RICHMOND, Va. — A group that has provided a home for children in foster and residential care in Virginia for more than a century held a yard sale and craft show Saturday to connect with the community.
The event took place at theUnited Methodist Family Services of Virginia's (UMFS) Richmond campus.
"We've been serving Richmond and Virginia for 125 years next year on this same piece of property," Joshua Lewis, a UMFS foster family outreach specialist, said. "We've never done a yard sale and craft fair just to connect with the community and let the community know that we're here."
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The primary focus of the event was to raise awareness about the 5,000 children and young people in Virginia's foster care system.
"We're commissioned to help find safe families for those kiddos that we're serving, and so that's why we're here," Lewis said. "Our kids are amazing boys and girls, and they just really need loving, safe places to go to."
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Tony Fowler and his wife were at a church basketball game with one of their sons when they learned about the dire need for foster families.
"UMFS came and shared during halftime," he recalled. "My wife and I, we had talked to each other, 'Hey, we think we can do this.' So we went through the training at UMFS and really got a taste of the need out there for a lot of the kids... that really just needed some help and some guidance."
Fowler acknowledged there are "some ups and downs" with fostering, but said the benefits outweigh any perceived negativity.
"The most exciting part about fostering is really being able to work with the kiddos where they are," Fowler explained. "Talk with them, help them work through some of the issues that may have had in the past. Let's show them there's different ways to look at the future, and then really try to get them away from the past and look forward towards the future."
Lewis said Saturday's event was a success.
"We've met so many wonderful people that have been here already this morning," Lewis said. "They've never been on our campus. They've not heard about us until now.... We really need foster families to serve those youth that are in foster care."
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