THE FIRST FEW MONTHS…

There I sat, four months after resigning from a career path that I had set goals and aspirations towards, at my desk in my home office…I remember praying out loud, “God…I can tell people all the ends and outs of the apparel industry, but this? You’re going to show me how to do this, right?”

This…this….thing; this mission, this call that I just could not walk away from.

All I knew was that God had given me a vision of bringing the local church into an awareness of the crisis of foster care in our country.  I didn’t think I was suppose to be on the front lines—I had a plan for someone else to be in the messy parts.  

I sat on the phone with a friend who was telling me about a foster parent she knew; I met with him a few days later and he introduced me to churches, donors, people I needed to know to make this “this” happen…He mentored me, coached me and was a champion for this new mission. Quickly, things started falling in line: 

Churches were saying, without hesitation, “we are in”  and started taking part in summer leadership camps.

The Department of Children and Family Services began giving referral agreements to send foster teens in their system to our camps. 

A family used their foundation to commit to sustain Teen Leadership Foundation the first five years of growth and development. 
Friends and family were praying and there was no denying that God was on the move.