Circle ♥ Transition Home
Donation protected
Circle Heart will give young adults in state's custody a place to call home when they become 18 and age out of a group home or a foster home. Each resident will be given the opportunity to attend college, get a job, and learn how to budget and prepare for the real world. It will allow for transition instead of being pushed out with no support, no family, no knowledge of the real world and with no hope! This house has been a ministry for over 35 years and is set up with kitchenettes, washer/dryers, etc. Will you be a part of this miracle and help us help others?
Vision of Circle Heart Ministries - Transitional Home for Youth
Let me begin with a little background so you can know us a little better. Larry and I have been married for 26 years and both grew up in the Church of God. I was born and raised in Midwest City, Oklahoma and Larry was born in Alabama, but moved to Midwest City when he was only 5. My grandfather, Rev. Leonard S. White, was with the church of God for 48 years before his passing and was honored at the 1988 General Assembly (which happened to be the year I also went to General Assembly {Texas} for Teen Talent). He, along with my mom, 2 aunts and an uncle, have traveled and ministered all over the US – they sang and he would preach! He built all of his 12 kids a house and built many churches. What an awesome upbringing for me! Larry grew up in a small church (the same one my grandfather built and started). His dad died when he was only 9 years old – that will lend to your understanding our hearts. When I married Larry he had 3 kids, so I became an instant mom and together we have legally adopted 6 more, are in the process of 2 adult adoptions (only because they were not released for adoption until the age of 18 – have been their parents for many years), have a privately placed foster daughter in our home and a foster daughter from SMCH who will be adopted in 4 months. We have had numerous children pass through our foster home who still consider us family and rely on us for spiritual advice, guidance and prayer. I only wanted to be a mother and when cancer stole that dream, God replaced it many times over! Larry wanted to be a dad to those who were fatherless; God has definitely answered his prayer as well. Being at SMCH has allowed us to minister to even more children. I began my journey at SMCH as Direct Care on Cottage 2 (intake), shortly I became Cottage 2 Lead House Parent. I LOVE my job because, and Larry feels this same way, it is full time ministry! I am now Cottage Lead on cottage 1 (intake/ step-down Hybrid) and loving it as well. I teach Drama on Mondays and our drama team even leads Praise and Worship every other Wednesday night. Have I said that I love my job? Larry is John Conley’s Assistant Maintenance Tech. He is all over the campus and gets the opportunity to minister to the kids – especially the boys. Many times he is able to allow them to work with him for community service hours or other work hours.
All of this being said brings us to the need we see and the desire we have to supply this need on a small scale at first and only hope to grow! The need is for the ones turning 18 and “just signing themselves out”. They have no family to support them – financially or emotionally, they have no place to go, but turn 18 and just want to get out of the group home and out of DCS care. This breaks our hearts because we pour into them for as long as we can and then there is nothing else we can do – until now! We have the opportunity to help 2 at a time at this moment and more as our children grow up and move out to a life on their own. Our desire is to have a place where these kids about to age out will have a home to go to, a family to emotionally support them and they will continue to receive all of the services DCS offers them. They would be able to finish High School and go onto college and get jobs all while having a place to call home and a family to be there for them. Larry has a dream of teaching them HVAC and other skills to help them in the job market and we want to teach them money management as well.
The house that has become available is now a ministry to low income families and has been sectioned off into smaller rental units with kitchens and restrooms and shared laundry facilities. We will be changing some of the sectioning off for a period of time while our adopted children and foster children under age 18 are still at home, but there are 2 rooms with a kitchen, bathroom and laundry room that will be sectioned off just for this transitional ministry. Our oldest at home will be 18 in January and he has a good job now and will be in an efficiency apartment in the home. He plans to go to college so depending on where he goes, he may be moving out this summer, but we are not in any way pushing him out. That will be his choice, but that said when he is ready to move there will be another room open for transitional housing. Our daughters are 15, 16 and almost 17. They all plan to attend college and hope to be able to live on campus wherever they choose to go. There again opening 3 bedrooms. The house has 9 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. Our 21 year old daughter just got hired at SMCH and is living with us right now and is hoping to get her own place very soon so that would open up the 3rd bedroom for transitional living before the others are even 18. This is only the vision of the home. The information on the house, proposed budget, mission statement are all attached to this letter, please look it all over and consider how SMCH and the Church of God would like to be a part of this ministry. The owner is highly motivated and also is a Christian and believes that God sent us there as we do as well. She will be moving into her property next door and plans to continue to be a resource for us as well as far as continuing to get donations of food, clothing, furnishing, etc., being a resource parent (she is a licensed foster parent – and the home is licensed already as she has had her mentally challenged foster daughter for 4 years), being a prayer partner and also cooking for us from time to time to help us out! Our goal to move in (she will be out by Oct. 1) is by November 1, but she would be willing to do earlier! We have visited in the home with Theola Renshaw (the owner) on several occasions since we first looked at it and we feel very strongly that this is exactly where we are supposed to be and that this ministry is exactly what we are supposed to be doing. Our children know of our plans and are behind us 100%. The ones living in the home with us now support it and the ones who are grown and on their own do as well and have even offered to help where needed. We have a huge support group of people who are willing to help if we need to go away for vacation or for a weekend, they will come to the house and do the transporting, cooking, etc. as needed. Most are people who have had background checks and fingerprinting done as well and any who haven’t are more than willing to get it all done to be a part of this amazing ministry that will ultimately reach a multitude of teens who, without it, have no hope of success because they have no support! We do not plan on leaving SMCH because, as I said, I love my job. Being there will also allow us to see those with the need for this type of ministry and know them before they are ready to sign themselves out and if they realize they have an option like this, we believe some – not all – will choose to accept the support and move in and become successful adults! When, in the future, most of our adopted children have moved out and it is primarily a transitional home and needs us there, then we would consider being there full time and volunteering at SMCH as much as possible (we don’t want to give up teaching drama or ministering to the kids there at all), but that is a few years down the road.
