Well, one of the favorite things that we like to do here on Experience Michiana is find out about organizations and people who are giving back to the community and kind of filling a need.

And we're going to find out about an organization that's doing that, not just here in our local area soon, but also throughout the country.

And it's an organization called the Isaiah 117 House, and it was founded in order to help kids in need.

And joining us today is Ronda Paulson, who is the founder of the Isaiah 117 House, as well as Becky Burt and Shayne Cripe, who are a local advocates for the Elkhart County community.

Ronda, let's start with what is the 117 house?

What does it do for a community that has one?

Well good morning.

Thanks for having us.

Isaiah 117 House exists for a child who's being removed from their home, due to no circumstances of their own.

The state is having to come in and remove them from their parents.

And on that day, we exist for them to have a home to come to, to get everything that they need, a bath, a meal, new possessions, they often interstates custody with nothing, possibly a black trash bag.

They're hungry, they're tired.

We want them to have a soft place to land.

We have learned that removal day is one of the most traumatic days they will ever walk.

And so Isaiah 117 house exists to reduce trauma for that child on that very traumatic day.

Now, it was a really touching story for me to hear how you guys, your family, came up with this idea and saw this need personal.

And so can you share with us a little bit about the background of how this all got started?

Yeah.

I tell people all the time that Isaiah 117 House came out of lived experience.

My husband and I knew nothing about foster care, but we felt the Lord leading us to be foster parents.

And once you find yourself in this world, you learn a lot of things that you didn't know when you were outside this world and when I was outside of this world, when I thought about a child being removed, I thought they immediately went to this perfect placement and everything was great.

And yay, they were safe.

And once you're inside the world, you realize that there's a gap.

And that child is being removed.

Yes, from an unsafe environment, but that is their home.

That is their mama.

That is that's all they know.

And they are moved from that, that place of origin, that place that they love to state office.

And they sit in that state office for hours and possibly days, confused, alone, scared.

And I was sitting in a state conference room when I first learned about this.

I learned that a little girl had spent the night there the night before, and it truly broke my heart to imagine a six year old little girl so confused, probably feeling some guilt and shame.

And she'd done nothing wrong.

And then once we accepted our first placement, which was a little boy named Isaiah, he came to us in a borrowed outfit with the roach infested diaper bag.

And that's when I learned that children all across this country enter foster care with one shoe, a diaper, only the clothes on their back.

And once again, they've done nothing wrong.

And then as we walked out those two years with Isaiah, almost three years with Isaiah, just watching the system, seeing how hard caseworkers are working, seeing how hard foster parents are trying, seeing children just waiting in offices.

I just felt like there had to be a better way and more importantly, I felt like God throwing me, nudging me, forcing me toward a better way.

Because I do believe that God wanted more for his children.

You're so right in the fact that it's such a traumatic experience, right?

They're taking out of a bad situation, and it doesn't become less stressful at that time.

Right?

The the uncertainty that goes along with it and giving them a place that has support and comfort and their needs met, right away, might help with that stress a little bit.

So we really appreciate what you're doing.

So how does that spread beyond just the house that you started the you know, how how has this become a thing that other communities can say, yes, we have that need to how do we start?

Yeah, I tell people all the time, I thought there was going to be one house.

I'm coming to.

You live from Tennessee.

I thought it was going to be one house in little northeast Tennessee, but I think there's two reasons that we've grown so quickly.

Number one, God is big.

But number two, the need is huge and the need is everywhere.

And so once we had this home to reduce trauma for children and lighten the load for caseworkers and make that, yes, easier for foster parents.

And it worked.

Other people started reaching out and saying we have that same need.

And so this model that we have as a 117 house, it's actually quite easy to replicate and it's super effective.

And so that's what we've seen is that people come to us and say we have the same need in our community, and we go and we help them replicate that in their community.

And we've done that now 58 times in 13 states.

We have 31 open homes.

The rest are either in construction or possibly getting ready to kick off a new expansion like Elkhart, Indiana.

Because the need is huge and the need is everywhere, and our children deserve better.

Now here locally.

I had a chance to find out about you guys because, Becky and I met at a and another event for, Bashor children's home, and she shared with me, and I think, like her, we both hope that there's really not a need for that in our community because we're not involved in it and we don't see it.

So, Becky, tell me about what led, to seeing the need for, an Isaiah 117 house here in the Elkhart County area?

Well, Kelsy, I wish that I could say we don't need a house in our community, but that's just not the case.

Elkhart County statistics for just May of this year show 353 children with DCFs cases, and sadly, that number has sharply increased from 111.

Just three and a half years ago, in February of 22, of the open cases that we have right now, 228 of our children are living with foster families or relatives or a few in a residential facility, most of them with foster families.

And so that's why our team is working to bring Isaiah 117 House to Elkhart County, because our kids, our caseworkers and our, placement families, they need the support that this house can provide and it actually, Ronda's story is what drew me into this, just connecting with that.

And it made me really search my own heart and say, where do I need to be serving?

And right now that's bringing this house to Elkhart County.

Now, unfortunately, we have a limited amount of time, so we can't get into all the details of the house.

But that's exactly why you guys are having an event.

And, Shayne, can we talk about this kickoff event that's going to be happening so people can come get more information about what it is, about how they can support it.

And, so tell us, when is the event, what is the event going to be like and how can people be involved.

Thank you.

Yes.

So our event is August 3rd Sunday afternoon, 3:00.

It's a one hour event so you can go to the lake, come home and come back to our meeting, go back to the lake, whatever you'd like to do there.

But 3:00 and, Ronda will be there as our main speaker.

Becky and I will be sharing a bit, and we have another speaker coming in.

It's it's something to just celebrate the we're kicking off the expansion of for Elkhart County.

We're we're, just celebrating that fact.

And so we hope you all can come, 3:00 if you have any questions on it, you can email us.

Elkhart I N @ Isaiah 117 house.com.

And that would get us the email for it also we're on social media Facebook Instagram.

Isaiah 117 house Elkhart County.

And we have the invitation on there, the invite on all that's on there.

And we have ways to sign up for newsletters at some point too.

So if you'd want to head to our social media, that'd be a great place to go.

Also, thank you, and I'm glad you guys are doing this.

It given the community opportunity to be a part of it.

Ronda, one last thing.

I want you to talk to us about how, feeling led to answer a call.

Right.

So it for everybody else, it might not be helping out with this house.

Maybe it is.

Hopefully it is in some way or form.

But often we're called this something and just being open to hearing it.

Can you talk about that a little bit of you.

You never know what the day might bring that it might show you something that you're supposed to help with.

Yeah.

That is one of the greatest lessons I've learned through this.

I think that's one of God's favorite prayers is when his people just say, God, I want you to use me.

And I can't explain why the God of the universe invites us into his work as flawed and imperfect as we are.

But he does, and he doesn't need us to be equipped.

He doesn't need us to have it all figured out.

He just wants us to be willing, and he wants us to go out into a world that is in desperate need of his love, and to love on others in his name, in whatever form that takes, whether that's helping with foster children or many other ways.

He is calling his people to get outside of the walls of the church and love on people in his name.

And so I just pray that all of us start every morning by asking God, how can I love on others in your name?

Today?

Oh very good.

Well, thank you all very much for answering that call, for being willing to step out of your comfort zone and to help a community that is really in need.

And we really appreciate it.

Again, that event is coming up on August 3rd at 3 p.m. at the Elcona Country Club.

If you want more information, we'll have all of the links on our website or you might found it, find it down below if you're seeing this on our Facebook page.

But, ladies, thank you so much for your time today and best of luck as you continue forward helping our communities.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.