A challenge to the community

TAMPA BAY – In an effort to find every child a home, One Church One Child of Florida challenges communities to seriously consider adopting or mentoring a child. Do you have room in your heart for a child or siblings in need of a family?

This is an urgent and important question that must be raised time and time again, but each time there is a different child or children. One Church One Child of Florida is reaching out to families and individuals in local communities across the state in efforts to help share the truth that the children pictured here and others like them are waiting for a permanent home and or mentor.

Daily, over 700 children are in need of a family to call their own, many of them are minorities.  Can you provide a loving, permanent home for these children or other children like them or consider becoming their mentors?

May is National Foster Care Month. Churches are asked to partner with One Church One Child in sharing information with congregations and extending Watch-Care Ministries to children.  Rev. Beverly Hills Lane, state president for One Church One Child of Florida and vice-president for National One Church One Child, is challenging fellow pastors to get involved and encouraging families to open their hearts and homes to children in foster care.

These series of articles feature children located in communities across the state; they have no family identified to adopt them. Will you take the challenge of opening your home and family to parenting them?

May’s child is highlighted in this article; he too deserves to have a family. Do pray sincerely for him and consider making him a part of your family through adoption or a part of your church through Project Watch-Care for support and mentoring.

Joshua, 11: Always game to try new things!

Joshua’s a sweet soul with a silly sense of humor. He’s wicked smart, does great in school — with all advanced classes — and can build amazing Lego creations from his imagination.

If he could have any superpower, he’d want to be able to change himself into an animal, specifically a cheetah so that in the event of an emergency, he could “carry all the babies on [his] back and run them to safety.”

This year Joshua learned that “everything is made out of atoms” and he hopes to one day be famous for his intelligence. With such an active, inquisitive mind, it does Joshua good to see new places and try new things. He’d like to be part of a family that’s on-the-go and involved in their community.

Despite all that Joshua has endured, he keeps a genuine smile on his face and an openness in his heart. He deserves to be part of an active, engaging two-parent home that can advocate for his education, support his dreams and encourage him to shoot for the stars.

If you are interested in knowing more about Joshua and other children in foster care available for adoption, or if you would like to become a foster parent, mentor, partner or volunteer, please contact LaKay Fayson, recruitment coordinator for One Church One Child of Florida’s SunCoast Region at (813) 740-0210 or lakay_fayson@ococfl.org.