We are asking that you take time to read this and understand our hearts for these kids turning into adults and being without any support and often feeling completely hopeless. Understand that, although it may be a small beginning, we hope to reach many transitioning from the group home to adulthood with support and services they need and deserve.
Thank you and God bless you all,
Larry and Melissa Reeves
Mission Statement
Circle Heart Transitional Home is a place for youth, in the custody of DCS, moving into adulthood, to have a place of hope and continued healing. Our mission is to provide a safe place with support and services that will help these youth turning 18 to receive all the services DCS has to offer, while no longer being in a group home setting. Our mission is to see these youth grow into successful adults by having a family who supports them, provides shelter for them, helps them learn money management and life skills, all while allowing the young adult to focus on a college education and future career. The young adults will be able to obtain jobs and have the freedom they crave, but with support. In a functional family, children grow to be teens and then transition into adulthood with a family’s support and love; however, the children in DCS custody often are completely without any knowledge of family support and have not had the proper training, love, or encouragement to become successful adults. Our mission is to fill that gap! We want to be that family that shows these young adults that success is not only possible but it is doable! We want them to realize that their past does not dictate their future, but their choices TODAY determine the outcomes of TOMORROW. We want them to know that they are loved, valued, cherished and can be anything they set they minds and hearts to be!
Vision of Circle Heart Ministries - Transitional Home for Youth
Let me begin with a little background so you can know us a little better. Larry and I have been married for 26 years and both grew up in the Church of God. I was born and raised in Midwest City, Oklahoma and Larry was born in Alabama, but moved to Midwest City when he was only 5. My grandfather, Rev. Leonard S. White, was with the church of God for 48 years before his passing and was honored at the 1988 General Assembly (which happened to be the year I also went to General Assembly {Texas} for Teen Talent). He, along with my mom, 2 aunts and an uncle, have traveled and ministered all over the US – they sang and he would preach! He built all of his 12 kids a house and built many churches. What an awesome upbringing for me! Larry grew up in a small church (the same one my grandfather built and started). His dad died when he was only 9 years old – that will lend to your understanding our hearts. When I married Larry he had 3 kids, so I became an instant mom and together we have legally adopted 6 more, are in the process of 2 adult adoptions (only because they were not released for adoption until the age of 18 – have been their parents for many years), have a privately placed foster daughter in our home and a foster daughter from SMCH who will be adopted in 4 months. We have had numerous children pass through our foster home who still consider us family and rely on us for spiritual advice, guidance and prayer. I only wanted to be a mother and when cancer stole that dream, God replaced it many times over! Larry wanted to be a dad to those who were fatherless; God has definitely answered his prayer as well. Being at SMCH has allowed us to minister to even more children. I began my journey at SMCH as Direct Care on Cottage 2 (intake), shortly I became Cottage 2 Lead House Parent. I LOVE my job because, and Larry feels this same way, it is full time ministry! I am now Cottage Lead on cottage 1 (intake/ step-down Hybrid) and loving it as well. I teach Drama on Mondays and our drama team even leads Praise and Worship every other Wednesday night. Have I said that I love my job? Larry is John Conley’s Assistant Maintenance Tech. He is all over the campus and gets the opportunity to minister to the kids – especially the boys. Many times he is able to allow them to work with him for community service hours or other work hours.
