Impressive efforts benefit children in foster care, support organizations

When I arrived to take photos at Kids for Life for a promotional article, director Melissa Mathieson was holding a tiny baby. There was another lady in the office, so I asked if it was her baby. I had seen Melissa not too long before, and she had not been pregnant.
No, it wasn’t the other lady’s baby. And it was only a few weeks old. Melissa was taking care of it. It was a brand new baby in need of foster care.
This is the kind of thing Melissa does. She steps in when there is no one else to hold babies, feed babies, change diapers, rock babies to sleep, sing to babies, comfort them and love them.
And she does this to children of all ages. And she organizes and helps foster parents do this, too. And she’s helping older kids who are transitioning out of foster care. And she raises funds to help buy things children in foster care need.
She created a place, Restoration Family Services, where children can safely visit their parents. She and her husband, Dave, designed it where foster parents arrive at one entrance and birth parents go through another door, just to keep everyone as comfortable as possible and alleviate any additional stress on the children.
There are rooms for babies there. There are play rooms for children. The facility, Kids for Life, is set up like a real home.
There are storage rooms filled with items babies need for survival. Other storage rooms are filled with additional items babies and children need because they are babies and children, such as stuffed animals and soft blankets.
Children who are suddenly put into foster care need all the friends they can get. Hugging a new furry friend can help soothe their fears and give them something to hold on to... something to sleep with. Something new that is theirs to keep.
There is also a storage room filled with books and toys and bikes and games, and even some clothes. Everything is carefully stored and labeled. Just looking at how everything is cared for makes you realize the person who does all this for items must certainly have a heart

of gold when it comes to caring for human beings.
Melissa will say she doesn’t do it alone. “We have a lot of great people to help—volunteers and staff,” she said. “That’s how we’re able to do everything we do.”
Yet, I am well aware both Kids for Life and Restoration Family Services began in her heart and mind. She had to carry the load before funding became available to hire staff. And I am sure she and Dave still do most of the heavy lifting involved in all of the organizations they lead to aid children in foster care.
The toy closet at Kids for Life is called “Katie’s Closet.” Four years ago, the Mathiesons took in a child, Katie, and then later adopted her when she was unable to be reunited with her family. Realizing children and foster parents needed help, Melissa and Dave started Kids for Life, then Restoration Family Services and then last year, Community Thrift.
The local thrift store is located beside Shopper’s Value in Hamilton. Everything sold there benefits children in foster care and young adults leaving foster care, as well as helping to fund programs benefiting children and youth.
There is even a home now in Winfield, The Homestead, to help teens transitioning out of foster care as they enter early adulthood.
But Melissa says all this much better than I can. Please see her story on page 1 about the ways children, teens and young adults are helped through several specially-designed foster care support organizations.
Besides Melissa and Dave, and all their staff and volunteers, there is another person who helps to make all these programs possible. It’s you. It’s made possible through your donations. Children benefit when you shop at Community Thrift.
The shelves at Kids for Life are filled through donations from your family, charity, church, organization, club or business.  A prospective foster family who feels they may not be able to provide enough, but then realizes there is help available with supplies and needs, may be encouraged to take in a child because you cared!
That tiny baby I met has diapers because of you. I pray she is able to be reunited with her family soon, and they will be able to gather a few supplies to take home for her because of your mercy.
We all need a helping hand sometimes. We are all in need of grace and mercy. Kids for Life, Restoration Family Services, Community Thrift and The Homestead are able to hold up big flashing signs with “Mercy & Grace” on them through the efforts of people living in our Marion County communities.
And all these efforts are also made possible through the strength and power of our Good Lord flowing into the Mathiesons, their staff and volunteers, all the children in our county in foster care, all the foster parents who have hearts beyond compare and you. Thank you! To God Be The Glory!

(Editor’s note: The average number of children in foster care in Marion County is 50. Currently, their ages range from newborn to 21 years old. For more information on becoming a foster parent, you can reach out to Melissa at 205-430-2674 or the Marion County Department of Human Resources at 205-921-6000.)