Fostering Together: Service Project
We’ve all heard it before—it takes a village to raise a child.
Fostering Together is all about being that village for children in the foster care system. From meal support to mentoring, Fostering Together provides endless opportunities for community members to support foster and kinship families. Not everyone has the capacity to be a foster parent, but everyone can help meet a need.
Josh Faulkner and KJ Bump saw that need, and with the help of their Gwinnett Church men’s group, they stepped up.
It began in the summer of 2023 when Josh and KJ came across a local family in need of some help. After five years of fostering their nephew, the family began the process of adoption, but they ran into delays due to some needed repairs to their home. Without the repairs, the family’s home study could not be approved, and they could not move forward with the adoption.
As Courtney Ayres from Fostering Together said, “They had the heart—they just didn’t have the means right then.”
Many families find themselves in similar situations—willing and ready to step up for a child in need but stuck in the process. Thankfully, in this case, Maria Henderson from the Division of Family and Children Services saw this need and entered it into the Care Portal, a database of local service opportunities.
That’s where Josh and KJ come in.
Using extra materials donated by Josh’s construction company, this men’s group spent four weekends making the necessary updates to this family’s home. From reconstructing the back deck to replacing all the windows and doors, they made every repair needed for the adoption to proceed.
And it didn’t stop with that family.
“It brought our group so close together. It solidified that brotherhood. I mean that’s what we do every summer now—we take off work and we do service projects together,” said KJ when explaining the impact of the project.
The group continues to use the Care Portal to find opportunities to support vulnerable children in our community using the abilities they have. Some projects involve home repairs, like this one, while others include building swing sets, mowing lawns, or pressure washing driveways to create safe outdoor spaces for kids to play.
The impact these projects have had on the community is immeasurable, and the experience of serving together has deeply impacted these men as well.
“The richest I’ve ever felt was helping others—as cliche as that may sound,” Josh said. “When you get a chance to invest in other people’s lives and see them succeed or grow or overcome hurdles, it really makes you feel like the hands and feet of God.”
That’s what Be Rich is all about—people like you stepping up to Give Serve Love.
