June 6, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow speak with the Founders of Heart's Cry Children's Ministry, Matt and Misty Hedspeth. The HCCM is a advocates for and cares for orphaned and abandoned children in Panama, particularly through their Casa Providencia, a special needs orphanage, and their Orphan Cares and Family Services programs. They provide a range of services, including adoption and foster care support, and offer programs to connect with and support children in orphanages. And their DMV tie-in is with four local schools, including Georgetown Prep regarding fundraisers and donations.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome Matt
and Misty Headspeth. They are the founders of Heart's Cried
Children Ministry, which advocates and cares for orphan and abandoned
children in Panama, primarily through their special Needs Orphanage am
I connecting families to adoption and foster care. Here's my
conversation with Matt and Misty. I hope you enjoyed it
(00:24):
as much as I did.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning, Matt and Misty.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Well, good morning Dennis.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hi there.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, it's great to have you guys, and I can't
tell you this is the first time, by the way,
that you guys have been on the show, and I'm
thrilled that the introduction was made and we're going to
talk a lot about Heart's Cried Children's Ministry. I think
the first thing after my introduction about just giving people
an overview of it, is about how this started and
why it started. So Matt, I want to start with
you and Misty. I'll let you jump in, But Matt,
what's the origin story?
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Well again, and thank you for having us on, Dennis.
This is just an honor of pleasure. But we started
my wife and I from Raleigh, North Carolina, and she's
an attorney at her own law firm.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I was in real estate development.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
We were unable to told we were unable to have
biological children, and as we were wanting to and my
wife was doing some work with adoption agencies down here,
one thing led to another and we really saw an
opportunity and felt that God was leading us to adopt
in Panama. We go to Panama just to submit our
(01:27):
dossier for our adoption and to kind of bridge the
gap between the agency we were working with in Raleigh
and the Panamanian government. We get down there and see
the train wreck. Really that it was meaning that there
are thousands and thousands of abandoned babies, children just warehoused
(01:48):
and orphanages, and they were not working them through the system,
they were not getting them into families.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So that and there's a whole lot more to it.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
And that's why I'm married to a smart Person's the
she's the brains behind all this. But we started seeing
an opportunity. We started seeing that people were actually asking
us if we could go and help, and us by us,
I mean misty because she has the law expertise.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
She was very she was.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Very knowledgeable in the Hague Convention as it pertains to
this type of law, and even the first Lady of
Panama on that first two week trip we went, asked
if we could come and help their government, the central
authority down there that handles adoptions, foster care, all that stuff,
and helped them get in line with the Hague Treaty
(02:38):
that they had signed on to, and that. It was
just so many things after that, confirming we're Christians and
we're part of a church here in Raleigh, and it
just it was just crazy how God was just showing
us really supernaturally in so many different ways, just beating
(02:59):
us there the head quite frankly with the you know,
I'm actually calling you to go down there. And we were,
you know, we were.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Very content with our careers. We were just starting to
live the American dream, just starting to make money.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Didn't have kids at that point, so we could go
to movies, we could eat in restaurants. Now we've got
we've got too many kids. Now we've got four kids.
But anyway, so we end up just saying yes, moving
to Panama, starting our own nonprofit and that was in
two thousand and eight. So two thousand and eight we
move under Harts Tried Children's Ministry nonprofit North Carolina five
(03:36):
oh one c three and it's and we registered it
in Panama as an NGO, and we from day one,
Missy can tell you just the amazing stuff that I mean,
God opened the doors for us to go into the government,
into the bowels of the of the bureaucracy, to start
figuring out how to help fix this problem.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, missed you, it's a good time to bring you in.
And then I've talked to so many people where something
personally happens to them and it doesn't necessarily have to
be a tragedy, but it might be something that is
trying on the family, but it's a personal thing. And
then it's turned into what you guys have done and
starting a nonprofit, and a lot of people don't know,
besides just having a leap of faith that that's a
(04:18):
big deal to start any kind of business, whether it's
profit or for nonprofit. And with that said, when you
guys were talking about this on your journey down there,
when did you and Matt decide, you know what, I
think we can actually turn this into something kind of larger.
How did all that happen?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Right?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Well, when we went down there, you know, as Matt mentioned,
God opened some amazing doors things that we couldn't have
done on our own. I mean, who gets to talk
to the first lady of a country. They just go
and visit only by the end of the trip. But personally,
what happened is, you know, at that point, I really,
we really didn't want to start a family, and yet
(04:55):
we were being told by the doctors we couldn't at
that time. And here we got invited into several orphanages
and we went in and we saw all these children
who wanted parents. They would literally sit there and say
mom my, Papa, and call out to us and hold
their arms up. And then we you know, we wanted
(05:17):
to take them home. But then we saw all this
red tape in the way that was the government bureaucracy,
and it was crazy. It was like I had a
key in my hand and a door that was locked
in front of me, and God was saying open it.
And because I'm like, who are we We're nobody, We're
just two people from Raleigh. What can we go do?
But I actually did have all this knowledge and experience
(05:39):
from my background and family law and adoption law, and
so I just we said yes. I was very hesitant,
but Matt felt super strongly that God was calling us
to do this, and we did. We said yes, We
sold everything and moved down and it was It was
in two thousand and eight, and then we started going
(06:02):
around different orphanages and we started really trying to investigate
what was going on on the ground in the orphanages.
