This isn' t about you

EASLEY – More than 90 families signed up to open their homes to foster children after a coalition of Pickens County faith-based groups called on churches to step up and eliminate the shortage of foster homes in the county, organizers of the program said.
The Greenville News reported earlier this month that Pickens County had more than 120 children in foster care but only 40 foster homes, and that the Dream Center of Pickens County, a faith-based nonprofit in Easley, would host to a program called Fostering Hope on May 12 to encourage people of faith to address the problem.

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"The results of the Fostering Hope event were nothing less than miraculous," organizers said in a statement released Friday.
"The question has always been, do people not want to foster or are they unaware of the need?" Dan Bracken, one of the organizers said. "Tuesday's event proved we lacked awareness."
"This event clearly demonstrated that when we pull these children out of the nooks and crannies and give them a voice, people respond," he said. "The key to addressing this problem around the state and country is exposing the need, articulating a clear message, and calling on people to respond."
In addition to 90 families applying to become licensed foster homes, another 75 started the process of learning more about it to consider making the commitment, organizers said.
Another 52 signed up to become mentors to foster children, and others volunteered for the Guardian Ad Litem program, which gives abused and neglected children support as they go through the court system, they said.
"We believed from day one that the collective church body in Pickens County would respond," Chris Wilson, executive director of the Dream Center said. "Tuesday we saw the power of the church when we unite as one body."
Children donated their time to clean bathrooms in preparation for the event. One church paid for a billboard to advertise it. Another church provided refreshments, she said.
"We saw pastors exhibit servant leadership by working behind the scenes in the parking lot," she said.
More than 75 churches participated in the event, Wilson said.
"We are excited to see what comes next," she said. "We know our work is not done and we have shifted our focus towards getting these families licensed."
Charlie Crumpton, an event organizer and adoptive father of a former foster child whose family was featured in the article by The News, said he thinks the article played a large role in motivating nearly 500 people to come out to the event.
"It was a huge success," he said.
He also praised the Dream Center's work over the past three years, saying it "plowed the soil to create the conditions where churches could unite and work together."