Nonprofit aims to connect 1,000 churches with Oklahoma foster families who need help

As some lanterns drifted in the pond and others flickered along the edge at nightfall, a Norman woman thought of a foster care mother in need of special baby formula for an infant, and an athletic teenager at a community living center who lacked basketball shoes.

Lesli Downs, a member of Christ Church in Norman, said she filled the needs of both people and she couldn't help but think of them during the recent One Day/One Night events hosted by the 111 Project. The activities held on Aug. 23 at Memorial Road Church of Christ were designed to bring churches together to help children in the state's foster care system.

One thousand lanterns made of tealights inside small white sacks were placed along the edge of the pond on the grounds of the church, 2221 E Memorial Road, to represent 1,000 churches and children in need of families, Chris Campbell, 111 Project executive director, said.

More: Website connects case workers to churches who want to help children, families in Oklahoma's child welfare system

For Downs, the lanterns featured at the One Night evening worship service were meaningful.

"It was very striking," she said.

"It gives you an idea of what the need is out there, and it puts a light to people, to churches, to an actual person. These are actual people behind those lanterns, doing a job and trying to fulfill the need."

What The 111 Project does, and how it helps children in foster care

The 111 Project is a nonprofit that helps churches find tangible ways to help children in foster care. Campbell said the goal of the agency's One Day Conference, included the One Night worship service, was three fold.

It gave churches across the state opportunities to connect with the 111 Project staff and other churches that are working to see that every child has family. The breakout sessions helped educate church members on a variety of topics like foster care support, how to engage their surrounding community and how to become part of the CarePortal, an online tool that connects churches to state Department of Human Services case workers who may share details about specific needs of children and families in the foster care system.

The recent conference was also created to bring together churches and other organizations providing services to foster families and children for a day of encouragement and inspiration as they continue serving vulnerable children and families.

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"We had about 250 folks here representing churches all over western Oklahoma, and they were all here as a part of our network to support foster and adoptive families, and they also are on our CarePortal platform serving families," Campbell said. "We have about 100 agency partners all across the state and a good chunk of them were here today."

Like Downs, he said the lanterns lighting up the night were moving symbols of the work that is being done to help families in crisis ― and the work yet to be done.

"We've set up 1,000 lanterns that represent our goal of a 1,000 church network in the state of Oklahoma," Campbell said. "What we believe is 1,000 churches that recruit and support one foster family and serve one family a month could actually provide the support that the state needs to care for kids and families in crisis."

Campbell said the lanterns included the names of churches that are partnering with the 111 Project, but they also represented that, "at any given time in Oklahoma County, there's about 1,000 children in foster care."

"So, it's a 'one church for one child' mission," he said. "We just believe we have enough churches in the state that there's a one to one ratio."

Downs said she is a deacon at her church and she began looking to the CarePortal to find ways to help foster families and foster children when she realized she didn't feel called to be a foster care parent or adopt a child. She said her church has families that are helping through foster care or adoption, but she has found meaning over the last few years by doing things to help fill specific foster care needs.

More: Church expands support for foster care families

To learn more

A One Day/One Night-Tulsa event will also be held on Sept. 12 at First Baptist Church of Jenks, for churches in the greater Tulsa area. For more information about the 111 Project and CarePortal, go to https://www.111project.org/ .

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Nonprofit aims to connect 1,000 churches with Oklahoma foster families who need help