Lions Meadows of Hope

The Hope House is a valuable resource for our families and a lifeline in our community for children experiencing foster care. If you can purchase any of these items to share- please drop them off at the Hope House. 💙

Hello friends! Hope House is in need of a few items to support our families in September.

🍂Wish List for September 🍂
Boys & Girls Pull Ups Size 4T/5T
Men's low cut or no show socks
Diapers - Size 7

Volunteers will be at Hope House Monday from 9-11 for donation drop off or items can be dropped off at the First United Merhodist Church M-Th, 8am-4pm. (Right inside the glass double doors under the red portico is a wooden donation box labeled for Hope House.)
You may also call, text or message Hope House to schedule a large donation drop off.

Hope House is run solely on community donations and volunteers.
Together WE are making a difference for children in foster care.

Saying YES to foster care can looks different for everyone-whether through giving of time, talent, resources or financial support, our agency appreciates every gift.

A heartfelt thank you to JD and Mary Koch from the Mulhall-Orlando Lions Club for their thoughtful gift and for considering what our children need to thrive on their journey. Thank you for stopping by the office today- we always enjoy your visit and appreciate your support!

Our CEO, Bryan Larison, was back on the road this week, making visits to three more Lions Clubs to provide exciting updates on the ongoing initiatives and developments at Lions Meadows of Hope, a proud state project of the Lions of Oklahoma .

A heartfelt thank you goes out to the Vinita Lions Club for their warm welcome, and to Lion of the Day, Kent Ryals, and Club President, Judy Echenrode, for their hospitality and support.

We also extend our gratitude to the Bartlesville Lions Club for their continued partnership with our agency. Special thanks to Club President Marla Benyshek and our dedicated Board Member, Wayne Middleton, for his invaluable contributions and commitment to our shared mission of keeping brothers and sisters togehter in care.

Lastly, a big thank you to the Miami Lions Club for welcoming Bryan! Your support is greatly appreciated as we continue working together to serve families and children experiencing foster care.

If you are a in Oklahoma, we would love to speak at your club, too.

We are thrilled to congratulate Dan Crawford on receiving a well-deserved honor at today's Annual Bar Association Banquet. The President's Award for Excellence he was presented with is a testament to his unwavering commitment to serving our community. Over the past 35 years, Dan has generously donated countless hours of his expertise, wisdom, and knowledge to the ASK-A-LAWYER program.

LMOH is honored to benefit from Dan's dedication of 18+ years to our agency, the children we serve and his service as a member of our Board of Trustees.

Please join us in congratulating Dan on a job exceptionally well done!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU THANK YOU Town & Gown Theatre! LMOH was chosen as the receipent of the Short Play Festival this year and the generous proceeds were hand delivered to our team. 🎭💙

This festival functions each year as a showcase for wonderful storytelling and an outreach to the Stillwater community. We are so grateful!!

Get ready for a dynamic 74th season and visit them online at https://www.townandgown.org/ and make plans to secure your tickets.

Our greatest recruitment asset is the passion and dedication of our current foster parents. Families like the Rays exemplify the love and commitment that makes our community strong, and many of our Foster Parents are willing to share their stories, too.

If you're thinking about becoming a foster parent or simply curious about the process, we'd love to chat over a coke or a cup of coffee! Together, we can make a meaningful difference and say YES to Foster Care. 💙

A huge THANK YOU to the Ray family for their generous words and support. Visit us online at www.lionsmoh.org for more information.

Our families continue to DO HARD THINGS when they say yes to Foster Care! This week our families said YES to 6 children- how amazing is that? 🎉💙

We are so grateful for all the invites to speak with our local clubs and organizations. It's like show-and-tell for grown-ups, but instead of bringing in our stuffed animals, we're sharing heartwarming stories and cool ways you can be a champion for our families! 🤣

Thank you to the North Enid Lions Club and Chandler Area Chamber of Commerce for including our CEO in your program this week. LMOH is on tour and we want to come to your town and speak to your clubs!

If you have questions about how to be a Champion for Children, please connect with us. We would love to share the many incredible opportunities with you.

Lions of Oklahoma

We want to wish our Board Member, Bartlesville Lions Club member and longtime supporter, Wayne Middleton a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Wayne's support of the Oklahoma Lion's Boys Ranch and LMOH continues to make an IMPACT in the lives of the children and families experiencing foster care.

Join us in wishing Wayne a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!🥳

A fun morning with the ladies at Alpha Xi Delta at Oklahoma State University talking ALL things during recruitment work week at Oklahoma State University!!

Philanthropy is an important component of and we are honored they chose to support our mission at LMOH! These girls continue to serve our families and children in many ways-movie nights, hosting SINGO and other fundraisers to support our families, volunteering and so much more. THANK YOU LADIES!

Happy Recruitment Week- know we are cheering you on! 🎉🎉

We would be so grateful for your review!

