Everyone Can Do Something: How Fostering Hope is Changing Lives

In this episode of Hometown Jax, host Jason Kindler sits down with Nicole Kalil and Karen Roy, the inspiring leaders behind Fostering Hope, a local organization transforming how Jacksonville supports foster and adoptive families. Hometown Jax spotlights the everyday heroes making a difference in our community, sharing their journeys, challenges, and impact through meaningful conversations that inspire action.

Nicole and Karen reveal how Fostering Hope grew from informal meetings at Panera to a comprehensive support system serving hundreds of families. They discuss the critical need for community involvement in foster care, explain how one in every two foster families drops out within a year without proper support, and share powerful stories of transformation. The conversation highlights their freezer meal ministry, resource center, respite care program, and upcoming Replanted conference, while emphasizing their core message: "Everyone can do something" to help vulnerable children, whether or not you're called to foster or adopt.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;14;29
Unknown
Where are your hosts, Aaron Backus and Jason Kindler? We like to sit down with our guests to hear their journey, their challenges, and how they impact the local community. So grab a seat. Tune in and let's get inspired by Jacksonville's everyday workforce. Welcome to Hometown Jacks.

00;00;14;29 - 00;00;47;15
Unknown
Welcome to hometown Jackson I'm excited. Today I've got Karen and Nicole, and, Karen and Nicole are with fostering Hope. So I appreciate you guys being on the, on the show here. And, you've got a great story, a great organization that we want to talk about today. So, let's let's get started. So, can you let us know the kind of the mission, behind fostering hope and how, the the you guys got involved?

00;00;47;18 - 00;01;17;05
Unknown
Sure. So the mission of fostering hope is to raise awareness to vulnerable children not only in our community. Nationally, worldwide, so that, our but our main mission be on that is to support foster and adoptive families, to help sustain them in the work that they're doing to serve those vulnerable children and families. So that's, that's something that, that, that those families need, need a lot of help.

00;01;17;06 - 00;01;36;03
Unknown
Yes. What what kind of things? What kind of what kind of things do they need help with that, that the organization does? Well, just backing up on the reason why we do it. We know statistically that one of every two families, a 30% of families will drop out of foster care if they're unsupported within a year.

00;01;36;03 - 00;02;02;03
Unknown
So one year, one placement is the rate that they drop out if they aren't supported. So we come alongside them. And really the ministry has grown organically out of need. So what is what is everyone love? When they're, when they're like fallen on hard times or they're struggling is a meal. A meal means so much more to a family than food, you know, it helps relieve a burden and just shows, another, another level of care.

00;02;02;03 - 00;02;29;19
Unknown
So we do, offer meals. We have a freezer meal ministry that developed out of fostering care. So there was a small group of us, like making extra lasagna, making us your food, and trying to get them to families when they had court dates or new placements or just having a rough time. You know, when you bring a foster placement or an adoptive placement into your home, I like to I like to equate it to like, you just brought any the newborn baby home, no matter how old that baby is, it's like a newborn, you know?

00;02;29;19 - 00;02;46;08
Unknown
So your life is just flipped upside down. So we really try to get, and and care for those families early on. So we were helping each other with meals, and the sweet lady at our church was like, hey, I love to meal prep. And we got a big freezer at the church, so how about we do this?

00;02;46;08 - 00;03;05;14
Unknown
And she, organized a meal ministry. And to date they have made over 1600 freezer meals. Wow. We use those not only for, our church families, but our community families. Like I said, stuff a few freezer meals in your freezer to get ready for those. Those hard days. Yeah. So that's one of the things we offer.

00;03;05;15 - 00;03;38;01
Unknown
What a, what an incredible organization. So how how did how did foster, fostering Hope start? It started really just there was a movement in our church families that, which are, which are referred to Baptist Church for put back. Yes. So, my husband and I, been members there for many years, and, we really felt the Lord telling us like, it's time to do something more, to serve children and families didn't really know what that was, but we ended up in foster care, and we found other families around us doing similar things.

00;03;38;01 - 00;03;56;16
Unknown
And then, like when your eyes are open to this world, you see like, oh my gosh, they're foster. They adopted, they foster their dad. So it's really more than just like one person that started the ministry. I was I was bringing different kids to church all the time. We were doing a lot of respite care, which is short term care.