And then we were invited into the government. They actually
gave us an office within the equivalent of social services
there and we wrote policies and procedure manuals for the
(06:22):
staff and along the line of that, you know, it
was really highlighted to me that the law and Panama
needed addressing. There were fundamental problems that would prevent kids
from getting into save biological families first, and then if
that wasn't an option into adoptive homes. They didn't even
really have foster care all at the time. And so
(06:45):
so I was like, hey, Matt, I think that we
should rewrite the adoption law. And he thought I was crazy,
but I did. I started researching all over the world
and brought what I thought were the best things from
different parts of the world. And I wrote this, you know, draft,
this beautiful draft of an adoption of foster care law
through in foster Care, and then it took about four
(07:07):
years and we walked it through the legislative process. But
at the end, you know, it was changed and updated
based on different things, but the core point stayed in
the law that I wanted to make sure we're in there.
And praise God, the law passed in twenty thirteen, and
that sort of set the groundwork for what could come afterwards.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Right the fact the fact that you know, President Ricardo.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
Martinelli at the time signed that law forty six into law,
and I'm looking at MISSI like, what in the world,
I mean, how do you you know? So it is
an understatement to say that I'm very proud of my
wife for ramming that through and what an accomplishment.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Is just amazing to change the law of a country
like that.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
It's actually too young, young dumb couples from you know, Raleigh,
who don't hardly speak Spanish, and I just it was
it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Sometimes I've learned in life, guys. I know you do too,
that if you know too much, you're your worst enemy.
So when you don't know as much you know, you
go in blindly and I don't know what's going on,
and you get things done. It's an extraordinary story. So
I want to do this because we've talked about Raleigh,
which I'm very familiar with because I lived there for years,
so I love the area. And you mentioned Panama. There
is a dc Tian folks that we're going to talk
(08:28):
about with both Matt and Misty here, but I think
we should do this first and talk about mission and vision.
So Matt, if we could start with you, what are
those when it comes to Heart's Cry Children's Ministry.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Denni's our mission statement is that Hearts Cry advocates for
the orphan and abandoned children of Panama. They're about sharing
the love of Jesus Christ and following the biblical command
and James one twenty seven to care for orphans and
their distress. Now that's our mission statement, our vision as
(09:00):
we see you know that that was our mission statement
from all the way back in two thousand and eight.
And what we've seen how God has kind of reinforced
that and shown us how that's going to come into
reality is just mind blowing goes way beyond what we
ever expected we have. We started upon the law change,
(09:22):
Panama's first adoption agency, fully staffed, you know, and fully
funded by us and you you know, the donors of
our ministry, and it is pro bonum, so we represent
Panamanian families and adoption and foster care and we do
not charge. And part of that was we wanted to
(09:46):
do that just to kind of further gain the trust
of the government, very untrusting government and a very untrusting
country for good reasons, you know that we've found out.
So part of that is to say, look, we're not
trying to adopt these kids to the States where they're
going to be saved from Panami. There's so many great
families that we worked with in Panama, so many churches,
(10:09):
all kinds of people that were just wonderful. So we're
not adopting internationally and we're not charging, so you can't
really accuse of of anything. We're just here to help.
Was that's been an amazing thing that we established early on.
This was before we even knew that God was leading
us to start Panama's first special needs orphanage and therapy center.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
So now that we've seen that open.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Up, which has been the segue to That's how we've
connected with DC, That's how we've connected with different areas
of the country about bringing people down to see this
unbelievable institution, cost of Providency, Special Needs Orphanage and Therapy Center.
And we're literally getting rescuing kids from the most gut
(10:54):
wrenching backgrounds you could ever imagine of abuse and neglect.
And these are special needs orphans, not just orphans. These
are the most unwanted, most abused human beings on planet Earth.
And we get these kids from situations that would just
really turn your stomach. But when we get them, we
are just pouring out love on these kids, give it,
(11:16):
working them hard every day through all the different therapies
we offer, organic food, we have around school, we have physical,
occupational speech therapy, even hydrotherapy, even a therapy dog and
uh and you know, showing them monkeys and sloths and
just having you know, when I show up, I play
(11:38):
with them a little bit too hard and the caregivers
kind of tell me to settle down, but they need
the testosterone as well. It has been the most unbelievable
God just deletes all that that baggage from.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Their past, and they are just you just see them
come alive. You know, things that.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
We're told, oh this is this little girl is never
going to sit up. Doctors tell us she'll ever eat
by mouth. You know, this was a girl in particular,
on a Michelle that we got from the landfill. She
was thrown away, and now she is. Her feeding tube
has been removed, she's eating by mouth, she's learning how
to walk. All it takes is you know, love and attention,
(12:18):
just like what we received in our homes, you know,
and so these kids are getting that at Constant Providencia.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But that's not our goal.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Our goal is not for them to you know, disable
orphans to rehabilitate and to be loved at an institution.
Our goal is for them to get into families. The
biggest miracle of AWE because every time I used to
tell people, yeah, our goal is to get special needs
orphans adopted in Panama, you know, I could see the
eyes rolling, like, yeah, you know, who's going to adopt
(12:48):
in a third world country. They just don't adopt special needs,
you know, orphans we have had since we've opened in
twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Right now we're at twenty six kids.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well that's pretty extraordinary.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
Yeah, well we were at twenty six kids, but we
have helped thirty five. Wow, where have those other ones gone?
Two of them are in heaven.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
We knew good and well. We got one that was
palliative care.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
They told us that she would probably live for a
couple of weeks and we said, yeah, yeah, we'll take her.