All of this being said brings us to the need we see and the desire we have to supply this need on a small scale at first and only hope to grow! The need is for the ones turning 18 and “just signing themselves out”. They have no family to support them – financially or emotionally, they have no place to go, but turn 18 and just want to get out of the group home and out of DCS care. This breaks our hearts because we pour into them for as long as we can and then there is nothing else we can do – until now! We have the opportunity to help 2 at a time at this moment and more as our children grow up and move out to a life on their own. Our desire is to have a place where these kids about to age out will have a home to go to, a family to emotionally support them and they will continue to receive all of the services DCS offers them. They would be able to finish High School and go onto college and get jobs all while having a place to call home and a family to be there for them. Larry has a dream of teaching them HVAC and other skills to help them in the job market and we want to teach them money management as well.
The house that has become available is now a ministry to low income families and has been sectioned off into smaller rental units with kitchens and restrooms and shared laundry facilities. We will be changing some of the sectioning off for a period of time while our adopted children and foster children under age 18 are still at home, but there are 2 rooms with a kitchen, bathroom and laundry room that will be sectioned off just for this transitional ministry. Our oldest at home will be 18 in January and he has a good job now and will be in an efficiency apartment in the home. He plans to go to college so depending on where he goes, he may be moving out this summer, but we are not in any way pushing him out. That will be his choice, but that said when he is ready to move there will be another room open for transitional housing. Our daughters are 15, 16 and almost 17. They all plan to attend college and hope to be able to live on campus wherever they choose to go. There again opening 3 bedrooms. The house has 9 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. Our 21 year old daughter just got hired at SMCH and is living with us right now and is hoping to get her own place very soon so that would open up the 3rd bedroom for transitional living before the others are even 18. This is only the vision of the home. The information on the house, proposed budget, mission statement are all attached to this letter, please look it all over and consider how SMCH and the Church of God would like to be a part of this ministry. The owner is highly motivated and also is a Christian and believes that God sent us there as we do as well. She will be moving into her property next door and plans to continue to be a resource for us as well as far as continuing to get donations of food, clothing, furnishing, etc., being a resource parent (she is a licensed foster parent – and the home is licensed already as she has had her mentally challenged foster daughter for 4 years), being a prayer partner and also cooking for us from time to time to help us out! Our goal to move in (she will be out by Oct. 1) is by November 1, but she would be willing to do earlier! We have visited in the home with Theola Renshaw (the owner) on several occasions since we first looked at it and we feel very strongly that this is exactly where we are supposed to be and that this ministry is exactly what we are supposed to be doing. Our children know of our plans and are behind us 100%. The ones living in the home with us now support it and the ones who are grown and on their own do as well and have even offered to help where needed. We have a huge support group of people who are willing to help if we need to go away for vacation or for a weekend, they will come to the house and do the transporting, cooking, etc. as needed. Most are people who have had background checks and fingerprinting done as well and any who haven’t are more than willing to get it all done to be a part of this amazing ministry that will ultimately reach a multitude of teens who, without it, have no hope of success because they have no support! We do not plan on leaving SMCH because, as I said, I love my job. Being there will also allow us to see those with the need for this type of ministry and know them before they are ready to sign themselves out and if they realize they have an option like this, we believe some – not all – will choose to accept the support and move in and become successful adults! When, in the future, most of our adopted children have moved out and it is primarily a transitional home and needs us there, then we would consider being there full time and volunteering at SMCH as much as possible (we don’t want to give up teaching drama or ministering to the kids there at all), but that is a few years down the road.
We are asking that you take time to read this and understand our hearts for these kids turning into adults and being without any support and often feeling completely hopeless. Understand that, although it may be a small beginning, we hope to reach many transitioning from the group home to adulthood with support and services they need and deserve.
Thank you and God bless you all,
Larry and Melissa Reeves
Mission Statement
Circle Heart Transitional Home is a place for youth, in the custody of DCS, moving into adulthood, to have a place of hope and continued healing. Our mission is to provide a safe place with support and services that will help these youth turning 18 to receive all the services DCS has to offer, while no longer being in a group home setting. Our mission is to see these youth grow into successful adults by having a family who supports them, provides shelter for them, helps them learn money management and life skills, all while allowing the young adult to focus on a college education and future career. The young adults will be able to obtain jobs and have the freedom they crave, but with support. In a functional family, children grow to be teens and then transition into adulthood with a family’s support and love; however, the children in DCS custody often are completely without any knowledge of family support and have not had the proper training, love, or encouragement to become successful adults. Our mission is to fill that gap! We want to be that family that shows these young adults that success is not only possible but it is doable! We want them to realize that their past does not dictate their future, but their choices TODAY determine the outcomes of TOMORROW. We want them to know that they are loved, valued, cherished and can be anything they set they minds and hearts to be!
Organizer
Melissa Thurman Reeves
Organizer
