Our Mission: Our purpose is to give kids entering the foster care system peace and comfort in such an uncertain situation. We have created this ministry with the intention of helping kids adjust to a new home by giving them a sense of ownership through having items they can call their own when in a new environment. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, “On September 30, 2019, there were an estimated 423,997 children in foster care,” (Foster Care Statistics 2019 2).
Overview: The idea of Courage Bags was originally thought up by a member of our church, Cindy Stone. Upon hearing of how many kids are going into the foster care system, and the number that keeps growing, she thought of creating something that each child could take with them to a new home. Each Courage Bag contains a toothbrush, toothpaste, flashlight, blanket, a stuffed animal made by Margaret Steinacker, and a coloring book/journal with a coloring/writing utensil. Along with the bag comes a pair of pajamas according to the child’s size. When the children are removed from a home, they often have nothing but a few items. When a child receives a Courage Bag, not only do they gain a sense of pride in having something they can call their own, but it also helps foster parents upon the child/children’s arrival. Our hope with this idea is to spread Christ’s love through being the hands and feet as well as helping the community we are in. And through doing this, we hope to make a child’s day one bag at a time. Once we fill each bag, it is then taken to the Department of Child Service (DCS) offices of the 3 counties we currently serve where a child/children’s case worker will pick it up for the child/children.
Important Information: If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Courage Bags fund of The Cross, please make a check out to the cross and put DCS-Jaylynn Hall on the memo line, or you can send cash in with Courage Bags as the designated fund to which you would like your money to go. If you would like to donate items for the bags, please see the list below this paragraph. We do ask that items be new. Thank you so much for your donations and taking the time to care for those going through a difficult time!
Items Needed:
- Pajamas (Ages 0-18, Male/Female)
- Coloring Books
- Journals
- Pens/Crayons
- Toothpaste/Toothbrush
- Blankets
- Backpacks
List of Our Sponsors (Thank You for Your Support):
- Bane-Welker Equipment
- Beacon Credit Union
- Beyond Hair
- Clay’s Flooring and Interior
- Flirt Boutique
- Frain Mortuary, Inc.
- Frounfelter Family Dentistry
- Fulton County REMC
- Goble Heal Chiropractic
- Good Oil Company, Inc
- Headlines
- Holland’s Deer Processing
- ISIS Movie Theater
- Jennifer Gudas Eye Care
- Keller Advisory Group, Inc.
- Matt Rausch Trucking
- Midwest Eye Consultants
- Murray Law
- Murray Leasing, LLC
- Mustangs to Fear
- Rochester Dental Center
- Rochester Rotational Molding, Inc.
- Rochester Super 8 and Comfort Inn
- Rosenbaum Photography
- Sycamore Marketing, Inc.
- The Colts
- The Smith Sawyer Smith Agency
- Truck Stylin’ and Collision
- Vander Haag’s, Inc.
- Verizon Wireless
- VFW Post 1728
- Webb’s Pharmacy
If you would like more information regarding foster care and/or statistics, please refer to these sources: