A few years ago, a group of people volunteered at a foster care community and dreamed about bringing it to Jefferson City. Now, their vision has come to life.
When members of Wesley United Methodist Church in Jefferson City volunteered at the Coyote Hill ministry in Harrisburg, they fell in love with it and saw a need for it in Jefferson City.
Coyote Hill is a ministry dedicated to providing safe and loving homes for abused and neglected children. For nearly 30 years, it has operated on one site in Harrisburg, where it currently has six foster homes.
With the goal of bringing it to the community, they formed the committee that is now Coyote Hill's Jefferson City advisory board.
"They really wanted to bring this idea of large family homes that we could keep siblings together to Jeff City because Jeff City didn't have anything quite like this," Chief Development Officer Kari Hopkins said.
The committee worked for two years to bring a Coyote Hill community foster home to Jefferson City - and with the support of donors, Coyote Hill has purchased a home in the area.
The nearly 4,000-square-foot home, located in southeastern Jefferson City, will be able to house six children at once. Coyote Hill needs the community's support to furnish the home and get it ready for children and foster parents.
The first foster parents, Rob and Oly Warner, are moving in Dec. 13. The couple owns Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Jefferson City, where Rob is a full-time instructor. Rob has also served in the U.S. military and as a police officer, and Oly teaches at Helias Catholic High School.
Rob and Oly have always wanted to be foster parents. They recently decided it was the right time, but they didn't know how to start - so when they came across an advertisement for Coyote Hill, they dove into the opportunity.
In September, they took the nine-week training course via Zoom alongside 13 other families, not knowing Coyote Hill was expanding to Jefferson City until a few days after they completed the training.
The Warners said they appreciate the support and encouragement from the community.
"Jeff City has been such a great place to us," Rob said. "We really love this town, and we're just excited to give back."
Rob and Oly's goals as new foster parents is to provide stability and love to the children, Rob said.
"We just want to provide a good, stable life for someone coming into foster care and just try to give a little piece of ourselves to them," he said.
The process to become foster parents also includes home visits and an autobiography written about the candidates. During the training process, Rob and Oly showed perseverance, grit and excitement to take on the role, making them an ideal fit, Hopkins said.
"Our trainers and family advocacy director identified them as willing and ready individuals," she said.
In January, Coyote Hill launched a Foster Care Services program to license and support community foster homes. By the end of the year, it will have licensed 48 new foster families across Mid-Missouri.
The goal is to eventually expand Coyote Hill in Jefferson City to include more foster homes, Hopkins said.
"If you look at the number of children in care versus the number of open foster homes, the numbers don't match, and there's not enough homes," she said. "We really have a dream and a vision that there there would be more than enough."
Coyote Hill created an Amazon wishlist with basic items needed for the new household, accessible at amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1HW7EZKFW0GJF?ref_=wl_share/. Upon checkout, there is an option to send the items to one of the advisory board members to deliver them to the home.
People can also donate money for the household at interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=coyotehill&id=30.