As a donor, volunteer, foster family, event sponsor, Lions Club, etc...your feedback is important to us and may be the spark that lights the way for someone to say YES to Lions Meadows of Hope.

Click the link below to get started.

https://g.page/r/CRMYv47uHPvNEBM/review

Our leader is back on tour! He will be sharing updates, amazing things happening at the agency, on our campus and the many ways you can say yes to children and families experiencing foster care!

Bryan Larison with Lions Meadows of Hope will be joining us Monday, August 12th at 6:30 pm - The Commons, Ivan Keatley Family Center.
Bryan Larison is the Chief Executive Officer of Lions Meadow of Hope, a certified foster care agency, placing foster children in homes within Payne County.

There is always hope. 💙

We would be honored to connect with you and answer questions you may have. There are so many ways you can say YES to supporting children experiencing foster care and make an impact in your community.

Born in Oklahoma, Kenny was placed in foster care after experiencing abuse and neglect. After months of moving in and out of foster homes, Kenny felt afraid for where he might end up. Thankfully, Mary met Kenny and adopted him at age 4.

Though Kenny had the stability of a permanent, loving family, as a child, he struggled with the impact of being in foster care. He had difficulty processing his emotions and trusting those around him. As a response to the experiences he had been through, he’d sometimes act out in anger or frustration.

“When I was in high school, I loved sports, but I also had a lot of feelings of insecurity and a lack of belonging,” recalled Kenny. “I always said I wanted to be an Olympian, but I think at the time, I wasn’t really thinking about what that required. I was just going through the motions.”

When Kenny discovered track and field, he unlocked a new part of himself. He finally had a way to channel his energy into a positive and productive outlet. He defied the odds and started breaking records while running track there, quickly going pro.

Most recently, he qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay events.

In all of Kenny’s success to date, he credits his past with driving him forward.

“Every single previous version of me is still a part of me, including the trauma from my childhood. I own my past and my present,” said Kenny. “I am who I am, and I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved by buckling down and doing the really tough work — work on myself, working through emotional trauma and setbacks, and tough, hard work on the track.”

His message to those touched by foster care and adoption is one of hope.

“I want to inspire others and those who may have similar experiences and promote safety and stability for all children,” said Kenny.

Shared by Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

The statistics seem simple: There aren't enough open foster homes to house the amount of children currently experiencing foster care.

But the statistics aren't simple.

Because it's not just a number of 370,000.
It's 370,000 names. Faces. Ages. Souls.

It's 370,000 lives. 370,000 futures.

Everyone can do something to help the 370,000.

What can you do?

It takes a (willing) village. Thank you to all who are already have been and all who WILL BE ‘willing’ to answer the call. 💙 Posted • Foster parents are not special. They’re willing.
•

While you may not be able to be a foster parent, you are likely able to support the ones who are.

In a space where there are so many moving parts and so many gaps that could be filled, it's true that everyone can do something.

A few ideas of what YOUR something could be:

*Saturday laundry pick up-- Text a local foster fam and tell them to have their laundry on the porch this Saturday morning. Pick it up, spray, wash, dry, fold, and drop it off by Sunday night!

*Offer your craft/goods- Are you a photographer? Partner with your local foster care org to offer Fall portraits this year! Sell products? Challenge everyone who buys something from you next month to buy an extra item and donate it to your local org's care closet!

*Clean out your clutter- Yard sale season is here! If you haven't started Spring cleaning, save it for Summer and host a yard sale! Clean out your clutter while raising money for foster care! Donate the money to a foster care org or buy a local foster family passes to your town's water park!

*Become a member of Foster the Family's Community of Care Program! This month, we launched a new monthly donor program and YOU are invited to join us! Sign up and give today at the link in our bio!

(PS- If you tried giving at our Zeffy link last week and it didn't work, we are so sorry! We have fixed the hiccup and it is now live!)

Have more ideas on how YOU can support foster families? Comment below!

47% of children experiencing foster care will reunite with their family this year.

That's a fact worth CELEBRATING! 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾

But while we celebrate, we also can't ignore the other side of it.

Because today, in the United States, there are over 100,000 children and youth experiencing foster care who are waiting for permanency.

For these children and youth, reunification is no longer the goal-- and instead, finding permanency in another way is.

This can look like adoption, guardianship, or kinship care.

But too often, it looks like being moved from home to home, from placement to placement, and experiencing disruption after disruption.

It looks like being separated from siblings, moving school districts, and being unable to become fully involved in sports and clubs and youth groups and activities because a random move is always possible, and always anticipated.

It looks like eating turkey at Thanksgiving with one family and waking up Christmas morning with a new one.

For 100,000+ children and youth, that's their reality.

A reality that needs changed.

In order for us to make a change, we need to be the change.

So let's be the change.

Sibling separation is devastating for children experiencing foster care.

