Agape Villages Hosts First Appreciation Dinner
Agape Villages had our first Appreciation Dinner and cele-brated our generous donors and volunteers in the Manteca area on February 23rd. There were 60 caring people who joined us. We had 2 of our wonderful foster parents tell us about their experiences with the children they’ve served.
Our foster mom, Karen, talked about her 2 foster daughters, Amy and Julie, and how she felt when Julie got pneumonia. It was only Julie’s second day with Karen and she noticed that something was not right with her breathing and took her to the emergency room. That night the doctors told Karen that she had saved Julie’s life by acting so quickly. Karen and her husband are adopting these precious girls.
Our foster mom, Elizabeth, presented a slide show with each child she has had in her home. You could see the love she felt for them as she talked about their unique circumstances. Elizabeth told us about Johnny who came to her at 10 months of age, unable to move about like a normal 10 month old should. The doctors had said he was a drug baby and would probably never walk or crawl. Elizabeth’s husband, who is a physical therapist, worked with this baby and now he is run-ning around like a normal 2 year old! How great it is that they took Johnny into their home and gave him a chance!
We also had a former foster child, Dio, who is now 18 and attending Delta College, speak about how her Agape Social Worker helped make her life better. Dio told us about how our Agape Social Worker even let her use her car to take her driver’s license test. “Who does that?” she asked as she ex-plained that she is going to school to be a Social Worker!
Thank you everyone who attended this celebration and for all you do for Agape!
Manteca Appreciation Dinner Very Inspiring!
By Joann Beatty, Agape Villages Senior Vice President