As night fell, as some lanterns floated on the pond and others flickered at the edge, a Norman woman thought of a foster mother who needed special baby formula for her toddler and an athletic teenager at a community center who was missing basketball shoes.
Lesli Downs, a member of Christ Church in Norman, said she has met the needs of both people and she was constantly thinking of them during the 111 Project’s recent One Day/One Night events. The activities, held Aug. 23 at Memorial Road Church of Christ, were designed to bring churches together to help children in state foster care.
One thousand lanterns made from tea lights in small white bags were placed along the pond bank on the church’s grounds (2221 E Memorial Road) to raise awareness of 1,000 churches and children in need to families, said Chris Campbell, executive director of the 111 Project.
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For Downs, the lanterns at the evening service “One Night” had great significance.
“It was very noticeable,” she said.
“It gives you an idea of what is needed out there and it puts a light on the eyes of people, on the eyes of churches and on a real human being. Behind those lanterns are real people doing their jobs and trying to meet the need.”
What the 111 Project does and how it helps children in foster care
The 111 Project is a nonprofit that helps churches find concrete ways to help children in foster care. Campbell said the goal of the agency’s One Day Conference, which included the One Night service, was threefold.
Churches across the state had the opportunity to connect with 111 Project staff and other churches committed to ensuring every child has a family. The breakout sessions helped educate church members on a variety of topics, such as foster care support, how to get involved in the community and how to become part of the CarePortal, an online tool that connects churches with caseworkers at the state Department of Human Services who can share details about the specific needs of children and families in the foster care system.
The recent conference also aimed to bring together churches and other organizations that provide services to foster families and children for a day of encouragement and inspiration as they continue to support vulnerable children and families.
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“We had about 250 people here representing churches across Western Oklahoma. They were all here as part of our foster and adoptive family support network. They are also on our CarePortal platform and are supporting families,” Campbell said. “We have about 100 agency partners across the state and a good portion of them were here today.”
Like Downs, he said the lanterns lighting up the night were stirring symbols of the work being done to help families in crisis – and the work that still needs to be done.
“We have put up 1,000 lanterns representing our goal of a 1,000 church network in the state of Oklahoma,” Campbell said. “We believe that 1,000 churches recruiting and supporting a foster family and helping one family every month could actually provide the support the state needs to care for children and families in crisis.”
Campbell said the lanterns feature the names of churches partnering with the 111 Project, but also symbolize that “there are about 1,000 children in foster care in Oklahoma County at any given time.”
“So it’s a ‘one church for one child’ mission,” he said. “We just believe we have enough churches in the state that the ratio is one to one.”
Downs said she is a deacon at her church and started searching CarePortal for ways to help foster families and foster children when she realized she didn’t feel called to be a foster parent or adopt a child. She said there are families at her church who help through fostering or adoption, but she has found meaning in recent years in doing things that help meet the specific needs of foster families.
More: Church expands support for foster families
Learn more
There will also be a One Day/One Night Tulsa event for churches in the greater Tulsa area on September 12 at the First Baptist Church of Jenks. For more information about the 111 Project and CarePortal, visit https://www.111project.org/.
