The Orem Home is Growing!
Donation protected
Hey there!
This is Josh and Tyler Orem and we’re helping share the most recent chapter of our parents' latest journey with you today.
We’re assuming that if you’ve reached this page you at least know a little bit about Jon and Sharon Orem, but if you haven’t had a chance to keep up with their adventures into fostering and adopting kids in recent years - we wanted to fill you in on some of the basics!
Mom and Dad always welcomed kids of all backgrounds and situations into the Orem Home while we were growing up, but starting 6 years ago they became official foster parents inside of Shelby County.
One of the first calls they received was for a baby girl, who at just 4 days old needed an immediate home to go to. They said yes and started their official foster journey that night.
As many of you now know, that was how we met our (now) sister Isabelle who has since been formally adopted into our family. Belle, now a cheery Kindergartener, is an avid reader and loves doing zumba.
Several years ago, Mom and Dad also welcomed Betsy, a teenager at the time, into our family. She is currently in college at the University of Southern Indiana.
In addition to raising these sisters, Mom and Dad have opened their home to children in the foster system. They are currently loving and providing care for a wide eyed, smiley foster baby who is only 9 months old. They also spent the last month caring for a 16 year old trying out life outside of a residential treatment facility.
And just this week they are bidding farewell to another elementary aged brother and sister who were scheduled to come for only a weekend but ended up staying the last 4+ months before being ready to transition back to extended family.
Mom and Dad have both retired after over 5 decades of combined teaching, but Dad is back helping fill in as a temporary teacher at an elementary school here in Shelbyville. They are both as busy as ever with all the new kids, toddlers, and babies in the house.
For years, Mom and Dad have made the Orem Home where we were raised function in various shapes and sizes to fit the needs of the growing family and foster children. They’ve moved rooms, added bunks, and changed around living situations to fit the growing needs of the kids and the growing number of actual kids in the home! :)
Mom and Dad have the ability and the passion to continue helping even more kids, but the space they are doing it in has met its limits. You can imagine what a home full of half a dozen school kids and two adults is like with one bathroom available on school mornings!
On top of that, the foster system has very specific regulations and sizing requirements for bedrooms, living spaces, etc… If Mom and Dad are going to continue to be available to answer the call when others are in need, they need to expand!
They got a quote for adding an expansion onto the Orem Home that would allow for another 2 bedrooms and a second (much needed) full bathroom for the kids to get ready for school in the morning.
As they were getting quotes for the expansion--and trying to creatively come up with a way to make it work--they discovered that expanding the house would also require an upgrade to the septic system (to be able to support the expansion). This additional cost was a big surprise and is another hurdle to overcome to achieve this (literal) expansion of their dream.
There is no doubt in our minds that eventually Mom and Dad will find a way to navigate this situation (like they always have). And if you know them, you know they aren’t ones to ask for help. In fact, they aren’t the ones putting this page together at all. We (Josh and Tyler) have set this up in an attempt to offset at least a small part of the cost of expanding not just the physical house, but the Orem Home they’ve worked so hard to build for so many.
We know everyone’s financial situation is different - and the nice thing about a platform like this is it allows ANY contribution - big or small to add up and make a real difference.
Mom and Dad are as dedicated as ever to helping raise and provide a safe, loving home for the next generation of children from all backgrounds. And we're wanting to help them with that vision any way we can.
We are going to keep this campaign open for a month, starting on March 18th and continuing through Mom's birthday, April 18th.
Whether or not you can give directly, we appreciate you sharing this link on Facebook or by emailing others that may know and support Mom and Dad’s vision of helping provide a loving home. You can do this with the buttons at the top of this page!
Thank you all for your continued love and support. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to us (Josh and Tyler) directly!
Love,
Josh and Tyler Orem
This is Josh and Tyler Orem and we’re helping share the most recent chapter of our parents' latest journey with you today.
We’re assuming that if you’ve reached this page you at least know a little bit about Jon and Sharon Orem, but if you haven’t had a chance to keep up with their adventures into fostering and adopting kids in recent years - we wanted to fill you in on some of the basics!
Mom and Dad always welcomed kids of all backgrounds and situations into the Orem Home while we were growing up, but starting 6 years ago they became official foster parents inside of Shelby County.
One of the first calls they received was for a baby girl, who at just 4 days old needed an immediate home to go to. They said yes and started their official foster journey that night.
As many of you now know, that was how we met our (now) sister Isabelle who has since been formally adopted into our family. Belle, now a cheery Kindergartener, is an avid reader and loves doing zumba.
Several years ago, Mom and Dad also welcomed Betsy, a teenager at the time, into our family. She is currently in college at the University of Southern Indiana.
In addition to raising these sisters, Mom and Dad have opened their home to children in the foster system. They are currently loving and providing care for a wide eyed, smiley foster baby who is only 9 months old. They also spent the last month caring for a 16 year old trying out life outside of a residential treatment facility.
And just this week they are bidding farewell to another elementary aged brother and sister who were scheduled to come for only a weekend but ended up staying the last 4+ months before being ready to transition back to extended family.
Mom and Dad have both retired after over 5 decades of combined teaching, but Dad is back helping fill in as a temporary teacher at an elementary school here in Shelbyville. They are both as busy as ever with all the new kids, toddlers, and babies in the house.
For years, Mom and Dad have made the Orem Home where we were raised function in various shapes and sizes to fit the needs of the growing family and foster children. They’ve moved rooms, added bunks, and changed around living situations to fit the growing needs of the kids and the growing number of actual kids in the home! :)
Mom and Dad have the ability and the passion to continue helping even more kids, but the space they are doing it in has met its limits. You can imagine what a home full of half a dozen school kids and two adults is like with one bathroom available on school mornings!
On top of that, the foster system has very specific regulations and sizing requirements for bedrooms, living spaces, etc… If Mom and Dad are going to continue to be available to answer the call when others are in need, they need to expand!
They got a quote for adding an expansion onto the Orem Home that would allow for another 2 bedrooms and a second (much needed) full bathroom for the kids to get ready for school in the morning.
As they were getting quotes for the expansion--and trying to creatively come up with a way to make it work--they discovered that expanding the house would also require an upgrade to the septic system (to be able to support the expansion). This additional cost was a big surprise and is another hurdle to overcome to achieve this (literal) expansion of their dream.
There is no doubt in our minds that eventually Mom and Dad will find a way to navigate this situation (like they always have). And if you know them, you know they aren’t ones to ask for help. In fact, they aren’t the ones putting this page together at all. We (Josh and Tyler) have set this up in an attempt to offset at least a small part of the cost of expanding not just the physical house, but the Orem Home they’ve worked so hard to build for so many.
We know everyone’s financial situation is different - and the nice thing about a platform like this is it allows ANY contribution - big or small to add up and make a real difference.
Mom and Dad are as dedicated as ever to helping raise and provide a safe, loving home for the next generation of children from all backgrounds. And we're wanting to help them with that vision any way we can.
We are going to keep this campaign open for a month, starting on March 18th and continuing through Mom's birthday, April 18th.
Whether or not you can give directly, we appreciate you sharing this link on Facebook or by emailing others that may know and support Mom and Dad’s vision of helping provide a loving home. You can do this with the buttons at the top of this page!
Thank you all for your continued love and support. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to us (Josh and Tyler) directly!
Love,
Josh and Tyler Orem
Organizer and beneficiary
Josh Orem
Organizer
Shelbyville, IN
Sharon Orem
Beneficiary
