Thanks, Medina County Community

The holiday season seemed an appropriate time to give the Medina County community a huge “thank you” for everything you do to help support our local foster care program. 

Why are we, the team at Medina County JFS so thankful? Because we work behind the scenes with foster children, foster families and the community, we’re privileged to witness acts of kindness, generosity, and more. Every day.

Here are just a few examples of the way you and your neighbors have offered support:

• Anne, who lives in England, saw our Amazon List of Gift Suggestions on her friend's Facebook page. She contacted our team and inquired about helping. Anne said she wasn’t able to contribute much on her limited income, but she sent us an Amazon gift card, which we used to buy a Paw Patrol puzzle from a 4-year old boy's wish list. Anne just made his day!

• A relative of one of our foster families sent us a bunch of Amazon wish list items. Although this person lives in Florida, they’ve come to care for kids in Medina County through one of our families and were able to support our community’s children in this way.

• Elijah, a 17-year old son of one of our foster families, raised and sold a hog this year through 4H. He chose to donate 15% of his earnings to go towards purchasing holiday gifts for children in foster care. He shopped to fill wish lists for two of our children.

• We've had many local groups, businesses, schools, and churches collect and provide items such as: toys for our Toy Drive, pajamas and books for every child, board games for every family, gifts and gift cards for teens, and funds to purchase larger items or last-minute gifts for children entering foster care before the holidays.

• Many individuals and organizations have purchased items off our Amazon List. This year so far, community members and organizations have purchased over 350 items from the list. And counting!

• Many individuals and organizations are sponsoring a child for the holiday season and are shopping for that child's entire wish list. So far, over 75 wish lists have been filled this year.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported the foster care program in both small and large ways. 

Every act of support counts. And it has not gone unnoticed.

If you want to participate in your community’s efforts to support foster children, consider becoming a foster family. Contact Medina County JFS with your questions.