WHITELAND — A Whiteland-area nonprofit serving foster families celebrates a new place to call home.
Resources of Hope is a community organization that wraps its arms around foster families in central Indiana through material support and items from their closet, training for foster parents and programming for foster teens.
At the ribbon cutting for their new facility off Whiteland Road, WRTV surprised Executive Director Renae Furnee with the Jefferson Award for Multiplying Good. Through this award, we look for the unsung heroes who make a difference in the lives of people in our community.
"I see people who have hammered down there and laid floors and I see foster parents who are making a difference in our community every day," Furnee said to a crowd of supporters at the ceremony,
A colorful mural leads you into the large space that allows the organization to serve more families and foster kids in need without having to turn anyone away.
"With this relocation, we expanded our physical space almost three times," said Furnee. "What that means is our Teen Connect for our teenagers in care, we don't have to turn them away anymore."
And for former foster teen Kathryn Huber, the program Teen Connect made all the difference.
"It's basically where you just come together with teen girls and just live life together," said Huber, who entered foster care at the age of 13. She says she feels blessed to have been adopted by her foster mom at 15. Her foster mom is the founder of Resources of Hope.
"It was just a lot of growing and figuring out who I was while also figuring out who my parents were and where I was living and what I was doing," said Huber.
She added that it was difficult to be a teen in the system, as many resources are for younger babies and children.
But the closet at Resources of Hope provides some material items for teens like her and programming to help her find her footing.
The tens meet once a month to do projects, learn basic skills, eat meals, watch movies and more. It helps them build connections with other teens who can relate to their experiences in foster care.
"And that really, really helped me," said Kathryn. "Yeah, like 10 out of 10 recommend."
For foster parents, the training provided by Resources of Hope is valuable.
Jason Kempf and his wife began fostering nearly six years ago and since then have fostered nearly 20 kids.
They ended up adopting their first placement, Eva, who has special needs.
Furnee helped them find adaptive clothing for Eva.
"She has been a big champion for us to just keep going," said Kempf.
To learn more about Resources of Hope and to help them help foster families in central Indiana, you can visit their website ResourcesofHope.org.
-
City-County Council advances plan to temporarily tighten youth curfew hours
With a 21-2 vote, the Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday night approved a proposal to adjust the youth curfew hours.
White’s resiliency through last year’s adversity inspires Fever players
Ask any of the Indiana Fever players about their head coach Stephanie White, something different stands out to each of them.
Fatal shooting sparks short-term rental safety concerns
An early Sunday shooting that killed a woman and injured two people has been linked to a short-term rental, raising new safety concerns.
IHSAA approves student athletes to benefit from name, image and likeness
The IHSAA Board of Directors, passing with a 13-5 vote, approved student athletes to be able to benefit from their name, image and likeness starting in the 2026-27 school year.
