111Project celebrated a lot this past month. At the beginning of January, through 111Project’s CarePortal, the church met needs to the tune of $2,000,000! Now in February, we have have passed that number and have served 5,200 children. Below are just a few of the 50 CarePortal requests that were closed in January. Churches from all over Oklahoma met needs for families in crisis.
January 2nd a request came in to help preserve a foster care/kinship placements. With no central heat they were using space heaters and one had gone out. Asbury United Methodist purchased a new space heater for the family. The case worker said the church went above and beyond for this family!
A request came in in Tulsa County for a mother of 6 who was successfully completing her trial reunification. In a 3 bedroom home, space was very limited so they needed bunkbeds. The case worker said First United Methodist was very generous in helping this family stay together.
After successfully completing rehab, a mother of 3 is continuing to work on maintaining a safe and stable environment for her children during their trial reunification. As part of her requirements by DHS, the mother has to take random drug tests to ensure her sobriety while the children are in her care. Life Church South OKC stepped in to pay for those drug tests as the mother is working on her GED and unable to work.
Destiny Church answered an urgent call for formula for a new baby. The family is on food stamps but did not have enough to cover the cost of formula and were waiting on birth certificates to become WIC approved. The case worker said “Destiny church always does an amazing job with helping out in the community and they went above and beyond with this one. Thank you thank you thank you!”
A list of needs came in for a sibling set of 4 who came into care with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Here is part of the case workers request: “The oldest has given a lot of himself to looking after his younger siblings and is trying to be strong for them, but is struggling a lot. These items will also help us in finding them a placement together and reassure them that they are still able to have things. Please help us help these kids!” Not one but two churches answered this call. Life Church Broadway & Britton and Quail Springs Baptist were incredibly generous in helping these 4 children. “Absolutely amazing and fast response for these boys and their sister. It made such a big difference. Older brother went through the clothes with me and was more excited about what his siblings got than what he wanted!”
Finally after a few years of dreaming and planning, 111Project has rolled out its first set of Tier 2 Volunteers in Tulsa County. We are so excited to see the impact this will have on children and families and the all of the amazing DHS case workers here in Tulsa. Stay tuned to hear more about Tier 2 and some stories that have already started rolling out in the past week!