Get Involved
Fund 1:27
The Idlewild Foundation has committed to helping in the ministry area of foster care. We have established Fund 1:27 to allow you to join us in this service to children who are at risk. Fund 1:27 is based scripturally on:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- Helping foster children is a difficult ministry area because of the involvement of the government, law enforcement, courts, and a variety of ministries and government agencies, often with differing interests and goals. Add in the differing beliefs, personalities and perspectives of the individuals and you have a difficult situation at best.
Being a foster parent can be so difficult and so lacking in support that fully 50% of families who become licensed to be foster parents take one placement and stop! This is a ministry area at Idlewild and in the Tampa Bay region where the Trustees of the Foundation felt they can make the greatest kingdom impact, and help the children so loved by Jesus at the same time (Psalm 68:5). Idlewild helps many families with more than seventy foster children and the Foundation intends to boost that support, increase the reach of that support, and have this ministry serve as an outreach to families with spiritual as well as financial and emotional needs.
Join us in this support. Our goal is to raise $127,000 each year for this ministry in Fund 1:27. We can do this with 1,000 donations of $127. This is a lot, but with this money, we can improve the support for the foster families served.
Join us and watch as the families participating in this ministry and the families helping them receive additional support in many forms – including:
- TBRI® therapy,
- counseling,
- a growing support group
- training,
- welcome home aid,
- financial aid,
- scholarships for sports and recreation at Idlewild Baptist Church,
- swimming lessons,
- family annual passes to the Florida Aquarium,
- tickets for the whole family to ZooTampa,
- Family membership in the Tampa Metropolitan YMCA for licensed foster families,
- as well as eligibility for scholarships for vocational and undergraduate educations.
We are constantly working to expand and improve our services and support.
We offer a hand up, not a handout, to those who need it the most, children. You can join a select group of generous people who want to be part of the solution, our A Hand Up! group of generous donors who give at least $127 per month.
Click here to learn how to join us and save a child!
Be a hand up to one of “the least of these” who needs you.
How You Can Help!
If you don’t know how to help, there are many options as you can see as you scroll down this page.
Or give us a call, we need you!
Prayer
The most important support is for you to pray! We would love for every family that is willing to meet a foster family and learn. Learn their prayer needs, learn who they are and learn why they have taken on this challenge. Then follow that with regular individual prayer for that family as well as prayer for:
- All foster parents for the tremendous emotional, spiritual and social commitment they make stepping into this ministry.
- The foster children because so many have suffered spiritual, physical, social, mental and emotional trauma.
- The biological children in the family because of the change foster children bring into their lives.
- The foster care system including the case managers, the social workers, the therapists, the teachers, the counselors, the attorneys and the judges who deal with the challenges.
Care Communities
Community is absolutely essential to a believer’s life (1 Thes. 5:14) and it is equally important to a foster family. People who try to do it without outside help, especially the help of loving, caring friends, are far more likely to struggle. Our goal is for each foster family to be connected to family, neighbors and friends so closely that when (not if) needs arise, there is someone ready, willing and able to help.
A Care Community is an important help for foster parents. When one child has to go to the doctor, or a sports activity, or a school conference, or court, what about the other children? When one parent is sick, is there someone who can cook a meal? Birthday, Christmas and other cards can lift a spirit. There are as many ways a Care Community can help as there are ways that friends and family uplift each other. If you are interested, call 813-264-8796 and learn more.
Support Group
Check out the Events Calendar for the support group meetings that are calendared. You are not alone! There are many others experiencing some of the same feelings and dealing with the same issues. Our support group is a great way to learn in community.
More Support
Guardian ad Litem
The Guardian ad Litem (GAL) system is secular, but many believers engage in that system, and rightfully so. Give us a call at The Idlewild Foundation at 813-264-8713 and we will help you decide.
