Small Steps, Great Leaps

By Jan Badger

Wendi Stogner is just a mom.  Thankfully, that is all she had to be to change the world for twelve children and their families.  This is not what she set out to do, but as with many things in life, her small steps to help her own son turned into great leaps for those around her.

Wendi Stogner and family

In 2006, Wendi's son, Kaden, was diagnosed with autism.  She and her husband, Kevin, soon discovered that the therapies that could most help Kaden cost more than they could afford and were not covered by medical insurance.  With her family's help she organized a golf tournament to help meet the cost.  Her ultimate goal was to raise $2,000.  To her surprise, she ended up raising more than five times that amount!  No one would have blamed her for keeping the other monies for the following years, but she realized that more and more children were being diagnosed with the disability, and early intervention is key for them to be able to succeed in life.  So, she decided to open up a scholarship fund for children like hers.  She was able to award five $2,000 scholarships that year.  The Stogner Scholarship for Autism's second Annual Golf Tournament was an even bigger success, almost doubling the first year's efforts!

As the tournament grew Wendi found it was necessary and beneficial for the parents of scholarship recipients to help in the fundraising efforts.  She based the amount of the scholarship on the effort of each family to recruit teams, solicit sponsorships, and volunteer time before and during the tournament.  Because of Wendi's emphasis on making the tournament an amazing experience for everyone involved, each year more teams signed up to play, more tee times were added and the tournament became a two day event.  Even better, the players could learn more about the children they were helping and feel emotionally invested in their recovery.  Many trophy winners have been brought to tears, not by the thrill of victory, but because their trophies were made of legos by the kids and their siblings.

To date, after just five tournaments, the Stogner Foundation has raised over $100,000 and awarded forty-three scholarships.  By encouraging the families to participate in fund raising efforts, organizing the tournaments, and volunteering during the events, the Foundation has not had to hire employees, so more of the money raised can go directly to everyone involved.  "Our goal is to give theses families a hand up, not a handout," Wendi explained while describing the foundation's mission.  The families learn how to advocate and raise funds while educating the community and giving their extended families, friends, and local business owners the opportunity to participate in each child's recovery.  All of this because a mom wanted to raise two thousand dollars.

This April the Stogner Foundation is embarking on a new fundraising venture.  The "All in for Austism" Casino Night will take place this Friday, April 13, at WinMock at Kinderton in Bermuda Run, NC.  The event with a 1920's gangster and flapper theme will include, not only casino games, but also a poker tournament, food, drinks, dancing, raffles, and a costume contest.  Wendi is excited and optimistic about the event, "It's going to be so much fun.  I can't wait!  We're hoping to reach a broader audience than just golfers, including women."

Tickets are $50 and include food, drinks, $10,000 funny money and can be purchased by calling Wendi at (336) 608-9418.  For more information about the Stogner Foundation, visit their website at http://www.scholarshipsforautism.org, or their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stogner-Scholarship-for-Autism-Inc/220003474701501.  Wendi can be reached at wendi@scholarshipsforautism.org.


Jan Badger is a mother of two children, including a son with autism.  She is an art director, social media manager and runs her own advertising and design company, Jan Badger Creative Solutions.  You can see her work online at www.facebook.com/pages/Jan-Badger-Creative-Solutions/131367936965075, or contact her at jan.badger6@gmail.com.

Out of Compassion We Are Moved to Action

By Tricia Herren

In 1994, a Houston newscast reported a tragic story of a teenager who was stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver.  I began to pray, I was grieved.  Unsure in what way I could help, I became a volunteer with the youth in our church.  A year later, I led an outreach activity to a Child Protective Services (CPS) shelter for teen girls who had been abused, neglected and abandoned.  We scheduled our first visit armed with snacks, board games, twelve teens and three adults. We hung out with them, and the ice broke quickly!  We had a blast!  Who would have thought outreach would be so much fun?  After a few visits, we invited them to church and the staff person who brought them gave her heart to the Lord.  It appeared God was up to something.

A few simple outreach activities with the teens from our church lead to a weekly ministry at two different shelters over a seven year period.  Those seven years of volunteering lead to a vision for providing a new kind of support: an entire church community of foster families and children. That became the foundation for Homes with Hope.  God transformed a ministry of visiting children in a shelter into a ministry of the church taking these children into their homes.

Through a series of events that are nothing short of miraculous, an agency was born. The time between forming the agency and opening our doors spanned nearly one and a half years.  In that time many people worked together to accomplish all that needed to be done, including sharing the vision with our church pastor, recruiting the board of directors, filing for our incorporation and bylaws, opening a bank account, fund raising, applying for our 501(3)c non-profit status, our state license and our contract with CPS, setting up our office space and hiring a social worker.  The task was  daunting.  I was still busy running my own interior design business and felt unqualified to start this agency.  I am thankful for how God demonstrated his provision by bringing so many skilled and helpful volunteers to meet the needs and encourage me along this path.

As I began the process, the owner from the first shelter we served decided to help me establish the agency.  Her involvement brought twenty years of social work experience to the table, and she began writing policies for our state license application.  Unfortunately, after six months of work, she had to withdraw to support her husband’s business.  With fear and trepidation, I took what she had written, read the state license minimum standards and proceeded to figure out what I could do to complete it, which wasn’t much.  I was allowed three submissions of the application to the state.  If the license was not granted by the third submission, we would have to wait another year before reapplying.  I mailed the application, and it came back riddled with corrections in red and a list of the missing pieces.  I was overwhelmed by what was left to do.  Two days later, a contractor arrived with his new assistant to finish remodeling my bathroom.  I discovered that his assistant had helped three local agencies get their license.  I thought, could my help come from a stranger in my bathroom?  Surely not.  But, with his help, the application was accepted on the third try, and we were officially a licensed child placing agency!

We opened our doors in April 2004, and in December 2006, became an adoption agency as well, finding permanent homes for children.  Since that time, we have placed eighty-five foster children in great homes; twenty-five of them have been adopted.

The heart of Homes with Hope is caring for abused and neglected children.  Out of compassion for children in crisis, we are moved to action.  We believe that the Lord demonstrates his heart for these children through our practical expressions of love.  We believe community is the key to supporting and serving our children, our families and the church.

Our desire is to network with other churches, encouraging them to organize orphan care ministries of their own and help them serve the Lord in this way.  How do we do this with limited staff and resources?  How do we build and enlarge what we have established when we are often so weary?  How do we find others like us who are called to the same work?  We will do what we did from the beginning:  take it one step at a time, be faithful in the small things, be faithful to serve, intent on finding God's heart, seeking him, and the rest will come....

Tricia Herren attends the Vineyard Church in Houston, TX, and has served in most every area of ministry for the past twenty-nine years.  Educated as an interior designer, she ran her own design business for ten years before embarking on the adventure of directing a foster care and adoption agency.  For more information, visit her website at www.homeswithhope.org.  Contact Tricia at tricia@homeswithhope.org,or call Homes with Hope at (713) 864-1885.