On Sunday, thousands of kids in Kentucky went to bed without a family of their own. They've been forced into foster care, and many have lost hope!
But there is a new push to find "forever" families for hundreds of orphans by putting Christians on call. This statewide program kicked off on Sunday at an eastern Kentucky church!
They may look like normal children, but they've had anything but normal lives forced into foster care.
“These children came into care due to no fault of their own,” said Lee Ann Gollihue, founder of “For Jamie’s Sake.” “They were abused and neglected and they just need to be loved."
Lee Ann Gollihue has been crusading for the kids since 2004, when she started the non-profit "For Jamie's Sake.” Now, there’s a new mission.
“What we're shooting for, the 452 children, we want to go into 452 churches in 452 days,” said Gollihue. “And that's one family per church."
The goal of the faith-based initiative is to find a "forever family" for each of the 452 legal orphans in Kentucky.
Jeff Evans is the youth pastor at the Second Free Will Baptist Church in Ashland. He and his wife know the benefits of adoption firsthand through their daughter Emily!
“She's a second grader, and she's just a ton of fun,” said Tisha Evans. “She's got curly hair like me, and she thinks that's why God put us together, because of the curly hair. So we know she was meant for our family. Absolutely."
Organizers wanted to connect to the Christian community, because they say it's written in the Bible. James 1:27 calls on all Christians to help the orphans and those who can't help themselves.
The pastor of the church says followers already know what it's like to be adopted, because they've all been accepted into the family of God.
“We feel it's very important that Christians understand that they are adopted and understand their spiritual situation is exactly like these young people's physical situation,” said Evans.
They’re combining faith and family to help foster children across Kentucky.
If your church would like to be involved, you can contact the State Department of Community Based Services. And by the way, the Evans family is growing. They're expecting their second adopted child Nicholas very soon, and they recently learned Tisha is pregnant.