She lived for a year and blessed so many people
and then went on to heaven. So we've lost too,
But the other ones have gone on into homes. I mean,
that's the biggest miracle on. There are incredible homes in Panama.
So the vision that I'm seeing being, you know, actually
(13:38):
coming to fruition is that God is using this place
now as kind of a lighthouse of his love for
the surrounding areas, for the neighborhood especially and then Panama
at large, and now even places like d C of.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
All places, right just right, And I want to talk
and I want to talk about d C just a moment,
because I know there's an affiliation some very generous people
in this region, as we have you on the program today.
But Miski, I think we got everybody's attention and I
know we can go deep into the weeds on this,
but and I realized that adoption without I am a parent,
but I've never adopted before, but I know people that have,
and it can be strenuous and stressful and hard and
(14:16):
sometimes not successful. But when it comes to criteria, just
maybe a thirty thousand foot of you as they work
with you, guys, what's the criteria for working with hearts crying?
And how does the process start.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Well, we help families in Panama become approved to adopt
or be foster parents, and then we work to help
a child get placed with them with the local government,
the social services equivalent. But then what we do that's
very different is we stick with the family post placement,
whether that's through foster adoption, and we actually provide therapy,
(14:53):
we do crisis intervention, and we just support after they
are placed. What we have seen is that the enemy
is out there and does not want these kids to
be adopted. He would love it if they stayed in
orphanages and they just you know, had horrible lives. But
God wants to rescue these kids and put them into families,
(15:14):
and that's what he's about. And so we love joining
the Lord in that work, and we absolutely love when
a child is placed into a home. We prepare families
ahead of time. We require extra training hours because we
know it's going to be hard. We know it's going
to be different than raising biological children. You are going
(15:35):
to have extra baggage that you have to deal with,
so we help prepare them with tools for when that happens,
and then after their place, we just walk alongside them.
We're just so thankful when a child is placed in
a home and we come around them and pray for
them as well, because I do believe there's a spiritual
battle going on.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well three days ago, Yeah, go ahead, just.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Have one to go into a family three days ago.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Oh is that right?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah? It was amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The thing that I'm also gathering from you guys that
there's follow up. There's so many agencies that I think
everybody's worked with there's never follow up. But you guys
are doing that, and I think that's extraordinary. So Matt,
let's talk about the DC Tyant. I know that Georgetown
Prep has partnered up with you. There's been some generosity.
There's been a fundraiser that just concluded as we're taping
this interview, But can you tell me about just the
(16:26):
affiliation that you have with the DMV and Georgetown Prep specifically,
I sure.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Can't and real quick bit, it's just something along the side.
I know your listeners can't can't see, but I just
wanted to show you a picture of my family here.
We were told we could not have biological children, you know,
so we adopted to and then we had to biological.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
That's wonderful, guys, congratulations, well, good looking family.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
So listeners can just use there's just such a beautiful family,
such a beautiful picture.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Just use your imagination, trust me. It really is so
our affiliation with d C.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
I had a buddy that I graduated high school with,
and I mean he's just a good friend. Played on
the soccer team down here in high school with him,
Richard Mann, and he moved to d C and has
done really well.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
He is the whole reason I knew anyone in the
DC area.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
So over many years of him helping me introduce me
to people, Georgetown Prep, the Maddox family, you know, it's
a Victor Junior is the one who's the student there
who's really really championed these efforts for his school. But
there's other schools as well, but also at Georgetown Prep.
(17:44):
It was really the thing that really struck me was
how Victor Maddox and Charlie Thomas so they just took
this thing to another level. Michelle Maddox, Victor's mom would
send me pictures of like, like, what what is that
on his wrist? And he made these wristbands with our
logo and Georgetown PRIP. It would chase people down around
(18:07):
the they had a free dress day that you could
pay and donate to to be able to wear not
your uniform, you know, I guess, and then he would
chase people down like you hadn't bought one of these
bracelets yet, you know. He was just like collected, was
raising money like a madman. And so it was funny.
Michelle was like, I don't even know how he got
the logo on there, Like he paid for those bracelets himself.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Future entrepreneur exactly.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Like probably need to hire them.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Yeah, So it was you know, Ginger Loaper at Holy Child,
Ginger Ginger is the mom. Kate Loaper is the student
who's just unbelievable. She she really they've they've had Holy
Child who has.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Been down a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
And then of course there's you know, there's stone Ridge,
you know Shannon McCart with her daughter Aila, and Tiffany
Albina and her daughter Mattie, and of course Potomac. See
those are the four schools, Potomac, Stone Ridge, George, Shawn Prep,
and Holy Child. Potomac was Riley Walters. So she had
(19:18):
just knocked it out of the bar too, and her
mom Lee and her dad Rob.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
They just came to Panama.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
All these schools just came to Panama in January February
on their own trips. They were so taken, I guess
because they literally did this on their own. I did
not have anything to do with this except for just
feeding them things. They got back and they're like they were,
I guess, so impacted.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
They said, look, we need to go help.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
We need to help fill the bucket, the financial bucket
of this brand new baby girl that Kasa just got.
