GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — A nonprofit that cares for foster children before they find a home is growing.
Isaiah 117 will soon help kids in Sumner County during one of the hardest times in their life.
The organization held an awareness event in Gallatin on Sunday to educate the community on what they do and how to get involved.
Oftentimes, children removed from home and awaiting foster placement stay in a child welfare services office.
Isaiah 117, a Tennessee-based nonprofit, builds a comfortable home where the kids can avoid an office and find physical and emotional support with loving volunteers.
"Instead of a cubicle or conference room, what if there was a home? What if you could go to a home and get a bath and play outside and get a meal and get a new backpack for school, and just be loved on in that gap, loved on in that weight?" said Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit, Ronda Paulson.
"We can fix them their favorite meal, mac and cheese, or some ice cream, whatever it is that they're wanting, and play games with them and give them a bubble bath and get them tucked into a nice warm bed," added Hannah Muro, the Expansion Coordinator in Sumner County.
"[It's] an environment that's truly focused on the children and their needs at that time rather than all the paperwork and the logistics of everything."
While the group has several houses across the country, Paulson says expansion into Sumner County will address a need every community has.
"If we can join forces and have a home in Sumner county, and we already have a home in Robertson county, and we're currently working on a home in East Nashville, we already have a home in Rutherford County...all the sudden, you have this little network of Isaiah 117 houses ready to love on children from any of those counties," she said. "That's what we're really looking for at this point."
She hopes to get a house up and running in Sumner County in the next 12 to 18 months.
The nonprofit will need many partners and volunteers.
If you want to learn more, you can go to their website or visit their Facebook.
It's truly the small things that add up to a great day - and Warrick in Lebanon is having a big impact. His familiar face is becoming a staple in one part of the community and inspiring closer connection in the simplest way. Enjoy his warm personality! You may even feel inclined to wave to a stranger today, too.
-Rebecca Schleicher
