There is a children’s home on the north side of Tampa, Florida called Hope Children’s Home (HCH). That is the home for a couple hundred kids from all walks of life. It is a fantastic organization that raises kids that cannot be reared in normal homes for various reasons. The Florida Department of Children and Family Services has entrusted several children to the care of HCH.
The facility is built on a couple hundred acres with plenty of room for the kids to run and play and learn about nature. They have several dormitories, kitchens, a gymnasium, guest quarters and staff housing. They have their own school on the premise and a doctor who visits weekly.
Each year a group of kids from HCH visit our church and they sing for us. They cart along an electronic keyboard that has background music to the songs they sing recorded on it. They should really look into loading those songs on a music flash drive and bringing that with them. It would save them a whole bunch of trouble. They could simply plug in the flash drive into the computer in the church and we could pipe the music back through the sound board for them.
When they visit, they usually have about five or six kids tell how they arrived at HCH. It is heartbreaking to hear some of the little ones (as young as three years old) tell how daddy had left momma and she couldn’t care for them so she took them to HCH and left them there. I guess I have a tender spot in my heart for kids who have been abandoned by their parents. I just want to scoop each one up and take them home with me and give them everything my two spoiled brats have.
Each year our youth group tries to collect enough can goods; turkey’s and hams to take to them before Thanksgiving. Our goal is to be able to provide their Thanksgiving entirely and for them to have enough turkeys and ham left over to last throughout the year. This year will be no exception. I’m excited to see if we can gather as much food as we did in previous years since many people in our church are suffering themselves because of the lousy economy. It will certainly be a sacrificial effort on most people’s part.
I’m hoping that when the youth group takes a trip up to HCH to deliver the food, they open it up for the church people to go along with them. I went last year and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I love talking to the kids and finding out what’s going on in their lives. Each kid seems well taken care of and adjusted just fine to the circumstances they are in. That’s important and I find it reassuring that they will grow up and be profitable members in society.