And her name is Valerie, and so she is just
the most adorable little baby girl. So the you know,
at cost of Providencia, it's not a typical orphanage. We
were a special needs orphanage. So unlike having one caretaker
(20:09):
to twenty kids that you see and you know, unfortunately
you see and lots of orphanages. We have one caretaker
to two kids is our ratio. And even that gets
hard when you're pushing two kids in wheelchairs down the hall.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So it's much it's much more expensive.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
We have, you know, we have healthcare, We have all
kinds of you know, all the therapies, and it just
costs a lot more. So for it cost us, on
average about fifty thousand dollars per kid per year. To
give you an idea that, because that for a third
world orphanage, that sounds really high. To give you an idea,
(20:45):
the exact same type of institution that all the services
we provide here in Raleigh. There's the Tamulan Center. There
an incredible organization in Chicago, the MS Recordia.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
They're huge, great organization.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Costs them two hundred fifty to three hundred thousand per
kid per year.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
So at least we can do about five or six
times the impact down there.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
So they set out, the four schools got back and said,
let's compete against each other to see who can raise,
you know, the most toward that fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
And the parents were like, that's pretty lofty.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
You know, when a high school kid calls you and says, hey,
can you donate one thousand dollars? Okay, yeah, I know
if my high school kid called you, you should question.
And so anyway, like they were like, okay, fifty thousand dollars,
you know what, I bet they can do it. You know,
we'll see. We started and in three weeks of launching
(21:43):
this campaign to try to hit fifty and granted I
am really prodding these parents and kids against each other,
really pitting them against them in some heavy competition, we
are now just about at one hundred thousand dollars. It
ended up being double. So I mean, these are sixteen
(22:05):
year old kids, and it was just like in three
weeks they were able to raise that kind of money.
And it's not just they went to a few people
that wrote big checks. We have two hundred and sixty
new people to our ministry that have never heard of
us before that are now kind of in our system.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
They're going to get our newsletter and things like that.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
And so we have we have one more room to
fill on this one side of the right side of
the building is our Phase one, and we have one
more room that could be filled with four kids. We're
just waiting on the funding to do it. And so
because of what these kids, these DC kids did, were
able to go and get one child and she actually
(22:49):
came yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Her name is Ali and we went and got her
because of these DC kids.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
That's huge, man.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
The junifer from a terrible situation too.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Yeah, and now she's in party time and.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Crazy enough, it was her birthday. She turned one when
she came, and she came from an orphanage that you know,
wouldn't do anything and wasn't paying attention. And we threw
a big birthday party for her the minute she walked
through the door. And she is now being loved on
and adored and I just know God has big plans
(23:23):
for her.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
That's huge, guys, you know, with being twenty twenty five
in the world on fire and never sees to amaze
me the good that comes out sometimes when people come
together and love and do something really cool and donate
their time. And that's extraordinary money that's coming in for
these kids and defining homes. We only have about five
minutes left, guys, and I know that we're just getting
the tip of the iceberg. But what I want to
(23:44):
talk about both of you is we conclude beside getting
some final thoughts, and the website is about donations, and
I've been on that part of the website and i
know there's many ways to donate, and you know, we've
been talking about this and it's important and there's many
ways that you.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Want to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So Matt and Missy, either of you can can tackle this.
But about donations, let's tell people how they can donate,
where the money goes, and how you allocate it.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I think that's really important.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Well, so one thing that you know, I'm very proud
to be able to tell people and I have loved
doing it, although it's also made things harder on us
is that we have a very skeleton development crew. You're
talking to them, you know, as far as like the
(24:28):
overhead state side. You know, most nonprofits have a you know,
marketing and different people doing different design and doing different things.
It's just me and we just hired a part time person.
But we've figured out that about ninety four percent of
every dollar actually goes straight to the kids outstanding. The
(24:50):
industry nonprofit nationwide standard is to try to hit seventy percent.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
But yeah, so we brought ourselves on that thing we're doing.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
We're asking people to help us, like MISSI had just mentioned,
to fill that last room in phase one. In Phase
one means that we have we're entering into our seventh
year of being open at cost of Providencia, and we
really believe that that has some spiritual significance, like we
were about to complete Phase one enter into our second year.
(25:24):
But we need to raise you know, specifically one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars between now and well the next month.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Is our goal.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
And so if people do want to give, we definitely
need it, and this will allow us to open up
the whole other half of the building and start the renovation,
start the extra It's not major, so it won't take
too long, and then we can start getting in a
whole nother twenty seven special needs orphans that equally come
(25:54):
from terrible situations.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
And yeah, the demand.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Is there, apply of kids is there, and it's just
a function of when we get the finances when we
can put things together. But I've learned also I don't
need to rush things. God has his timing for these
things that are perfect. If I had my way, we'd
have the whole building filled right now.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
But then we probably would.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Have all kinds of disasters with the kids because I
had to learn what to do. We had to learn
how to take care of them. So giving you can
give to our website at Heartstry Children dot com and
you can see right there. We make it roll obvious
where to click on. You can give via credit card,
(26:41):
and then you can also if it's if it's a check,
you know, we you can mail.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
All that Stuff's very clear on our website.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
All right, very good, And before we go, I just
want to get some final thoughts, So mister, why don't
we let you pop in here and we've got about
maybe a minu and a half for each of you,
but just some final thoughts from you.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
It's just such a privilege to be able to do
this work. You know, it's hard. The stories are hard
of the kids that come to us, The stories of
the families wanting the kids are hard. You know, we
lived that for quite a while. And God is so faithful.
