Southside student plans benefit to help foster kids

In the most difficult of times, a little bit of comfort can mean the world.

For children who are removed from their homes by the Indiana Department of Child Services, their lives are suddenly filled with chaos. They don’t know where they’ll be sleeping that night; they often have no clean clothing, toys or possessions of their own. They’re scared.

The Isaiah 117 House hopes to brighten an otherwise bleak time.

“When it boils down to it, the kids we serve are our future — as a country, as a local community, they’re our future leaders. If we as adults know there’s something more we can do and can give them the resources to have better opportunities, anything to make their lives better, it obviously should be done,” said Logan Clark, location leader for Isaiah 117 House in Indianapolis.

Dylan Walden has seen the impact it has firsthand. The Perry Meridian High School senior has come to Isaiah 117 House to help mow the grass or do other work while his mother volunteers to work with foster youth.

Motivated to do something to help, he has organized the home’s first fundraising gala to support Isaiah 117’s work with foster youth. The Gala to Benefit the Children will feature live music, food, an auction and more.

“I’ve known people who have gone through the foster care system, and it’s not a fun thing to have gone through. It’s something Isaiah 117 House has been helping out with, and I should put my time and resources back into what their mission is,” Walden said.

The hope is to raise $30,000 to support the organization.

“What we’ve found is the average expenditure for each of our guests who come through the door is about $300 — food, clothing, toys, lights, water, everything that goes into the house,” Clark said. “Whenever somebody is able to give a little bit towards supporting one child is a big deal, but having a large benefit like this puts our hearts and minds at ease.”

The roots of Isaiah 117 House started in 2014. Founder Ronda Paulson and her husband, Corey, had signed up to go through training to become foster parents in their home state of Tennessee. During their training, they learned that when children are removed from their homes, they often must come to the Department of Child Services office and wait for placement.

The cubicle-laden space seemed like a bleak and frightening place to be during such a tumultuous time, and Paulson wanted to create a better alternative.

Her vision was for a home where children could go when they were removed from their residences and awaiting placement. The home would feature volunteers to comfort them and provide them with clean clothes, bath toys, snacks, beds and toys.

An emphasis was made to provide physical and emotional support for children awaiting foster placement.

“The physical aspect is by providing a place for them to stay. Sometimes it’s a few hours, up to several days — getting them brand new clothing, food, toys, a place where they can run around,” Clark said. “Then the emotional support is in trauma-informed volunteers who we provide in the house during that time period.”

The first Isaiah 117 House opened in Tennessee in 2017 and since then has spread to locations in 11 other states in the Midwest and South. In Indiana, four of the houses are open, including one in Indianapolis which opened in August 2023.

A church group helped bring the house to Marion County, working with the Department of Child Services to ensure it would be beneficial and that the department would be open to working with them. All sides were enthusiastically on board.

Children who come to Isaiah 117 House are referred by the Department of Child Services if it is determined the child needs to be removed from the home, Clark said. In addition to providing physical and emotional support for children that come to the home, Isaiah 117 also gives social workers a relaxed place to do their work protecting kids. The final piece of the mission is to support the families the children will go on to stay with.

“Whether that’s foster care or a relative or family friend they go to stay with, we can provide them with beds, car seats, gift cards to the grocery — anything that might make it easier to accept placement of that child,” Clark said.

While all of the children who come to the home are from Marion County, the organization does support caseworkers and foster families from surrounding counties, including Johnson.

“We have families from Johnson County who call and say that they received a kiddo who had been at the house, if there was anything else we could for them,” Clark said. “We’ve found the impact is beyond just Marion County.”

The organization’s work resonated with Walden. He was involved with Perry Merdian’s DECA program, a student group focused on leadership and entrepreneurship. Through the DECA organization, he could take part in a community giving project. Walden felt it would be a good way to help Isaiah 117 House.

“I felt that was where I should put my passion,” he said. “I talked to Logan and a couple other directors at the house just to ask if we could go this, and they said absolutely. We’ve been working on it ever since.”

The gala event is still coming together, though Walden has booked the event for Feb. 8 at the Athenaeum in downtown Indianapolis. Live music, dinner, guest speakers from Isaiah 117 and more are planned, as well as a live auction.

“It means so much that someone can champion a vision like Dylan has. A lot of people bring ideas, but Dylan has brought the vision and taken care of all of the planning,” Clark said. “Having someone who’s on our side in that way, they’re not just giving us ideas or a little bit of help, but wanting to do everything they can to help, it’s encouraging, it’s inspiring.”

Funds raised for the event will ensure the ongoing operation of the Isaiah 117 House in Indianapolis, from providing food, toys and clothing to children as well as basic costs such as utilities and maintenance.

“Even though there are lots of Isaiah 117 Houses all over the country, we each fundraise our own budget every year; we’re entirely responsible for it every year,” Clark said. “Having this to be able to provide sustainability into 2025 and hopefully beyond is a blessing.”

For Walden, the opportunity to help other kids in this way has been an unexpected success so far.

“It’s impacting more people than I can imagine. I didn’t think it would grow this big,” he said.

AT A GLANCE

A Gala to Benefit the Children

What: A fundraiser for Isaiah 117 House, an organization providing a safe place and resources for children being placed in foster care. The event will include food, live entertainment, an auction, guest speakers and a photo booth.

When: Feb. 8

Where: The Rathskeller, 401 E. Michigan St., Indianapolis

Tickets go on sale on Sept. 1. Organizers are also looking for sponsors to support the event. Both can be found at support.isaiah117house.com/event/a-gala-to-benefit-the-children/e581532