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:
Volunteers
Prayer Partners
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.