He meets both sides and he brings them together in
(27:20):
such a beautiful way. As Matt mentioned, we just had
Jonathan was placed this past week into a family and
it was such a good reminder as they left, and
you know, the mom was crying as they walked out
of class of providency, and our staff were crying. We
are so glad when a child is placed into a home,
(27:41):
and then our hearts are also broken because we've been
with them since they were little and helped raise them
into who they have become. But yet God is going
to do something amazing now that this child is in
his forever home and we walk alongside of them. He
can come back for therapy anytime he wants it, and
we do psychologists and social workers support. But we're just
(28:03):
so amazed and humbled to be able to do this
work that God has called us to do, and we
just invite other people to join along. The stories are
worth it. They just keep you going When you want
to give up, you just just hear one of these
stories like Jonathan or Aliyah that just came yesterday, and
it just keeps you going.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
All right, And we got about a middle left, Matt,
some final thoughts from you.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I just want to say that.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
I've been so blown away and I'm really not just
blowing smoke by these teams in DC, these schools. You know,
the parents we always want parents to come as well
with kids when they come down. But I mean, the
kids are amazing. These kids, they're not staring at their phones.
(28:50):
They are engaged. They are like sponges. They really want
to get to the depths of what they're supposed to
get by going down there. And the fact that they
took this on their own and ran with this fundraiser.
And I know the very high functioning people like those
(29:11):
in DC, they're all very competitive, yeah, and so competitions
certainly helped love that.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
But I'm just so proud of them, and.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
It blows my mind and it swells our hearts to
know that there are people, you know, there's no other
reason other than God, that they've experienced what God has
down there at cost of Providencia and they're just championing
this ministry without me really doing anything, and it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
It really is amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Stanny. Let's get the website one more time, guys.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
It's www dot Hearts crychildren dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Well, madam mister, thank you so much for your valuable time.
We really appreciate it. And continued success with everything with
Heart's Cry Children's Ministry.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Thank you, Dennis. Thanks for having as
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome Matt
and Misty Headspeth. They are the founders of Heart's Cried
Children Ministry, which advocates and cares for orphan and abandoned
children in Panama, primarily through their special Needs Orphanage am
I connecting families to adoption and foster care. Here's my
conversation with Matt and Misty. I hope you enjoyed it
(00:24):
as much as I did.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning, Matt and Misty.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Well, good morning Dennis.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hi there.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, it's great to have you guys, and I can't
tell you this is the first time, by the way,
that you guys have been on the show, and I'm
thrilled that the introduction was made and we're going to
talk a lot about Heart's Cried Children's Ministry. I think
the first thing after my introduction about just giving people
an overview of it, is about how this started and
why it started. So Matt, I want to start with
you and Misty. I'll let you jump in, But Matt,
what's the origin story?
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Well again, and thank you for having us on, Dennis.
This is just an honor of pleasure. But we started
my wife and I from Raleigh, North Carolina, and she's
an attorney at her own law firm.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I was in real estate development.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
We were unable to told we were unable to have
biological children, and as we were wanting to and my
wife was doing some work with adoption agencies down here,
one thing led to another and we really saw an
opportunity and felt that God was leading us to adopt
in Panama. We go to Panama just to submit our
(01:27):
dossier for our adoption and to kind of bridge the
gap between the agency we were working with in Raleigh
and the Panamanian government. We get down there and see
the train wreck. Really that it was meaning that there
are thousands and thousands of abandoned babies, children just warehoused
(01:48):
and orphanages, and they were not working them through the system,
they were not getting them into families.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So that and there's a whole lot more to it.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
And that's why I'm married to a smart Person's the
she's the brains behind all this. But we started seeing
an opportunity. We started seeing that people were actually asking
us if we could go and help, and us by us,
I mean misty because she has the law expertise.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
She was very she was.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Very knowledgeable in the Hague Convention as it pertains to
this type of law, and even the first Lady of
Panama on that first two week trip we went, asked
if we could come and help their government, the central
authority down there that handles adoptions, foster care, all that stuff,
and helped them get in line with the Hague Treaty
(02:38):
that they had signed on to, and that. It was
just so many things after that, confirming we're Christians and
we're part of a church here in Raleigh, and it
just it was just crazy how God was just showing
us really supernaturally in so many different ways, just beating
(02:59):
us there the head quite frankly with the you know,
I'm actually calling you to go down there. And we were,
you know, we were.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Very content with our careers. We were just starting to
live the American dream, just starting to make money.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Didn't have kids at that point, so we could go
to movies, we could eat in restaurants. Now we've got
we've got too many kids. Now we've got four kids.
But anyway, so we end up just saying yes, moving
to Panama, starting our own nonprofit and that was in
two thousand and eight. So two thousand and eight we
move under Harts Tried Children's Ministry nonprofit North Carolina five
(03:36):
oh one c three and it's and we registered it
in Panama as an NGO, and we from day one,
Missy can tell you just the amazing stuff that I mean,
God opened the doors for us to go into the government,
into the bowels of the of the bureaucracy, to start
figuring out how to help fix this problem.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, missed you, it's a good time to bring you in.
And then I've talked to so many people where something
personally happens to them and it doesn't necessarily have to
be a tragedy, but it might be something that is
trying on the family, but it's a personal thing. And
then it's turned into what you guys have done and
starting a nonprofit, and a lot of people don't know,
besides just having a leap of faith that that's a
(04:18):
big deal to start any kind of business, whether it's
profit or for nonprofit. And with that said, when you
guys were talking about this on your journey down there,
when did you and Matt decide, you know what, I
think we can actually turn this into something kind of larger.
