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What’s new?
Bethany Christian Services of Columbus, Georgia was opened on March 15, 2001. We have been blessed to meet needs and provide services to birth parents, adoptive families, infants placed in interim foster care, crisis pregnancy counseling, foster children and older/special needs children in need of permanent homes. Over the past few years we have been able to add two new programs to our list of services: FRAME-works and the Wendy’s Wonderful Kid’s program. You can read more about these programs below.
Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and under the direction of Trish Small, Director of Georgia Operations, and the Board of Directors, we have been able to continue to this good work in the Columbus community that began nearly 7 years ago.
Just take a look at what we have been doing this past year!
February 2007:
The year 2007 started and ended full of challenges and growth. Perhaps the most significant event occurred in February 2007, when we experienced a transition in leadership. Sharon Billingslea, who was called to Bethany’s ministry almost 5 years ago, stepped into the role of our new satellite branch Director. Sharon brings over 15 years of social work experience and describes herself as “a woman after God’s own heart”. After serving faithfully in several capacities in our Atlanta, Georgia branch, God opened up a window of opportunity that would prove to be a divine blessing in her life; personally, professionally and spiritually. She has been pleasantly surprised and thankful for the many ways that the Columbus community has continued to embrace and support the very important work that Bethany Christian Services does in this community and world wide.
Our previous Director, Mary Boston, prayerfully made the decision to step down and focus her talents and abilities as Family Support Advocate within our newest program, FRAME-works. FRAME-works stands for Family Relationships Anchored in Marriage Education –works. The program’s goal is to offer a variety of educational tools and resource services designed to strengthen communication, help young couples recognize the benefits of positive co-parenting, educational or financial planning, job searching, and parenting needs. The response from the Columbus community has been overwhelming and we look forward to reaching out to even more couples throughout the coming year.
March 2007:
Our Champions For Teen’s and Tween’s Program, in conjunction with our Champions For Children Program, was launched in the Columbus, Georgia community on March 8, 2007. The program’s goal and purpose is to help call attention to the need for adoptive homes for older children. No child should grow up in the foster care system, but the sad reality is that many do. Individuals interested in adoption typically seek to adopt much younger children. Very often families seeking to adopt may think they are not prepared to meet the needs of an older child. We often challenge families and individuals to consider how their lives would have turned out if they had been left to fend for themselves with no support from a family. Who would have been in the audience cheering them on at their basketball game? Who would have come faithfully to hear them play in the class band when every other child was playing off key? Who would have been there helping to prepare them for college and the demands of the real world? Who would have been there taking pictures as they strolled across the stage to receive their high school diploma? College diploma? The hard truth is that no matter how old you are, we all need someone and most importantly every child NEEDS and DESERVES a family. By becoming a Champion, you can help ensure that one thing these children will never be without is HOPE. There are many ways that Champions can assist children and families. Champions for Children are involved in a variety of activities, depending on the specific services offered by the local Bethany office. Please contact our office at 706 576-5766 to learn how you can make a difference in the life of a child by becoming a Champion for Children.
May 2007:
Bethany’s Annual Foster and Adoptive Family picnic was held at Lake Bottom Park in Columbus, Georgia. The event was an extreme success and many of our foster and adoptive families and children came out to share in the festivities. Every summer Bethany hosts this wonderful event which gives families and children the opportunity to come out and fellowship with our staff and other families in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. We thank our many community sponsors that helped make this day a very special and memorable experience for our families and children. We look forward to this year’s picnic. If you would like to learn more or find out about ways that you can participate through volunteer services or if you simply want to come out and learn more about becoming a foster or adoptive family, please give us a call at 706 576-5766, plan to attend one of our monthly information meetings or visit our website at www.bethany.org.
June 2007:
Bethany was proud to participate in the Columbus community “Family Day in The Park” held at Cooper Creek Park. The weather was perfect and many families came out to visit the local community vendors and enjoy the family-focused entertainment. Many interested individuals stopped by our both to inquire about our services or simply to share their adoptions stories with us. The day was truly a blessing and we look forward to participating again in 2008.
July 2007:
Bethany was proud to be a sponsor with the annual Cultural Fair held at the beautiful and historic Liberty Theatre located downtown Columbus, Georgia. Bethany once again partnered with other community vendors and service providers to share information about the vast services this community has to offer our families and children. The event was sponsored by the Columbus Times newspaper and we look forward to partnering again with this wonderful collaborative gathering that benefits and brings the community together as a whole.
