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It didn’t take long after we moved into Oak Haven for it to become a revolving door of caregivers, volunteers, and community members curious about this new, home-like resource center. There was a constant buzz of connection and a sense of belonging for everyone who walked through the doors.

As we got settled in, a couple of things became increasingly clear: 1) there was magic and winsomeness to be found in this home-like hub, and 2) we needed to build out our team to make it happen.

The Wonder

One sunny afternoon, a 6-year-old boy visited with his brand-new foster mom. He had been placed with her in the middle of the night with nothing but the clothes on his back. A heartbreaking but sadly common scenario.

He barely spoke. His tiny body carried the weight of trauma.

I sensed he needed some air, so I asked if he’d like to go outside. He nodded, took my hand, and we wandered toward the oak trees in the backyard.

One tree in particular caught his eye. He climbed into a nook between the limbs, shaped like a chair, and settled in.

Then, in what felt like a spirit-led moment, I crouched down beside him and said:

“You know, I’ve noticed a lot of our friends like to sit in this tree. I think it must be a special tree. I think it might be… a Wishing Tree.”

His eyes lit up.

He whispered, “What’s a wishing tree?”

I told him, “You can tell this tree your wishes and your worries. It’s always listening. And it holds our wishes until they come true.”

In that moment, I watched the trauma melt from his little body.

He was no longer a terrified bundle of nerves.

He was a child, immersed in the security of play.

And then my stereotypical visionary tendencies kicked in. I saw a glimpse of a yarn-bombed tree, in full whimsical glory, holding space for every child to bring their wishes and worries.

The next day, I was out there cutting up my crocheted blankets and zip-tying the pieces to the tree like someone who had clearly lost her mind. Ellen stood by, trying to make sense of it all. Bless her.

Now—nine years later—the Wishing Tree is a hallmark of our resource center.

Each year, it gets a new hand-woven sweater from a sweet group that crochets during their small group time, praying over every thread.

Countless children have whispered their wishes and worries to that tree. It’s more than just a fun, cozy tree.

It’s a symbol. A reminder to look for the magic and that even in the worst of circumstances, childhood wonder can still exist.

And most importantly, it’s a reminder that the magic was never just in the property. The magic happened when the right people came together around a shared belief in what was possible.

The Team

When we opened the doors to Oak Haven, we were still running the day-to-day operations of our satellite locations in Round Rock, as well as this new space an hour away. We had no paid staff and were nearly two years in, relying on an army of volunteers. People continued stepping up to help with everything from Welcome Packs to spreadsheets tracking inventory.

It was becoming increasingly clear that every unique skill and gifting had a place in the village. And there was something extra special about volunteers who had a desire to lead.

One of those volunteers was KC, a former teacher who showed a particular interest in our Project SOOTHe program. We created a leadership volunteer role for her to run the program, coordinating requested sensory tools for the kiddos who needed them most and handling the administrative pieces that kept it funded.

Seeing how helpful it was to have KC lead that program, we soon recruited Taylor and Emily to help lead our Support Gatherings. As foster and adoptive moms themselves, their lived experience made them the perfect people to lead groups of other caregivers navigating similar challenges.

At the same time, we started receiving countless inquiries from families and organizations across the country. They were a reminder that what we were building at Oak Haven was meeting a need far beyond our own backyard.

“How do we bring this to our community?” became an increasingly common question.

One group of foster moms in Charlotte, NC, was especially motivated to bring our model to their community. After exchanging a few emails, Becky booked a flight to Austin to meet me for coffee.

I pulled up to our coffee meeting in a moving truck with items we were still moving from the storage unit into Oak Haven. We connected right off the bat and quickly realized we shared the same passion for building community beyond the system.

After Becky went home, we stayed in touch, and I continued encouraging them to start something similar in their community. They felt strongly that it needed to be a Foster Village, but the thought of expanding something that big and that far felt overwhelming to me.

Months went by, and we continued receiving inquiries from communities throughout the U.S. We added more nonprofit and franchise expertise to the board, and I started reading up on different ways to scale nonprofit models.

Around the time I started to wrap my mind around the possibility of an affiliate model, Becky reached out with an update:

“I know you said you aren’t ready to have other Foster Village locations, but we bought the domain ‘fostervillagecharlotte’ just in case.”

Their leap of faith was the final nudge we needed to explore scaling our model outside of Texas.

Shortly after that email, I booked a one-day trip to Charlotte to give them a crash course on launching our first Foster Village affiliate location.

Seeing the rapid momentum they created with the startup pieces we were able to share, it became a domino effect. Soon, another foster mom friend in North Texas reached out in hopes of turning her foster closet into a resource center model with Foster Village North Texas. Then one of the foster mamas we had served in Austin moved to Waco and recognized the huge need for a Foster Village there. Not long after, Foster Village Waco was launched.

The village of villages was just getting started. The team continued to grow, and the magic continued to multiply.