How did all that happen?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Right?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Well, when we went down there, you know, as Matt mentioned,
God opened some amazing doors things that we couldn't have
done on our own. I mean, who gets to talk
to the first lady of a country. They just go
and visit only by the end of the trip. But personally,
what happened is, you know, at that point, I really,
we really didn't want to start a family, and yet
(04:55):
we were being told by the doctors we couldn't at
that time. And here we got invited into several orphanages
and we went in and we saw all these children
who wanted parents. They would literally sit there and say
mom my, Papa, and call out to us and hold
their arms up. And then we you know, we wanted
(05:17):
to take them home. But then we saw all this
red tape in the way that was the government bureaucracy,
and it was crazy. It was like I had a
key in my hand and a door that was locked
in front of me, and God was saying open it.
And because I'm like, who are we We're nobody, We're
just two people from Raleigh. What can we go do?
But I actually did have all this knowledge and experience
(05:39):
from my background and family law and adoption law, and
so I just we said yes. I was very hesitant,
but Matt felt super strongly that God was calling us
to do this, and we did. We said yes, We
sold everything and moved down and it was It was
in two thousand and eight, and then we started going
(06:02):
around different orphanages and we started really trying to investigate
what was going on on the ground in the orphanages.
And then we were invited into the government. They actually
gave us an office within the equivalent of social services
there and we wrote policies and procedure manuals for the
(06:22):
staff and along the line of that, you know, it
was really highlighted to me that the law and Panama
needed addressing. There were fundamental problems that would prevent kids
from getting into save biological families first, and then if
that wasn't an option into adoptive homes. They didn't even
really have foster care all at the time. And so
(06:45):
so I was like, hey, Matt, I think that we
should rewrite the adoption law. And he thought I was crazy,
but I did. I started researching all over the world
and brought what I thought were the best things from
different parts of the world. And I wrote this, you know, draft,
this beautiful draft of an adoption of foster care law
through in foster Care, and then it took about four
(07:07):
years and we walked it through the legislative process. But
at the end, you know, it was changed and updated
based on different things, but the core point stayed in
the law that I wanted to make sure we're in there.
And praise God, the law passed in twenty thirteen, and
that sort of set the groundwork for what could come afterwards.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Right the fact the fact that you know, President Ricardo.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
Martinelli at the time signed that law forty six into law,
and I'm looking at MISSI like, what in the world,
I mean, how do you you know? So it is
an understatement to say that I'm very proud of my
wife for ramming that through and what an accomplishment.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Is just amazing to change the law of a country
like that.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
It's actually too young, young dumb couples from you know, Raleigh,
who don't hardly speak Spanish, and I just it was
it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Sometimes I've learned in life, guys. I know you do too,
that if you know too much, you're your worst enemy.
So when you don't know as much you know, you
go in blindly and I don't know what's going on,
and you get things done. It's an extraordinary story. So
I want to do this because we've talked about Raleigh,
which I'm very familiar with because I lived there for years,
so I love the area. And you mentioned Panama. There
is a dc Tian folks that we're going to talk
(08:28):
about with both Matt and Misty here, but I think
we should do this first and talk about mission and vision.
So Matt, if we could start with you, what are
those when it comes to Heart's Cry Children's Ministry.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Denni's our mission statement is that Hearts Cry advocates for
the orphan and abandoned children of Panama. They're about sharing
the love of Jesus Christ and following the biblical command
and James one twenty seven to care for orphans and
their distress. Now that's our mission statement, our vision as
(09:00):
we see you know that that was our mission statement
from all the way back in two thousand and eight.
And what we've seen how God has kind of reinforced
that and shown us how that's going to come into
reality is just mind blowing goes way beyond what we
ever expected we have. We started upon the law change,
(09:22):
Panama's first adoption agency, fully staffed, you know, and fully
funded by us and you you know, the donors of
our ministry, and it is pro bonum, so we represent
Panamanian families and adoption and foster care and we do
not charge. And part of that was we wanted to
(09:46):
do that just to kind of further gain the trust
of the government, very untrusting government and a very untrusting
country for good reasons, you know that we've found out.
So part of that is to say, look, we're not
trying to adopt these kids to the States where they're
going to be saved from Panami. There's so many great
families that we worked with in Panama, so many churches,
(10:09):
all kinds of people that were just wonderful. So we're
not adopting internationally and we're not charging, so you can't
really accuse of of anything. We're just here to help.
Was that's been an amazing thing that we established early on.
This was before we even knew that God was leading
us to start Panama's first special needs orphanage and therapy center.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
So now that we've seen that open.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Up, which has been the segue to That's how we've
connected with DC, That's how we've connected with different areas
of the country about bringing people down to see this
unbelievable institution, cost of Providency, Special Needs Orphanage and Therapy Center.
And we're literally getting rescuing kids from the most gut
(10:54):
wrenching backgrounds you could ever imagine of abuse and neglect.
And these are special needs orphans, not just orphans. These
are the most unwanted, most abused human beings on planet Earth.
And we get these kids from situations that would just
really turn your stomach. But when we get them, we
are just pouring out love on these kids, give it,
(11:16):
working them hard every day through all the different therapies
we offer, organic food, we have around school, we have physical,
occupational speech therapy, even hydrotherapy, even a therapy dog and
uh and you know, showing them monkeys and sloths and
just having you know, when I show up, I play
(11:38):
with them a little bit too hard and the caregivers
kind of tell me to settle down, but they need
the testosterone as well. It has been the most unbelievable
God just deletes all that that baggage from.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Their past, and they are just you just see them
come alive. You know, things that.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
We're told, oh this is this little girl is never
going to sit up. Doctors tell us she'll ever eat
by mouth. You know, this was a girl in particular,
on a Michelle that we got from the landfill. She
was thrown away, and now she is. Her feeding tube
has been removed, she's eating by mouth, she's learning how
to walk. All it takes is you know, love and attention,
(12:18):
just like what we received in our homes, you know,
and so these kids are getting that at Constant Providencia.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But that's not our goal.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Our goal is not for them to you know, disable
orphans to rehabilitate and to be loved at an institution.
