A Place to Meet Hope

The reality is that some youth who spent time in foster care carry religious trauma, which can be due to religious-based abuse or neglect, or being placed in foster homes with potentially harmful religious beliefs or practices. Many of these youth don’t know Jesus and the hope, healing and abundant life He desires for them. Our vision for Tamarisk is absolutely that we could come alongside young adults aging out of foster care and support them tangibly through relationships, advocacy, physical items, life skills, career direction, etc., but we also know that all of this is temporary. Our greatest desire is that Tamarisk would be a place where they could meet real Hope - Jesus. Our team deeply believes that He is the greatest thing we could offer anyone. He is a Savior who knows what it means to suffer and to walk wounded. He is a Healer, Restorer, Father and Friend. And what a promise we have in Him, that one day He will wipe away all our tears, and death, mourning and pain will be no more. We certainly cannot give anyone that kind of promise, and so we will point them to the One who can. This will primarily look like pursuing relationship with the young adults we will serve and Lord-willing earning the right to be heard to be able to then speak into their lives. We will absolutely offer discipleship if any of our young adults are interested in pursuing it but will not force anything on anyone. It will simply be as D.T. Niles stated, “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

A Place for Provision

Through prayerful planning and the generosity of our donors, next month we are launching Tamarisk Community! Our prayer is that for young adults transitioning out of foster care, this community would be a place where they could feel known, be given opportunity, have fun, restorative experiences, and experience rest, refuge, and provision.

Did you know… the tamarisk tree produces a juice that insects will transform into a white-like substance that’s sweet to eat. This substance is sometimes known as manna. For weary travelers, the tamarisk tree became not only a source of rest and refuge, but also a symbol of provision.

We hope to provide for our young adults relationally through community, friendship and mentorship, and we also hope to provide for them tangibly and financially. This will look like “life packets” full of essential items such as cleaning and cooking supplies, laundry detergent, a suitcase, interview clothes, etc. Personally, my parents helped to provide many of these items when I first moved into my own place, and we hope to step in and fill that gap for the youth we will serve. Additionally, we plan to provide a benevolence fund to be able to financially support our youth in a sustainable way if things get tough. And ultimately, our prayer is that the young adults we serve would see this provision coming from the Lord, and that it would point to Him as their Provider.

In the weeks to come, we will provide more details for what our official launch will look like. For now, here is how you can help:

How You Can Help

As we prepare to open our doors, we need your support in three key areas:

1. Volunteers: We’re looking for people who want to give their time and talents to this community.

2. Prayer Partners: We welcome those who feel led to support this mission in prayer.

3. Financial Support: To keep the Tamarisk House running, we need to raise $5,000 in monthly donations for essentials like rent, utilities, meals and resident experiences. 

You’ve already been so generous, and we’re deeply grateful. As we step into this next chapter, would you consider a monthly donation, or sharing this campaign with others who might want to get involved? Every contribution helps us move closer to creating a home where these young people can find the stability and support they need. 

A Place for Fun

Through prayerful planning and the generosity of our donors, this coming November, we are launching  Tamarisk Community! Our prayer is that for young adults transitioning out of foster care, our Tamarisk Community House would be a place where they could feel known, be given opportunity, experience rest and refuge, and have fun, restorative experiences. 

One often overlooked aspect of foster care is the absence of fun childhood experiences, like playing sports, going to amusement parks, attending birthday parties, or engaging in various hobbies. This is typically due to financial constraints, unstable placements, and the focus on basic needs rather than leisure activities. The lack of experiences can cause feelings of deprivation, low self-esteem and social isolation. 

Along with our weekly Tamarisk Community dinners, we also plan to host monthly social events, many being "experiences" for our young people. This will look like game nights, movie nights, playing putt putt or Top Golf, going go-karting, to museums, and even taking a trip to the beach (some youth in foster care have never seen the beach!). And we look forward to celebrating many birthdays and holidays together. Our desire and prayer is that our young people could experience the fullness of life. We also pray that they could experience healing in the parts of themselves that may have low-esteem, or feel deprived and/or socially isolated. And ultimately, our greatest prayer is that they would know the God of John 10:10, which says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

How You Can Help

As we prepare to open our doors, we need your support in three key areas:

1. Volunteers: We’re looking for people who want to give their time and talents to this community.

2. Prayer Partners: We welcome those who feel led to support this mission in prayer.

3. Financial Support: To keep the Tamarisk House running, we need to raise $5,000 in monthly donations for essentials like rent, utilities, meals and resident experiences. 

You’ve already been so generous, and we’re deeply grateful. As we step into this next chapter, would you consider a monthly donation, or sharing this campaign with others who might want to get involved? Every contribution helps us move closer to creating a home where these young people can find the stability and support they need. 

A Place for Opportunity

Due to the many challenges faced by this population, only 20% of former foster youth have completed high school, and less than 3% have completed a college degree. Many of them transition out of foster care with no degree and little to no direction or support. 65% of former foster youth age out at 18 with no place to call home. One of our big goals as we launch Tamarisk Community is to wrap around these young people by providing mentorship, connecting them to the resources that are available to them, and giving them the space and permission to dream about what they want their future to look like, whether that be finishing high school, going to college, trade school, or pursuing a specific career. 

Through prayerful planning and the generosity of our donors, this coming November, we are launching  Tamarisk Community to do just that. We envision a city in which our young people who are transitioning out of foster care never have to experience homelessness or joblessness, but instead are provided with support and opportunity to flourish in adulthood. 

