According to the Indiana Department of Education, there were 16,942 children in foster care in Indiana in 2022. Locally, Resources of Hope is a nonprofit that aims to provide resources for foster kids in Indiana through its programming and outreach initiatives.
Within Resources of Hope, seven different programs help support kids in foster care and the families that take care of them, including kinship families. Some of its most popular programming includes Teen Connect, Birthday Blessing, and The Clothing Closet. It also facilitates various support groups and training for the Indiana foster care community.
“We’ve got seven different programs,” says Renae Furnée, Resources of Hope executive director. “We have our Clothing Closet, which is our most utilized program. We serve more than 80 kids per month with our clothing closet. Kids can come in; they get up to two weeks’ worth of clothes.”
All foster and kinship families are welcome to go to the Clothing Closet and pick out clothing, shoes, socks, underwear, hygiene products, toys, books, infant equipment, and more.
For shoppers who would prefer a Resources of Hope employee to do the Clothing Closet shopping, they can go online and fill out its “Shopping Form,” letting employees know who they’re shopping for and providing sizes and measurements.
“It’s great,” Furnée says. “Every kiddo wants something different, and we have amazing people in our community who support us by donating their gently used items. That’s how we have our Clothing Closet. We try to make it more like a boutique so kids feel really special when they walk in because that’s really important. They’re going through a really hard time and we want them to feel safe and loved and worthy. We want them to feel like they have self-worth.”
Another popular Resource of Hope program is Birthday Blessing. The nonprofit has an entire room dedicated to brand-new toys, outfits, and pajamas for foster children. The way it works is that foster parents go online and fill out a form, letting staffers know more about the child and their interests. Employees then go “shopping” in that room and put together a bag of new gifts for the child’s birthday.
“We also put in there a cake mix, frosting, fun birthday plates, napkins, balloons, decorations, and anything you would need for a fun birthday party,” Furnée says.
Additionally, Resources of Hope hosts Teen Connect, which is for 12- to 17-year-olds and is a monthly collaboration of foster youth and adult volunteers. It’s geared toward those in foster care, adopted, in kinship care, or currently in guardianship care. Volunteers and youth meet together in a relaxed environment for fun and fellowship, and aim to promote inspiration, personal advancement, and empowerment. A typical Teen Connect night includes dinner and discussing everyone’s “highs and lows,” some type of engaging activity, and concludes with a gift card prize and 15 minutes of shopping in the Clothing Closet.
A large reason the nonprofit can make such a big impact on the community is because of its volunteers who either donate to their programming or volunteer their time.
“We are always looking for volunteers,” Furnée says. “We do have family events, about four times a year, where we look for volunteers from our community to come in and run games, also donate items specifically for those events. People could get involved by volunteering at those events, volunteering at our facility, or donating their new or gently used items for kids. Those are the big things that we need aside from financial donations.”
Resources of Hope is a nonprofit based out of Whiteland, Indiana. For additional information about its programming and accompanying forms, visit www.resourcesofhope.org.