Our goal is for them to get into families. The
biggest miracle of AWE because every time I used to
tell people, yeah, our goal is to get special needs
orphans adopted in Panama, you know, I could see the
eyes rolling, like, yeah, you know, who's going to adopt
(12:48):
in a third world country. They just don't adopt special needs,
you know, orphans we have had since we've opened in
twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Right now we're at twenty six kids.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well that's pretty extraordinary.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
Yeah, well we were at twenty six kids, but we
have helped thirty five. Wow, where have those other ones gone?
Two of them are in heaven.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
We knew good and well. We got one that was
palliative care.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
They told us that she would probably live for a
couple of weeks and we said, yeah, yeah, we'll take her.
She lived for a year and blessed so many people
and then went on to heaven. So we've lost too,
But the other ones have gone on into homes. I mean,
that's the biggest miracle on. There are incredible homes in Panama.
So the vision that I'm seeing being, you know, actually
(13:38):
coming to fruition is that God is using this place
now as kind of a lighthouse of his love for
the surrounding areas, for the neighborhood especially and then Panama
at large, and now even places like d C of.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
All places, right just right, And I want to talk
and I want to talk about d C just a moment,
because I know there's an affiliation some very generous people
in this region, as we have you on the program today.
But Miski, I think we got everybody's attention and I
know we can go deep into the weeds on this,
but and I realized that adoption without I am a parent,
but I've never adopted before, but I know people that have,
and it can be strenuous and stressful and hard and
(14:16):
sometimes not successful. But when it comes to criteria, just
maybe a thirty thousand foot of you as they work
with you, guys, what's the criteria for working with hearts crying?
And how does the process start.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Well, we help families in Panama become approved to adopt
or be foster parents, and then we work to help
a child get placed with them with the local government,
the social services equivalent. But then what we do that's
very different is we stick with the family post placement,
whether that's through foster adoption, and we actually provide therapy,
(14:53):
we do crisis intervention, and we just support after they
are placed. What we have seen is that the enemy
is out there and does not want these kids to
be adopted. He would love it if they stayed in
orphanages and they just you know, had horrible lives. But
God wants to rescue these kids and put them into families,
(15:14):
and that's what he's about. And so we love joining
the Lord in that work, and we absolutely love when
a child is placed into a home. We prepare families
ahead of time. We require extra training hours because we
know it's going to be hard. We know it's going
to be different than raising biological children. You are going
(15:35):
to have extra baggage that you have to deal with,
so we help prepare them with tools for when that happens,
and then after their place, we just walk alongside them.
We're just so thankful when a child is placed in
a home and we come around them and pray for
them as well, because I do believe there's a spiritual
battle going on.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well three days ago, Yeah, go ahead, just.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Have one to go into a family three days ago.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Oh is that right?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah? It was amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The thing that I'm also gathering from you guys that
there's follow up. There's so many agencies that I think
everybody's worked with there's never follow up. But you guys
are doing that, and I think that's extraordinary. So Matt,
let's talk about the DC Tyant. I know that Georgetown
Prep has partnered up with you. There's been some generosity.
There's been a fundraiser that just concluded as we're taping
this interview, But can you tell me about just the
(16:26):
affiliation that you have with the DMV and Georgetown Prep specifically,
I sure.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Can't and real quick bit, it's just something along the side.
I know your listeners can't can't see, but I just
wanted to show you a picture of my family here.
We were told we could not have biological children, you know,
so we adopted to and then we had to biological.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
That's wonderful, guys, congratulations, well, good looking family.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
So listeners can just use there's just such a beautiful family,
such a beautiful picture.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Just use your imagination, trust me. It really is so
our affiliation with d C.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
I had a buddy that I graduated high school with,
and I mean he's just a good friend. Played on
the soccer team down here in high school with him,
Richard Mann, and he moved to d C and has
done really well.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
He is the whole reason I knew anyone in the
DC area.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
So over many years of him helping me introduce me
to people, Georgetown Prep, the Maddox family, you know, it's
a Victor Junior is the one who's the student there
who's really really championed these efforts for his school. But
there's other schools as well, but also at Georgetown Prep.
(17:44):
It was really the thing that really struck me was
how Victor Maddox and Charlie Thomas so they just took
this thing to another level. Michelle Maddox, Victor's mom would
send me pictures of like, like, what what is that
on his wrist? And he made these wristbands with our
logo and Georgetown PRIP. It would chase people down around
(18:07):
the they had a free dress day that you could
pay and donate to to be able to wear not
your uniform, you know, I guess, and then he would
chase people down like you hadn't bought one of these
bracelets yet, you know. He was just like collected, was
raising money like a madman. And so it was funny.