00;03;57;01 - 00;04;13;14
Unknown
And I had a new child with me, and people are asking questions like, well, where do you come from? And where's that thing? Who's that? You know? And so, started having coffee with people that developed into learning that more people were doing those. And let's start meeting once a month. We were meeting at Panera and like, those meetings were getting a little too big.

00;04;13;14 - 00;04;32;24
Unknown
I certainly felt unequipped to answer all the questions people were bringing to the table. So I was bringing people I met along the way and, and eventually led us to go into the church and saying, hey, can we have a space just to meet once a month so we can, like, not be in Panera, like with all the noise and like, healthy together and and our missions pastor was like, what do you know about ministry?

00;04;32;24 - 00;05;03;06
Unknown
Like absolutely nothing. But I didn't know anything about foster care. And here we are. So, so like I said, like God has truly or grown and organically out of that, like, hey, let's get together once a month. Hey, meals would be really cool, wouldn't it? Like, wouldn't that help you and that help me? That turned into, the church giving us, small closet on the church campus that we housed diapers and clothing in and that has had has grown into a resource center we have on campus that's become its own standalone ministry.

00;05;03;08 - 00;05;20;10
Unknown
So not only serve foster and adoptive families, but vulnerable families. So it's by appointment. We serve anyone in the community. It's set up like a store. It brings dignity to families that are shopping. You know, we have teens that come in and they want certain clothes and certain things, and we have it there for them. There's a price tag.

00;05;20;16 - 00;05;43;05
Unknown
We have clothing, diapers like that. So that's just like what's good for how it's grown. We offer education programs. Children from hard places need different parenting, and just need to come along in a different way. So we offer those for families. We have just recently added a wreath planting conference, which I think we'll talk about more.

00;05;43;07 - 00;06;03;14
Unknown
But there are there's several things we do with pride mentorship. We have partnerships with, faith based organizations that are like minded, that provide resources for fostering adoptive families, our licensing agencies and child welfare, in the counties. We work with them, too. So we try to love on them as workers, just as much as we do our families.

00;06;03;14 - 00;06;32;13
Unknown
And so that's pretty it's pretty incredible. How many, how many in, in in the church. How many, how many people are involved? Well, we have about I mean, it's in terms of numbers, right now we have about 35 foster and adoptive families that we're serving, with what we call comprehensive wraparound care. So we get a little bit, set a step more with our church families, and we have touch points with probably 300 families in the community.

00;06;32;25 - 00;06;52;13
Unknown
And 100 families. Yeah, I would say that are I mean, that's people that come to our events, we do playdates, we have that resource center. Like that's what we consider a touchpoint. Each time we connect with a family. But as far as involvement from the church, I can't count. I mean, our church has been incredibly supportive of our ministry.

00;06;52;13 - 00;07;18;17
Unknown
We have, a Sunday every November called Stand Sunday, where we all stand, literally, the church stands and honor of fostering adoptive families in our commitment to support them. That's so good. So it's hard to count. I mean, I don't know what our congregation sizes, but maybe I could say that. Yeah, yeah. No, that's. And I mean, that gives me, it gives us a real idea of, like how how much support the, the that's happening.

00;07;19;22 - 00;07;52;02
Unknown
And that's, that's a huge that's a huge thing for our community. Yeah. I mean, you know, in, in, you know, Jacksonville, I mean, we're, you know, on our podcast here and we're trying to highlight, you know, people that are doing really good things and I mean, this is amazing. So I think that, you know, when, when Karen and I adopted, there was not any of the support system in place and, and we struggled and like she said, we found each other out of need.

00;07;52;02 - 00;08;13;10
Unknown
It's like, this is what I'm feeling. Is this normal? I don't know, this is what I'm feeling. It's a normal and and it's a very isolating journey. And so the fact that, you know, we have a support group that meets monthly and it's a place where parents can come and feel seen and get heard. And we're not giving them counseling.

00;08;13;12 - 00;08;33;06
Unknown
We're not providing solutions. We're just saying, look, we're all in this boat and we understand you. And that in and of itself, I think can make a huge and that's that's going to be a huge thing for the, adoptive parents to have, you know, I guess mentors that have been through and through that before. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

00;08;33;06 - 00;08;54;06
Unknown
And we I mean, it's a different journey. So foster and adoption, they're different journeys because one is is heading towards reunification with a biological family. And the other one is looking for attachment and a new family. Yeah. And so we, we did meet together at first and now we, we recognize there are different journeys with families with different needs.

