The Call comes to Prescott and Nevada County
PRESCOTT – Ribbon cutting ceremonies were held for The Call Thursday at the Nevada County Library.
Normally ribbon cuttings are held at the business location, but The Call isn’t a business. It’s a faith-based, non-profit foster program and has no set location. The ribbon cutting was to welcome it to Nevada County.
Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver lauded the partnership between Hempstead and Nevada counties on the project, saying Prescott is all about young people. The Spot youth center opened five years ago, he told the packed community room, and this summer has had an average of 45 children a day attending.
Dixie Coffee, area Call director, said they wanted The Call in Nevada County and will work closely with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) doing pride training for new foster parents. These trainings, she said, are done on two non-consecutive weekends at an area church. Currently, she added, three people are in Little Rock learning how to become trainers. Two are from Nevada County with one from Hempstead County.
This, she said, is a calling people are made for, adding there’s a real need in Hempstead and Nevada counties. The idea is to show children in foster homes they’re special. While most people say they can’t foster children, Coffee said, people in the two counties are stepping up to do just that with the help of The Call. These people are making a difference in children’s lives, keeping them in their home counties and local schools, and, in many instances, with their brothers and sisters.
The Call, she continued, helps foster/adoptive families through the process, from start to finish, working with them to ensure the children involved have a safe home environment.
She told those gathers about Alton Carter, the product of the foster system, who wrote “The Boy Who Carried Bricks” about his life in the system. Carter, she said, will be at Hempstead Hall at 7 p.m. on Aug. 29. She encouraged everyone to attend.
Christy Higgenbotham, a local member of The Call, said she heard about the program two years ago in church camp and felt it was something she needed to get involved with. James 1:27, she said, leapt off the page for her. This verse has been adopted by The Call as its message.
Two foster children were also at the ribbon cutting. One spoke about being in the system for three years and being with her current foster family for the last year-and-a-half. She said there aren’t enough foster families.
The Call, she said, helps families by educating them to show the children someone cares about them and knows they exist. Her current family, she added, has guided her and been involved in the program.
Jeffery Williams, director of the DCFS, said he wasn’t thrilled with The Call coming to Nevada County when he first heard about it, but has since changed his mind. He agreed more foster families are needed, saying there are children from the county in foster care in other parts of the state, when they need to be here.
The Department of Human Services, he said, can do other things beside foster home. It can work with people to help in other ways. Williams encouraged people to volunteer in any way they can.
Coffee closed by telling about an informational program at 6 p.m. on Aug. 13 at Central Baptist Church. She encouraged anyone interested or curious about the program to attend, and urged all area churches to send representatives.
While The Call doesn’t have a phone number, it has a web address: hempsteadnevada@the callinarkansas.org. Or, people can register at The CALLinArkansas.org.
