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Heling’s 4 Healing & Hope (Finding Hope Farm)

Can you help with a farmhouse to All donations will be used to purchase, renovate and set up a Not for Profit farm.

Our family recently looked at a very run-down farm house.  We made an offer with the cash that we had available, but it wasn’t enough to secure the property.  Our adopted son Trayvon bought us a letter that said why he wanted THIS particular farm house.  In part, his letter read: “I go to sleep and I just imagine that I have my own animals at that farm…I just look at animals as my friends, they play with me and we have fun together… We would have so much fun as a family fixing the house up together”. Trayvon spent 3.5 years in foster care wondering if he would ever finally feel like he didn’t have to go anywhere again. He got his wish this past December when we adopted Trayvon and his sister Amber. I was thinking about this run-down farm house and our son & daughter; there were so many similarities.  Like the cracks in the walls, cloudy windows, dilapidated buildings each child arrives broken, maybe dirty, rough on the outside, closed off not letting anyone inside and holding secrets that no one knows, but kids like this house have potential. Potential to overcome neglect, pain and/or trauma.  Trayvon's vision is “If we get this farm my animals will always be right there with me and we can share it with other kids in foster care…” If we can provide this hope and security  to a child or future foster children we will continue to try.

STATISTICS: We are James and Jennifer Heling, Trayvon’s parents, and we are 1 of about 30 licensed foster homes in Manitowoc County. Wisconsin has reached a ten-year high of nearly 7500 (as of December 31, 2016) kids in foster care and that doesn’t even take into account for the children living with non-parental relatives. For these children, their future is unknown and scary.

TRAYVON & AMBER’S STORY: Their lives were turned upside down when they were placed in foster care. As family of these children we had to decide can we take on two more children into our family of 5 or do we let them go to a non-family foster home.  The latter scared us, where would they go, who would they be with, would they be OK, would we be able to see them.  So, the journey began: paperwork, court hearings, and weekend visits. We had two kids who we knew nothing really about because we had lost contact with my cousin over the years. We had no idea how the life style they were living affected these innocent children. On March 5, 2016, the kids were court appointed to our care. We went to therapist every week to help them realize that the events of their past were not their fault, they did nothing wrong, and they weren’t living like that any longer, but to no avail. We vowed not to give up, not look at the day by day progress because some days there was none, but instead look at time in units of weeks and months.  We attended training classes on Trauma Informed Care and it was like looking at these children on paper.  This is why they talk the way they do, respond the way they do and act the way they do.  Every day was a new adventure, you never know when a smell, a sound, a voice with trigger panic and fear. Walking through public places was a challenge.

While we were attending these classes a family friend, who made an instant connection with these kids, took them to her hobby farm to work with her animals (dogs, goats, mini horses, chickens and a donkey). This is where we saw for the first-time connections being made for these kids.  There was something about the country and animals that soothed their mood, made life seem a little better for the moment.  The animals didn’t talk back, they knew nothing about where they came from, they didn’t care who they were. They were just kids that were willing to feed them, groom them and spend time with them. Quickly bonds grew.  We saw confidence grow, we saw responsibility grow.  And out of the ashes these children started to rise again with a new hope and a new lease on life.  Who would have thought an animal could bring them so much joy!  On December 5, 2017 Trayvon and his sister got their wish and were adopted. Unfortunately, the past still sneaks up on them, there are things that they experienced that they will never forget. Having animals bring them comfort in that moment of struggle.

 
OUR COMMITMENT:
Through the last 2+ years we have been blessed to find a new passion and calling on our lives to love the hurting, not only the kids but their parents. Give them love to help them through each stage of their life is our goal and commitment to all kids. After the kids were adopted we had to make a decision to we continue to be foster parents for non-family or do we give up our foster license? We wouldn’t trade this process the setbacks and the successes for anything and we just knew we wanted to help more kids. There is something about animals and kids that just go hand in hand and help build important life skills and healing.

Organizer

Jenna Heling
Organizer
Manitowoc, WI

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