September 2007:
We are proud to announce that we have believed and God has answered our prayer by providing additional office space as our programs continue to grow and our need for additional space has increased. Our expansion project was completed in September 2007 and as a result we now have 3 additional offices, a second bathroom and kitchenette, additional storage space and a second meeting room. God is so good and we are so glad that He is in the prayer answering business!!! If you haven’t been by our offices lately, stop in and we would be glad to show you how God answers the prayers of those that have just enough faith to simply ask.
The first annual Disability Awareness Fair was held on September 29, 2007 on the grounds of Carver High School. Bethany Christian Services was proud to partner with this collaborative effort to bring community vendors and service providers together to encourage, support and bring recognition to the wonderful contributions persons with disabilities make every day in this country and right here in our community. Bethany recognizes and believes that every life is a promise. As we continue to seek out permanent homes for children with some special needs which at times may include physical or developmental delays, medical challenges or temporary emotional distress, we believe there are prospective adoptive families everywhere and in every population. If you feel led to make a difference in the life of a child by becoming a very special parent to a very special child, please visit our website at www.bethany.org or give us a call at 706 576-5766. Ask to speak to our special needs adoptions specialist who will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the foster care or adoption process.
October 2007:
Our Bethany Georgia staff (Columbus and Atlanta) traveled to north Atlanta for our annual staff retreat. Our 2007 retreat was held at Winshape: Berry College Campus whose grounds are breathtaking and the accommodations are nothing less than first class. Our bustling Georgia staff, which is fast approaching 80 individuals strong, spent 2 days and 1 night sharing praise reports and God stories, breaking bread together, being inspired and energized by the spiritual teachings of Jason Young, praise and worship time, singing songs and roasting marshmallows around a large bonfire, playing games and just enjoying God’s miracle of natures beauty.
November 2007:
November is National Adoption Month. Bethany of Columbus chose to commemorate this month by celebrating the very special families that have opened up their hearts and homes to children in need of permanency by holding our first annual “Fall Family Day : A day of Adoption Celebration”. Adoptive families from all of Bethany’s adoption programs, including alumni families, were invited to come out and share in the celebration. There were many fun activities for the children and adults were treated to some educational opportunities as we heard presentations from two local psychologists. Our special lunch menu was catered and we “raffled” one large family fun basket.
To demonstrate our appreciation for the local hospitals that we work with in the Columbus community, our birth parent counselor, Holly McMahan, ordered and presented two of our area hospital nursing staffs with large chocolate chip cookies and a beautiful plant arrangement. We value the wonderful partnerships that we have built and maintained over the years and we just wanted them to know just how special they are to us and we appreciate the many ways they go above and beyond to make our birth parents and adoptive families feel comfortable during the hospital stay. This is a time of great excitement but is also a very emotional time for everyone involved. Kudos to the doctors, nurses and counseling staff at these very fine hospitals!!
December 2007:
What a wonderful way to end the year than with a Christmas party celebration?? Our annual foster and adoptive family Christmas party was held on December 13 at one of our local churches. Thanks to the generosity of the caring church family and by opening up their beautiful facility to host our Christmas party, we were able to make some very special memories for over 30 children. Thanks to the generosity of donors, too many to list, we were able to present each child with several presents each and goodie bags filled with sweet treats to take home. Courtesy of our local arcade and movie complex, each family was given passes to go out and enjoy games and activities later that evening, and we were able to feed everyone a special menu of sandwiches, fresh vegetables, chili, chicken nuggets, brownies, hot apple cider, soft drinks, punch and more. The children had a great time decorating and eating their own custom designed gingerbread man. The jolly old elf himself, Santa Claus, made a surprise visit along with Mrs. Claus and a few smaller elves. The children, and even the adults, enjoyed sitting on Santa’s lap and taking pictures. The evening was wonderful and we thank all of the local vendors and supporters that helped make this a joyous event for all of our families and children. We also thank our volunteers which included members of our Advisory board for giving of their time and energy for this very worthy event.
January 2008:
We are proud to announce that the Dave Thomas Foundation has awarded the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids grant to our Columbus, Georgia branch for the third successive year. Wendy’s Wonderful Kids is a signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Currently, there are more than 500,000 children in the U.S. foster care system; 118,000 of those children are available for adoption, and many of them can spend five years or more in the foster care system before they are adopted. Five years is a lifetime to a child. For more information or if you are interested in learning more about becoming an adoptive family for an older child or sibling group, please visit www.wendyswonderfulkids.org or www.bethany.org for more information or call 706 576-5766 and ask to speak to our Wendy’s Wonderful Kid’s recruiter.
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