00;08;54;08 - 00;09;19;15
Unknown
And so we have the foster parent group and the adoptive parent group. So there's a, there's a, a lot of amazing, people in our, in our community that are fostering and, you know, eventually adopting and, and all that. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. So, on the, on the different programs and things like that, one of the things that stood out to me was the, you know, parents night out, the family events.

00;09;19;15 - 00;09;49;29
Unknown
Tell me a little bit about how that, how that works and how, you know. Yeah, what that means. So respite or rest is a huge need for foster in adoptive families. Like Nicole said, it's very isolating. There's behaviors that sound traditional, like parent parenting. It's hard to to understand and deal with and, you know, so some families find over time they don't really have anyone to go watch their kids, or they just need another outlet, or they just don't have a support system close by.

00;09;50;07 - 00;10;09;04
Unknown
So Parents Night Out is a is a like, highly sought after event that we do. We just actually hosted one two weeks ago. It fills up like super quick. We have a great time. We always have some sort of, program that we do with the kids. And since this was around Valentine's Day, we did, you know, we love because he first loved us.

00;10;09;04 - 00;10;28;15
Unknown
And, that's it was great. It was great. So, yeah, that's a that's a huge, popular event. And then we also do family events. Normally those are over the summer, like the summer. We're doing jumbo shrimp. So we offer discount tickets to foster and adoptive families to come. I mean, building community and finding families that look like yours is really important.

00;10;28;15 - 00;10;49;21
Unknown
Not only our support group for for the parents that come, but for the kids to see, like, okay, like we're not the only ones that have a passenger van or look different or like, you know, as a biological child, you know, I'm not the only one that has siblings that are foster or adoptive siblings. You know, just building that community.

00;10;49;23 - 00;11;15;21
Unknown
Yeah. Builds a real sense of of community. And of course, the children, you know, feel fill, you know, not so, I guess isolated. Right? Right, right. That's amazing. So if you're not going to foster a child, what's the best way that someone can get involved with, with with helping in the community? So can I take this?

00;11;15;21 - 00;11;36;06
Unknown
Yeah. My favorite, because I have all the time, people say, well, I can do what you do, or I would get too attached. Or there's all these things, you know? And I get it, like, not everybody, not everybody is created to be on the front lines of foster care, adoption. I mean, I myself felt like, what in the world am I doing with my life?

00;11;37;10 - 00;12;01;29
Unknown
So there's some of that, like needing to just take a step. But then there are some people that are like, I just can't do that. So. But you can't do something like our our underlying beyond our mission, at fostering hope is everyone can do something. If use a gift that God's given you. We have people in our church, we have this, sweet group called the James Gang, and they are retired men that go into home repair.

00;12;02;12 - 00;12;19;08
Unknown
The ministry started for widows. So single, you know, widows. So we go in and do home repair. Well, so we approach them like, hey, like, we could use some help. And so we have these men going into homes, patching walls, building place music. We have a lot of single foster and adoptive moms that we serve. And so they've they've really helped us with that.

00;12;19;08 - 00;12;37;05
Unknown
They move furniture for us from a resource center. We call them haulers. Like they haul the furniture. We have a lady, in our church that loves to bake. So she bakes a cake for every, so our wraparound care teams are built around, like, one person is a point of care, and they have a team of volunteers for usually like 2 or 3 families.

00;12;37;05 - 00;13;08;08
Unknown
So every family on her team. She bakes a cake for them for their birthday. There's everyone is can do something bring a meal, a $5 Starbucks card maybe is a $7 an hour, whatever they can. Dropping that off to a is huge for, acknowledging just encouragement. One of the one of the roles we have on our volunteer teams is sending a card like getting a card in the mail, sending a text like encouragement, messages of encouragement is so important.

00;13;08;08 - 00;13;27;08
Unknown
So there's a role to play that stands Sunday service. We talked about early on. It is truly a way to go. If you foster, adopt, stand if you can babysit for foster adoptive family stands, if you could volunteer in this way, this might stand. And by the end of the service, if you can pray, stand. Everyone is standing.

00;13;27;08 - 00;13;52;19
Unknown
There's something for everyone to do. That's incredible. I mean, one of my parents, just before I left to come here, I got a package in the mail. I wasn't expecting it. It was a book from another adoptive mom to encourage me. I mean, and so that's this community. That's what we do. We we come alongside each other and, you know, whether it's something like sending a book or a text or a call or whatever it is, no matter how small.