For one of our team members, her 5 (adopted) children were separated for 83% of the time during their 3 1/2 years in the foster care system.

The devastation impacted all of them, but especially the oldest, her 17-year-old daughter, L.

L remembers times when she would meet her little brother at the park and have to reintroduce herself to him because he didn't remember who she was. Times when she would ask her case worker about her sisters and request an update on how they were doing, and not be given an answer for weeks.

When reunification no longer became possible, all 5 siblings were adopted together.

Recently, L was asked to define the word 'miracle' at an event she attended. At the end of her definition, were these simple words:

"Getting to grow up with my siblings."


(Data taken from Journal of Public Child Welfare.)
(Story shared with permission from L.)

GET READY CUSHING!! Come see us at the coolest block party in town! We hope to see you there! Hair Struck Station

HAPPY (almost) ONE YEAR, HAIR STRUCK STATION!

We can’t wait to celebrate with youuu 🎉

We know this life is really hard, but we also know this life is really beautiful.

And so much love exists between those two.

We appreciate the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits & panelists for organizing an informative and productive lunch and learn event today.

A fantastic opportunity to network and collaborate with other professionals in the nonprofit fundraising sector. THANK YOU!

| Raise your hand if you’d rather be ⛳️ GOLFING than working today?! Thanks again to EVERYONE who made our 2024 Golf event a hole-in-one!

Is there any question that Northeast Region President, Denny Bond, VP Loan Officer, Terry Dickerson, and their guests had a blast at the Lions Meadows of Hope Golf Benefit last month? 😜

This event raises funds to help Lions Meadows of Hope carry out their mission of uniting brothers and sisters in foster care and surround them with a community of hope an support. We are grateful to have this service in our community! 🙌

Member FDIC

🤝 local partners | Local creations | Local greatness 💙 We love

We're so grateful for the opportunity to work with Lions Meadows of Hope and Leathering!

Thank you Pivot - A Turning Point for Youth for the many ways you serve youth exiting the foster care system. We are cheering you on!

What a fantastic, tangible way to show care for foster youth!! 👏🏻💙

'Something that is their own': 15 new tiny homes unveiled for those leaving foster care On Friday, organizers unveiled 15 new tiny homes constructed to aid young people transitioning out of the foster care system in Oklahoma.The initiative arose fr

TODAY (Sunday, 7.14) is the FINAL DAY TO VOTE! Scan code below on your smartphone, or visit the link in our Instagram bio to vote for Lions Meadows of Hope as
1) Best Nonprofit Organization
2) Best Boss
3) Best Place to Work (1-10 Employees)
for Stillwater News Press "Best of Stillwater" Contest! VOTE NOW! Share the word 🗣

Our country is desperate for more foster parents.

You can get down to the nitty-gritty, giving details and specifics for every county in the state and every state in the country, but this truth remains the same:

How many children are experiencing foster care? Too many.

How many open foster homes are there? Not enough.

The stories aren't fiction-- children are sleeping in DCFS offices because state workers can't find an open bed. Kids are being placed into group homes rather than being invited into family settings. Siblings are being separated.

It's true that not everyone can be a foster parent...

But it's also true that many people can.

Voting ends 7.14.24!!

HONORED to be among the many incredible nominees in our community in 3 categories for "Best of Stillwater"! We would be grateful for your vote.

Scan the QR code or click the links below.👇

💙 https://stillwaternewspress2.secondstreetapp.com/.../4398...

💙 https://stillwaternewspress2.secondstreetapp.com/.../439.../

💙 https://stillwaternewspress2.secondstreetapp.com/.../4397...

Thank you to our incredible community partner, The Saville Center for Child Advocacy and Executive Director Heather Houle for sharing the ROAR training with our team. We always appreciate the collaboration with other agencies; as we all play a part in keeping children experiencing foster care safe and educated.
💙🦁

ROAR is The CARE Center’s child-based education program that teaches children ages 4-8 how to protect themselves from abuse. The interactive and easy to implement lesson is designed to be taught in a classroom or group setting.

Rex and his animal friends take children on journey to find his ROAR, a simple and memorable acronym that teaches children that their bodies are their own and empowers children to stand up against abuse.

R- REMEMBER, PRIVATES ARE PRIVATE
O- OKAY TO SAY NO
A- ALWAYS TALK ABOUT SECRETS
R- RAISE YOUR VOICE AND TELL SOMEONE

Just like we need peace and security in moments of fear, frustration, or chaos, so do our children.

Many children in the foster care/adoption space experience those same big and scary feelings, and it's our job as their caregivers to provide safe spaces for them to feel!

Whether it be encouraging open communication, encouraging positive relationships, or encouraging healthy emotional expression, offering any type of continual, safe support will help our children thrive.

Because we must feel in order to heal. 🖤

Repost from

How do you best support your child's feelings? Share below + tag a fellow foster or adoptive parent so they can read these important reminders!