Tennessee Kids Belong in partnership with Lincoln County Mayor Bill Newman’s office officially kicked off Foster Friendly Lincoln County during a gathering at the Lincoln County Courthouse bandstand last Monday morning. The designation is a partnership of local leaders, businesses, faith communities and neighbors who choose to show up for children and their families in foster care. Mayor Newman officially pronounced Lincoln County is a Foster Friendly Community.

He said it is an honor and privilege to partner with Tennessee Kids Belong. Foster care is a calling, he said, a kinship. “Your commitment changes lives,” he said. “It strengthens the fabric of our community and builds a community where kids feel safe.” He thanked Tennessee Kids Belong.

Kristen Allender, executive director of Tennessee Kids Belong, served as a child abuse investigator before joining Tennessee Kids Belong. She said not everyone is called to care for foster children — but everyone is called to care. She said, in Tennessee there are 8,000 children in foster care and 47 children were removed from their parents in Lincoln County. Currently, there are only 24 foster families in Lincoln County.

Amanda Griffin, Tennessee Kids Belong community engagement manager of the South Central Region, said, “We’re asking the community as a whole to support foster families.” The organization recently held a Foster Fun Day for foster families in Fayetteville. “It is so important for foster families and kids to be around other foster families and kids,” she said, “Foster families are saying, ‘We need more support.’” Griffin said this moment kicks off Lincoln County Foster Friendly. “There are 12 foster friendly businesses in Lincoln County now,” she said, adding, families can use help with meals, child care, laundry, lawn mowing, repairing doors and other items, and use help in other ways. Members of the community and businesses can sign up to become foster friendly and partner with Tennessee Kids Belong.

Also speaking were Corey and Brittany Buckner, founders of the nonprofit Always Endure. The Buckners have been instrumental in the establishment of House of Hope, a transitional home for children entering foster care. The couple has been faithfully supporting kids in foster care. Buckner said he is grateful to see how our community has wrapped around House of Hope. “It’s bigger than any one organization.” “God so graciously has decided to use Brittany and me to help…” Always Endure began Backpacks of Hope, giving backpacks and blankets to kids in foster care, he said. House of Hope has served 38 youth from Lincoln County and other counties in Tennessee. Some children have stayed up to 30 days. The Buckners have asked the Department of Children’s Services to send all the kids who can’t be placed elsewhere to House of Hope.

In his closing remarks Newman said, “You never know what seed someone will sow and what will grow from it.” He thanked everyone and said, “Today we took steps forward as a community.” He challenged those present, “If you feel called to be a foster family, do that.” He called on business leaders and persons of faith to make a difference — to lift one another up. “Together we can be a more compassionate Lincoln County,” said Newman.