00;13;52;20 - 00;14;19;21
Unknown
Such an amazing surprise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's incredible. Mentorship program. Talk about the mentorship program a little bit. I mean, really that's kind of built within our support. Okay. Yeah, yeah. We, you know, kind of say you've been through it. If you're going through it, someone else has been through it. Right. And so through between Nicole and I, we can usually identify help for somebody who's going through something difficult.

00;14;19;21 - 00;14;45;01
Unknown
And we try to match people up there and similar situations. How many, how long, how long has the, the organization been, in this area? And, eight years, eight years. And you probably have probably helped a lot of, of families. I think, the ripple effect of serving vulnerable children, families is like something we will never know.

00;14;45;05 - 00;15;18;14
Unknown
Yeah. So, yeah, it's amazing. So is there a, either either one of you or both? Is there, is there, a memory or an experience over the last eight years that you can share with us about something that really stood out to you, that that that affected you? So just personally, for me recently, I have a kind of an atypical adoption story.

00;15;18;14 - 00;15;56;09
Unknown
Would you say? And so, I've been through some things that maybe other people in the support group haven't been through, which is fine. And so they had an opportunity. I came to them and I said, something's happening. I need to talk to you guys. And they came around me and they prayed over me. And they have called and texted and kept up with me, to make sure I'm okay, to make sure I'm encouraged to help me process what I'm feeling, to help me, just, you know, feel seen and cared about.

00;15;56;11 - 00;16;18;05
Unknown
And that's just that's just in the last couple weeks. Wow. What what's happened? And so that's why, I guess what stands out for me. Right? And that makes a difference. It makes a huge difference. I mean, like we've said, it's such an isolating experience because there are a lot of romanticized, notions about adoption and foster care.

00;16;18;05 - 00;16;43;25
Unknown
Well, if you just love them enough, if you, you know, you're doing all these things and it's really more than that because you're coming, you're opening your home and maybe your biological children to a child who has had to do hard things to survive in some cases. Yeah. And, they've learned behaviors that really serve them well when they're trying to survive, but don't serve them well once they're in a safe family.

00;16;43;27 - 00;17;07;24
Unknown
And it's hard to reconcile some of that. And so you get big behaviors and things that you don't know how to deal with. Right? So there's I'm assuming there's some, you know, spending on the ages and everything or to there's some trauma there. And so, yeah, dealing with dealing with the trauma and not having a support group, that's tough.

00;17;08;00 - 00;17;33;16
Unknown
It will be very, very difficult to that's. Yeah. Well, yeah. How about on your end? I mean, I was sitting or thinking like there's too many to count, right? You know, I have the privilege and the blessing of seeing full story. You know, people that step into it. I've seen them. I've seen, like, the full cycle of someone that's on this.

00;17;33;16 - 00;17;55;16
Unknown
Everyone can do something, you know, steps into volunteer. They do a little bit more. They get closer to the family, then they're like, toeing the line, and then they go get licensed, and then they're fostering. And then you watch God work through their family, and they've adopted these children, and they're back on the other side of it now, you know, like I've I've had the opportunity to witness that, which to me is just there's nothing like it.

00;17;55;16 - 00;18;19;28
Unknown
There's just nothing like seeing, something so broken and so hard. It's broken and it's beautiful at the same time, you know, be restored and redeemed. And that's not the end of their story. And it's not easy. And it doesn't mean when a gavel drops and a child's adopted, it's good. Sure. It's just starting. Yeah, but there is truly,

00;18;20;00 - 00;18;37;16
Unknown
I just can't even count, you know, like, we just got to witness last week, family adopt a adopted foster child. They had her in their home for over 900 days. And all of the hard things they went through when there was no end in sight for your house, school, work out, you know, all of that stuff. And we got to see it come to an end.

00;18;37;16 - 00;19;21;24
Unknown
So those are my favorite things, is getting the full service side of like what has had to happen with this. And then you see it all work out. You know. So I mean I just I'm, I'm thinking through like what you just described and like, I mean when you, when you first, you know, you've both had, stories about personal, you know, on the, on the adoption or fostering side, what were some of the things that, you know, you thought initially, like going back and then what you realized what actually what actually took place, what were some of the things that, you know, if there's somebody listening that it's like, oh, I think

00;19;21;24 - 00;19;48;29
Unknown
it's this way, but it's but it's not. Is there anything that sticks out going to girl oh go ahead. Okay. So one thing, that is foster cares goal is reunification. A lot of people think foster care is a way into adoption. It is goal is reunification. Okay. So if you are wanting to adopt a child and that's what your heart is telling you, then go through the avenue of adoption.

