment was formed at the Foundation.

Circle of Care’s “Legacy of Care” campaign seeks to establish 8 homes across Oklahoma as large sibling-set homes for foster families. Because siblings in foster care are often separated for placement, these homes will be places of hope for siblings to stay together.

Circle of Care and Alva FUMC worked together to begin addressing this need. After organizing a team to prayerfully work through the vision for the project, the Vera Mae Home was born. The church community was inspired by the initial gift from Vera Mae, and together, they quickly raised another $150,000 so construction could begin.

Over the next 9 months, the project quickly progressed. The Alva community also was a part of landscaping and decoration efforts. After a few short weeks, a host family moved in and there are children being surrounded by love in a home—together.