How You Can Help

As we prepare to open our doors, we need your support in three key areas:

1. Volunteers: We’re looking for people who want to give their time and talents to this community.

2. Prayer Partners: We welcome those who feel led to support this mission in prayer.

3. Financial Support: To keep the Tamarisk House running, we need to raise $5,000 in monthly donations for essentials like rent, utilities, meals and resident experiences. 

You’ve already been so generous, and we’re deeply grateful. As we step into this next chapter, would you consider a monthly donation, or sharing this campaign with others who might want to get involved? Every contribution helps us move closer to creating a home where these young people can find the stability and support they need. 

A Place for Rest

If you have been wondering what a “tamarisk” is, it's a type of tree that was planted by Abraham in a place called Beersheba, which is located in the dry and desolate Negev desert. The tamarisk offers 15% more shade than a typical tree, providing weary travelers - including the Israelites during their wilderness wandering - rest and refuge under its shade. 

And this is our hope for what the Tamarisk Community House could be for young adults transitioning out of foster care - a place for rest. That for a population of young people who may have never had a safe, stable place to land, this house and community could be just that. Through homemade meals, friendship, and various life packets full of essential items - such as pots and pans, cleaning supplies, a suitcase, interview clothes, etc. - our hope is that our young people would feel supported and cared for as they transition into adulthood. 

How You Can Help

As we prepare to open our doors, we need your support in three key areas:

• Volunteers: We’re looking for people who want to give their time and gifts to this community.

• Prayer Partners: We welcome those who feel led to support this mission in prayer.

• Financial Support: To keep the Tamarisk House running, we need to raise $5,000 in monthly donations for essentials like rent, utilities, meals and resident experiences.

You’ve already been so generous, and we’re deeply grateful. As we step into this next chapter, would you consider increasing your support or sharing this campaign with others who might want to get involved? Every contribution helps us move closer to creating a home where these young people can find the stability and support they need.

A Place to Be Known

Through prayerful planning and the generosity of our donors, this November we are launching a Tamarisk Community House to serve young adults who are transitioning out of foster care. Our desire is that it would be more than a program, but a place where these young people can discover rest, refuge, friendship, and Hope. The statistics surrounding homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, and trafficking for this population are shockingly high, but we envision a city in which these individuals do not face any kind of injustice when they age out of the system. And we believe it starts with relationship.

A Place to Be Known

A central part of our vision for building community is sharing meals together around the table. Through weekly dinners, we hope to create space for relationship and connection to form. As we talk about our days and our lives, our desire is that each young person who comes through the Tamarisk House, would feel intentionally seen, known and sought after by us, our volunteers, and by their Creator. Trauma expert Dr. Bessel van der Kolk discusses the importance of feeling safe and seen in the healing of trauma in his book The Body Keeps the Score: 

Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health… Numerous studies of disaster response around the globe have shown that social support is the most powerful protection against becoming overwhelmed by stress and trauma. 

The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else's mind and heart. For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grow we need a visceral feeling of safety. No doctor can write a prescription for friendship and love…

Relational connection and felt safety is at the center of healing. What if we could create a safe space that felt like home, where these young people who have come from incredibly hard places could experience - maybe for the first time - what it feels like to be known, seen and sought after? 

How You Can Help

As we prepare to open our doors, we need your support in three key areas:

1. Volunteers: We’re looking for people who want to give their time and gifts to this community.

2. Prayer Partners: We welcome those who feel led to support this mission in prayer.

3. Financial Support: To keep the Tamarisk House running, we need to raise $5,000 in monthly donations for essentials like rent, utilities, meals and resident experiences. 

You’ve already been so generous, and we’re deeply grateful. As we step into this next chapter, would you consider increasing your support or sharing this campaign with others who might want to get involved? Every contribution helps us move closer to creating a home where these young people can find the stability and support they need. 

A Place to Be

In February 2023, our team came together with a shared passion to launch Tamarisk Community & Coffee. Each of us brought slightly different visions for supporting young adults transitioning out of foster care, but God united us with a single, clear mission: to provide job training, life skills, mentorship, and access to the Gospel for these young adults.

Over the past year, we have poured our hearts into planning, praying, fundraising, and connecting with others to build our network and strengthen our efforts. While our original plan was to launch the coffee shop and community programs simultaneously, God showed us over the summer that we were to begin with the community first. Trauma-informed employment at the coffee shop remains a central part of our vision, and we look forward to sharing more about its launch in the near future.

A Place to Be

If you’ve been following our journey, you may remember the story we shared during Foster Care Awareness Month in May. Kristen Thomas, a dear friend and Tamarisk board member, graciously shared her personal story of being in foster care and aging out. She described a time when, at just 17 years old, she lived out of her car and longed for connection and normalcy:

I remember just wanting a place to go for connection and normalcy and didn’t realize how many hours in the day there were to fill when being truly alone.

Kristen’s words touch on the heart of Tamarisk: no one should go through life alone. We serve a God who moves toward the hard and broken places, and we are called to do the same. This November, we are thrilled to open Tamarisk Community House, a place to be known, healed, and restored—a place for refuge, rest, opportunity, friendship, and most importantly, a place to meet Hope.

How You Can Help

As we prepare to open our doors, we need your support in three key areas:

1. Volunteers

2. Prayer Partners

3. Financial Support

Our goal is to raise $5,000 in new monthly donations to cover essential expenses like rent, utilities, meals, experiences for residents, and a benevolence fund. You have already shown such incredible generosity, and we are deeply grateful. We believe God can do abundantly more than we ask or imagine, and we are trusting Him to bring the resources and people needed for this mission.