00;19;49;02 - 00;20;17;23
Unknown
Okay. Because that foster care is golden. The other thing is I have also seen on the other, the beauty of the, the redemption of a of an adoption and a family coming together. And I've also seen beautiful reunifications or a birth family has worked so hard and they've gotten their child back. And that is so rewarding to be able to watch, coming alongside families that are just, I mean, it's not it's not scary.

00;20;17;26 - 00;20;40;13
Unknown
You know, I think there's a lot of misconceptions. It's not it's, a way to serve and love a family that needs a little support, sometimes a lot more support. But to get to reunify with their child. So that's the that's the big one that stands out. And that's, I mean, that that one for me, you know, not being involved.

00;20;40;13 - 00;20;58;15
Unknown
It that's the I mean just saying that it's like, oh wow. That's actually the opposite of what I thought. It's you know, I would I would have said, okay, well, foster is to adopt, but it's actually to, to reunify. Yeah. It's awesome.

00;20;58;17 - 00;21;28;29
Unknown
Anything. Nicole. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I was trying to think of something more adoption oriented, but, I mean, I think that, like, like I said before, you know, just understanding that, you know, you you need to do it in a community. It's it's really challenging to do it on your own. And it's not about how much you love the child.

00;21;29;18 - 00;21;58;15
Unknown
It there's so much more that has to be taken into consideration. So just going into it with eyes open, building a team of support around you, having something like fostering hope, having support group, having friends, whatever it is who are going to walk the journey with you. So that you're not out there alone. So for for fostering hope, let's say that there is you know, family that is fostering.

00;21;59;05 - 00;22;19;04
Unknown
And they are not involved. Is that something that they can, can reach out to fostering hope or how does that work? Absolutely. Yeah. They can totally reach out because everything we do, we are part of the community. Okay. So, you know, support group, in fact, in, in my support group, I think the same as yours.

00;22;19;06 - 00;22;40;09
Unknown
It's not it's not really our church families. It's community. Family. Yeah. So, but parents night out conferences, all of it is open to any foster family. Very cool. So that's that's something that that, you know, hopefully if there's someone listening that's, you know, going through struggles or anything like that, that that can help for sure.

00;22;42;04 - 00;23;08;08
Unknown
I'm sure there's challenges with, with fostering hope, you know, with, with the organization and I mean, is there, you know, is there something that that stands out that that's a challenge that other people can, you know, can help with or get involved with? I don't I don't know that there's truly any challenges that come to mind.

00;23;08;08 - 00;23;34;15
Unknown
I mean, we've, been able to partner, like I said, with our local child welfare agencies, other churches, there are other churches that have launched foster care and adoption ministries. We've come alongside them. There's a really great network of support for each other. So usually if there's some sort of challenge that comes up, like we can help each other out more often than not, it's like a family that it's hard for them to get to us.

00;23;34;16 - 00;24;01;15
Unknown
Got it. You know, I think that's probably a challenge. And one of the things that we've tried to do is help through other there's other organizations. One is called Care Portal. Care portals mission. It's it's a national organization. It's really cool. It is a way for a child serving agency to go online to the care portal and put a need in for a family church to subscribe to that need and the radius that they set around their church.

00;24;01;15 - 00;24;20;17
Unknown
There's truly a family in their community. They get the need and they can respond. So care portal churches, usually if they've signed up for care portal, they have a heart for vulnerable families. They probably get some foster adoption in them. And so we try to help find people like their community church that can help them because that's it's hard to be really far away.

00;24;21;05 - 00;24;42;00
Unknown
But we, you know, we we've got a pretty good network of churches from like, Callahan, we've got one in Valdosta, several in Saint Johns County, either even in North and Duval County. So, you know, we've we try to that's good that, you know, they can find support. Yeah. And that's good that the different organizations you guys are on the same team and yeah.

00;24;42;00 - 00;25;06;21
Unknown
Oh yeah challenges that one. The challenge I think that's probably yeah I mean just talking through it probably the most and getting people getting families resources. But with there's a faith based initiative that came in before in like 2018, 2019, which allowed a lot of faith based organizations that provide more resources for foster and adoptive families, to come into the state and partner with child welfare in churches.

