Finding Your Place Along the River Through Generosity
At the Riverside Project, we are passionate about helping people find their place along the River. If you haven’t heard us use this analogy yet, here’s a summary:
Imagine there are three friends who notice children in a River headed towards a waterfall, and they all rush into action. The first immediately intervenes by pulling children out of the water, the second runs further downstream, and the third runs upstream to find out why these children are in the river to begin with.
The river represents Houston’s foster care system. Foster care is not an isolated problem; it exists along with many other social issues affecting our city, such as poverty, lack of education, crisis pregnancy, homelessness, trafficking, and incarceration (to name a few). These issues are all supplied and reinforced by one another, which means that we are facing a systemic challenge.
We Each Have a Role to Play
No single person or organization can solve a systemic problem. We each have a role to play, and our roles are not the same. But this is good news! It means that each and every Houstonian can discover a place (or places) along the River by assessing his/her unique set of skills, talents, passions, and resources.
Some may discover a calling to serve as agency workers, or foster parents, or kinship caregivers. Others may help to meet the practical needs of vulnerable families, or recruit and organize volunteers from within the community. Some may be drawn to “upstream” initiatives, supporting families in crisis and helping them find a stable footing. Still others may head “downstream” to young adults who are preparing to age out of the foster care system. The list of possibilities goes on and on.
Working together, with all of our unique contributions, we truly can make Houston a place where families heal and children thrive.
Is Your Place Along the River to Fund?
In addition to all of these possibilities, we need Houstonians who find their place along the river by helping to fuel and support this coordinated movement financially.
Not only is giving the simplest and fastest way to make a difference, it also has an incredible impact. Here at The Riverside Project specifically, your donations provide a wide range of support, including:
Trauma-informed training for caregivers in the foster care community
Training for a babysitter to help foster families get the rest they need
Training for professionals who care for kids from hard places
Meeting the practical needs of vulnerable families through the Response Network
Supporting our podcast which inspires and helps others gain a greater understanding of the issues facing our community
Helping church leaders understand how their congregation can serve vulnerable children and families
…and more!
If you think financial support may be your place along the river, we encourage you to get started today.
If not, we would still love to help you find your place. Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this page, and we’ll be in touch soon!
Where is your place along the river? Whether it’s pursuing education through our resources, finding a place to serve, or giving to make this work possible, it’s when we work together that we can make the biggest impact here in Houston.