But even if being a GAL isn’t for you, there are ways you can help. We serve the Hillsborough County GAL hospital SWAT program. A GAL responds to the hospital when a child or baby is hospitalized due to abuse or neglect. Those little ones have nothing. Often their parent or parents are in jail for abuse or neglect and are barred from contact – so the children have nothing.
The Idlewild Foundation steps in and provides clothing, blankets, a Boppy pillow, and other supplies for the child so when the child transitions into foster care, the new foster parents have a start on what is needed. Below are some pictures of “kits” provided to babies in the hospital. Many of these items have been provided by the generous seniors of Idlewild Baptist Church as they opened their hearts and pockets to give to this amazing program. You can join us and help. Look below for our WalMart and Amazon links to the shopping lists of the things we need most for these babies.
Take a Meal
Many of our foster families have listed meals as their greatest need. Spend a few minutes, cook a meal, deliver it and bless a foster family. This can be arranged through The Idlewild Foundation at 813-264-8796.
Send a Card
If you would be willing to just encourage a foster family, let them know you are praying for them and support them lovingly, you can arrange to send them cards on special days, anniversaries, birthdays or during the holidays. This can be arranged through Hope for the Orphan at 813-264-8796.
All administrative, overhead and operational costs of The Idlewild Foundation are covered by our sponsor donors. 100% of your donations to Fund 1:27 go to serve foster families.
Contribute to Fund 1:27 at The Idlewild Foundation
How much and for what? We have options for you! Please consider making a monthly pledge and gift! Fund 1:27 isn’t just here for a year; we want this to be a self-sustaining and self-supporting ministry in a ministry area that has an unending need. Please consider a monthly recurring donation to help these children. You will join our A Hand Up! group.
- $320 – The cost of an annual membership for a family under a Tampa Metropolitan area YMCA program for a licensed foster family
- $220 – A typical Florida Aquarium Annual Family Pass
- $200 – The cost of camp at Idlewild for a NextGen foster teen
- $127 – Our goal monthly donation
- $100 – Welcome Home gift card for a new foster child
- $100 – One session of Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®) Therapy
- $100 – Back to School supplies for a foster child
- $90 – Soccer, flag football, baseball or softball at Idlewild for a foster child
- $50 – A Valentine’s Day meal for foster parents
- $30 – A Christmas gift card for a foster child
Make donations to Fund 1:27 of The Idlewild Foundation by clicking the Donate button above, at www.idlewildfoundation.com, or at 18333 Exciting Idlewild Boulevard, Lutz, FL 33556 and indicate your gift purpose. TIF is an established 501(c)(3) charity and all donations to Fund 1:27 go to ministry. TIF salaries, overhead or administrative expenses are few because TIF’s overhead and expenses expenses are independently funded! In fact, most work at TIF is by volunteers since our officers and Board are all volunteers. For those who itemize, these donations are permitted deductions on your tax return.
Consider sponsoring a foster child and family. $127 each month will fund our amazing support all year for two foster children. That supports Florida Aquarium annual passes for the family, swim lessons, back to school supplies, Valentine’s dinners for the parents, sport at Idlewild’s recreation facilities, and more. Part of that “more” is that you will join us at our foster appreciation banquet in late October, a special celebration for making a difference in the lives of children.
Another way you can donate is by giving to the ongoing support we offer to the Hillsborough County Guardian ad Litem Hospital SWAT program. We help the Guardian ad Litems by providing gifts including clothing, Boppy pillows, toys, blankets and more to the children and babies who can’t immediately go into foster care because they have been hurt and are hospitalized due to severe neglect or abuse. We have sites on Amazon and WalMart for donations to be made that come directly to our offices – and all that is given goes directly to minister to these precious ones Jesus referred to as “the least of these.”
Here are our Walmart.com and Amazon lists for our babies. Shipments come directly to us here at The Idlewild Foundation.
Here is our Walmart.com registry for gifts of school supplies to foster children. Whatever is not used for foster children will be distributed to local schools in need for their children.