Florida Girl Raises Nearly $2,000 to Help Kids in Foster Care

A girl in Wesley Chapel, Florida, is helping make a difference in the lives of foster children living in her community.

Nine-year-old Elizabeth Fennig has a big heart for children in foster care, according to ABC Action News.

“I care about these kids,” she said. “I feel bad for them. But I’m also happy that we take them in.”

Elizabeth’s heart is full of love for them because her own family recently took in three foster children, whom she now calls her brothers and sisters, in addition to the two siblings she already has.

Because of that, she came up with the idea to sell homemade T-shirts with the words “Be a Blessing” printed on them to raise money for a local organization called A Door of Hope that places foster children in loving homes.

“A Door of Hope exists for the purposes of glorifying God and providing hope for kids in crisis by fulfilling the spiritual mandate to care for the modern-day orphan,” the organization’s website stated.

The site continued:

Six to eight children, on average, enter foster care every day in Tampa Bay. They leave homes where they have experienced abuse, neglect, and abandonment, and they enter a new season of life in foster care. These children desperately need to know that there is a Door of Hope.

Here at A Door of Hope, we recruit, train, license, and support Christian foster homes. Our mission is to show the world, through our work, that the message of Christ is the ultimate Door of Hope.

In January, the Florida Department of Children and Families estimated that there are 10,277 foster children in the state, according to the agency’s website.

Since her fundraiser began, Elizabeth has raised nearly $2,000 for the organization and hopes that others will heed her message and be a blessing to others.

“She has a big heart,” said her mom, Abby. “My prayer for Elizabeth is that she continues her generosity as an adult.”