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Description

What happens when a grieving mother, recently arrived from Ghana, finds herself isolated after the tragic loss of her son? Hear this story of a local church stepping up to provide not only material support but also emotional and spiritual connection to a family in desperate need.

Through the CarePortal platform, a simple request for an Uber gift card turned into a heartfelt mission of compassion and community. Listeners will hear how this church went above and beyond to offer genuine care, showing up to provide meals, counselling, and ongoing support, transforming a story of isolation into one of belonging and hope.

Other Links

Reach out to us! https://journeywithcare.ca/podcast

Email: podcast@careimpact.ca

Listen To Journey With Prayer - A prayer journey corresponding to this episode: https://journeywithprayer.captivate.fm/listen

or get both podcasts on the same RSS feed! https://feeds.captivate.fm/n/careimpact-podcast

CareImpact: careimpact.ca

About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal

DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with children and families: careimpact.ca/donate

Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca

This is Journey with Care. Hey. We're taking 4 weeks of the summer

to keep it short or speedy. Let's just call these

summer speedos. Short action packed dives into the

incredible stories of everyday people using Care Portal to

build connection and change lives. Care Portal, for those

that haven't heard, is an amazing platform connecting churches,

families, and businesses with specific needs with some of the most

vulnerable in our communities. So as you soak up the sun this

summer and enjoy these summer Speedos, remember, Journey with

Care is powered by Care Impact, a Canadian charity helping

strangers become good neighbours. To keep bringing you our podcast and these

stories, we rely on supporters like you. So for

the summer Speedo series, join our summer of 30.

We're looking for 30 amazing listeners to donate $30 in

the next 30 days. Every dollar helps us maintain our

equipment, update our software, and help us cover all the

expenses associated with bringing you these important stories.

So to join the summer 30, check the show notes for the link or visit

journey with care dot ca slash 30. That's journey with care

dot ca slash 30. So go ahead,

pause it, and become 1 of the 30 right now. Alright.

Enough chit chat. Let's get on with the summer Speedos.

I think keeping in the forefront of our mind, we're sending the churches on

mission over and over again, right into, into hard places.

A need came in and the need says, this mom

lost her 7 year old child last week to drowning.

She wants to get connected to a local grief counseling program, but she

doesn't drive. And so an Uber gift card will ease this

financial burden of transportation and allow her to get the services that she

needs as she greets her child.

And so a local church picked this up, and

they acknowledged we could send her a gift card through

email. We could send that gift card through the case

worker, but we would really, really love

And so, they showed up to her home. They really expected

to give this to her and go. But when

they came to the front door, she kind of launched

herself into their arms and wouldn't really let go.

It had been 6 days since she lost her 6 year

old son. They lived in an apartment complex. He had,

pretty severe autism, and they had walks

in place and all of these extra measures,

in place to keep him safe. And he still got

out, and he still drowned.

She hadn't had the ability to process that really with anyone.

She ended up in child welfare and in prevention due to the

investigation of all of that. She and her

family are from Ghana, and so they recently relocated

here, and so she doesn't drive. Her

husband left almost as soon as they got here, and so she's pretty

isolated.

She has no real way of supporting her family. She has a 15

and a 7 year old still at home, and they're struggling

to then grieve this loss that happened as soon as they got here.

And so, for the church to go in

and offer her not only this gift card, but this

place to to process. They stayed there for hours.

She showed them pictures of her baby. She was able

to talk with them, and then they they told her,

we'll be back. Like, how how soon can we be back?

And they were able to tell her, this is not punishment

here with you, and we'll be back. And so, how are you gonna feed your

kids this week? We'll be back with food. Do you need groceries? We'll be back

with groceries. How do you who is your support? We're your support because

you are so marginalized here and you are so

isolated here, and we're your people now.

And so, you know, a a few actually reached out to me because

here's I wanna quickly read what the church responder left

as the the feedback. He says, this child

drowned on Wednesday. This was the saddest and heaviest

care portal need I've ever been involved with. When we entered the apartment,

we introduced ourselves and mom immediately embraced the lady who came with me

and began to cry. They had never met and yet 1 mother was comforting another

mother and sympathizing with the indescribable pain that goes with the

She took She took out her phone and showed us pictures of her

beautiful 7 year old boy. It's heartbreaking, really. We

talked a while and told her God sees her and has not forgotten

her. We told her about our church and that she was

not alone. We asked to pray for her and she called her other boys out

and the 5 of us stood, held hands, and prayed together.

This family is from Africa and she seems so alone and isolated. I

hope and pray she knows she's not alone. I hope and pray we can be

there for them moving forward.

So the the follow-up here is that this past

Sunday, these

blessed to go. They had strategically placed people to greet

them as they went in the door and the responder kinda said the church

doesn't always get it right, but on Sunday, they nailed it. They felt

welcomed and embraced. They went out to lunch afterwards.

They have plans moving forward, like the 15 15 year old needs to learn how

to drive. He just got his permit, so they have people in place to teach

him how to drive. They have people in place to get groceries moving forward. They

have people in place to walk through counseling, and they have her counseling

covered. And so the idea of everyone

just just getting it right on such a heavy 1,

Right? That this family went from isolation

to support through a church saying yes and connected

by Care Portal. And her

investigation is closed out, her prevention case is

closed out, and the church really has got it from

here.

Thanks for listening to this summer Speedo on the Journey with Care podcast.

To keep the stories and conversations flowing,

visit journeywithcare. Ca/30. That's journeywithcare/30.

Thanks for being part of the journey.