00;25;06;21 - 00;25;33;21
Unknown
And so we we just have the we have an opportunity to just connect people. But the challenges sometimes where they are. Yeah, yeah. So one thing that we've been able to do, there's a, a national conference called replanted. And so we were able to bring it to Florida. So it's kind of our southeastern region. And we've tailored it to, to our community and our area.

00;25;33;21 - 00;26;01;14
Unknown
But we have families come from out of state, who are coming. They, we, we stream the key, the keynote speakers, but then we have live breakouts, like, worship, all the agencies, the, the different organizations and, the, the care that different people provide, they come, they're doing breakouts, they're doing, like, like a mama den to, to pamper moms.

00;26;01;14 - 00;26;26;05
Unknown
We're doing something for dad this year. But then there's that. Really jealous. Yeah. The mom is so cool. And the there's, there's a daddy there. Yeah. So, so just being able to because it can be hard to travel to Chicago. Yeah. But so bringing it into our area so that it the, the travel isn't a challenge and that's, that's upcoming this year on May 1st through the third.

00;26;26;08 - 00;26;45;26
Unknown
Okay. We have the opening session on May 1st that night. So we have a great speaker coming for that to encourage families. We have a social mixer and a table hall, a exhibit hall with tabling for resources for families to find. It's for caregivers only, so it's for families. And then we we have general sessions, breakout sessions on Friday and Saturday.

00;26;45;29 - 00;27;12;20
Unknown
And then we also also offer the restoration stations, the mama dens and things like that. So people can just get a break and rest. We have fun surprises at the conference. So called knowing gifts that are a little hidden gifts and things we do during the general sessions, a positive experience, you know, extra love. So the purpose of replanted is to pour into these families, to inspire them, equip them and just encourage them to keep going, which is just matches our mission.

00;27;13;02 - 00;27;36;25
Unknown
For our community. That's I mean, the whole the whole thing is so positive. So, you know, just enlightening. Is there are there goals that, you know, the, the organization has, like moving forward with, you know, is there is it ever, you know, something that the organization does? We want to we want to help more.

00;27;36;25 - 00;28;03;28
Unknown
We want to help more. You know, people is that is is there anything like that or it's just kind of who who comes to you and so forth. Okay. I think, I think goal to make sure we have enough volunteers to yes to understanding. Yeah. To sustain and support the families that come. So let's let's talk about that because that was kind of the one one thing I want to make sure that we, we get out there is that, you know, someone wants to be involved.

00;28;04;19 - 00;28;23;25
Unknown
How do they how do they go about that? How do they get in touch? To volunteer? They can go to our website. Church website is free. TED.com. Backslash fostering hope you can find fostering heads off work at Baptist Churches website. And that will connect them with us to share about volunteer opportunities. We do do A5K every fall.

00;28;24;00 - 00;28;45;04
Unknown
This year it's November 1st. It's called fostering at five K we it was something different before simple fostering at five K. And that is our ministry's, main fundraiser, so. Got it. Yeah. It's fun. We have a fun run for the kids and A5K, and, we have people, we have coffee trucks and just fun things called.

00;28;45;04 - 00;28;52;26
Unknown
We'll make sure that the websites and everything like that are are posted and, and we'll, we'll get all that out there as well.

00;28;52;26 - 00;29;05;11
Unknown
Well, it's pretty incredible. I mean, it's like I said, it's it is a it's a movement in our church. And truly, I just cannot I can't say enough about the support the church has provided.

00;29;05;13 - 00;29;28;17
Unknown
You know, I do, you know, just personally, I feel like vulnerable children are at the heart of God, and he takes care of them. And just being able to say yes and, and serve, in these places, there's just nothing like it. So I can't think really of anything else. I was going to I was going to ask if there was a final message that you kind of what is in you already said it, okay.

00;29;28;17 - 00;29;52;11
Unknown
That was that. It was it was beautiful. So yeah, it was amazing. Well, I appreciate you guys stopping by today. You both are angels. And, you know, we, you know, definitely. We'll get the word out, support you as much, as much as we possibly can and help, you know, help raise awareness. But, it's it's incredible.

00;29;52;11 - 00;30;01;17
Unknown
So thank you for telling your story in Jacksonville. This what a what an incredible organization. So thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, thank you.

00;30;01;17 - 00;30;15;23
Unknown
The Hometown Jack's podcast is recorded and produced by First Coast Mortgage Funding. Located in the heart of Jacksonville. Do you want to be our next guest? Visit our website at Hometown Jack's podcast.com. We can't wait to hear your story.