Michelle was like, I don't even know how he got
the logo on there, Like he paid for those bracelets himself.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Future entrepreneur exactly.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Like probably need to hire them.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Yeah, So it was you know, Ginger Loaper at Holy Child,
Ginger Ginger is the mom. Kate Loaper is the student
who's just unbelievable. She she really they've they've had Holy
Child who has.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Been down a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
And then of course there's you know, there's stone Ridge,
you know Shannon McCart with her daughter Aila, and Tiffany
Albina and her daughter Mattie, and of course Potomac. See
those are the four schools, Potomac, Stone Ridge, George, Shawn Prep,
and Holy Child. Potomac was Riley Walters. So she had
(19:18):
just knocked it out of the bar too, and her
mom Lee and her dad Rob.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
They just came to Panama.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
All these schools just came to Panama in January February
on their own trips. They were so taken, I guess
because they literally did this on their own. I did
not have anything to do with this except for just
feeding them things. They got back and they're like they were,
I guess, so impacted.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
They said, look, we need to go help.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
We need to help fill the bucket, the financial bucket
of this brand new baby girl that Kasa just got.
And her name is Valerie, and so she is just
the most adorable little baby girl. So the you know,
at cost of Providencia, it's not a typical orphanage. We
were a special needs orphanage. So unlike having one caretaker
(20:09):
to twenty kids that you see and you know, unfortunately
you see and lots of orphanages. We have one caretaker
to two kids is our ratio. And even that gets
hard when you're pushing two kids in wheelchairs down the hall.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So it's much it's much more expensive.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
We have, you know, we have healthcare, We have all
kinds of you know, all the therapies, and it just
costs a lot more. So for it cost us, on
average about fifty thousand dollars per kid per year. To
give you an idea that, because that for a third
world orphanage, that sounds really high. To give you an idea,
(20:45):
the exact same type of institution that all the services
we provide here in Raleigh. There's the Tamulan Center. There
an incredible organization in Chicago, the MS Recordia.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
They're huge, great organization.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Costs them two hundred fifty to three hundred thousand per
kid per year.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
So at least we can do about five or six
times the impact down there.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
So they set out, the four schools got back and said,
let's compete against each other to see who can raise,
you know, the most toward that fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
And the parents were like, that's pretty lofty.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
You know, when a high school kid calls you and says, hey,
can you donate one thousand dollars? Okay, yeah, I know
if my high school kid called you, you should question.
And so anyway, like they were like, okay, fifty thousand dollars,
you know what, I bet they can do it. You know,
we'll see. We started and in three weeks of launching
(21:43):
this campaign to try to hit fifty and granted I
am really prodding these parents and kids against each other,
really pitting them against them in some heavy competition, we
are now just about at one hundred thousand dollars. It
ended up being double. So I mean, these are sixteen
(22:05):
year old kids, and it was just like in three
weeks they were able to raise that kind of money.
And it's not just they went to a few people
that wrote big checks. We have two hundred and sixty
new people to our ministry that have never heard of
us before that are now kind of in our system.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
They're going to get our newsletter and things like that.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
And so we have we have one more room to
fill on this one side of the right side of
the building is our Phase one, and we have one
more room that could be filled with four kids. We're
just waiting on the funding to do it. And so
because of what these kids, these DC kids did, were
able to go and get one child and she actually
(22:49):
came yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Her name is Ali and we went and got her
because of these DC kids.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
That's huge, man.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
The junifer from a terrible situation too.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Yeah, and now she's in party time and.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Crazy enough, it was her birthday. She turned one when
she came, and she came from an orphanage that you know,
wouldn't do anything and wasn't paying attention. And we threw
a big birthday party for her the minute she walked
through the door. And she is now being loved on
and adored and I just know God has big plans
(23:23):
for her.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
That's huge, guys, you know, with being twenty twenty five
in the world on fire and never sees to amaze
me the good that comes out sometimes when people come
together and love and do something really cool and donate
their time. And that's extraordinary money that's coming in for
these kids and defining homes. We only have about five
minutes left, guys, and I know that we're just getting
the tip of the iceberg. But what I want to
(23:44):
talk about both of you is we conclude beside getting
some final thoughts, and the website is about donations, and
I've been on that part of the website and i
know there's many ways to donate, and you know, we've
been talking about this and it's important and there's many
ways that you.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Want to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So Matt and Missy, either of you can can tackle this.
But about donations, let's tell people how they can donate,
where the money goes, and how you allocate it.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I think that's really important.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Well, so one thing that you know, I'm very proud
to be able to tell people and I have loved
doing it, although it's also made things harder on us
is that we have a very skeleton development crew. You're
talking to them, you know, as far as like the
(24:28):
overhead state side. You know, most nonprofits have a you know,
marketing and different people doing different design and doing different things.
It's just me and we just hired a part time person.
But we've figured out that about ninety four percent of
every dollar actually goes straight to the kids outstanding. The
(24:50):
industry nonprofit nationwide standard is to try to hit seventy percent.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
But yeah, so we brought ourselves on that thing we're doing.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
We're asking people to help us, like MISSI had just mentioned,
to fill that last room in phase one. In Phase
one means that we have we're entering into our seventh
year of being open at cost of Providencia, and we
really believe that that has some spiritual significance, like we
were about to complete Phase one enter into our second year.
(25:24):
But we need to raise you know, specifically one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars between now and well the next month.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Is our goal.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
And so if people do want to give, we definitely
need it, and this will allow us to open up
the whole other half of the building and start the renovation,
start the extra It's not major, so it won't take
too long, and then we can start getting in a
whole nother twenty seven special needs orphans that equally come
(25:54):
from terrible situations.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
And yeah, the demand.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Is there, apply of kids is there, and it's just
a function of when we get the finances when we
can put things together. But I've learned also I don't
need to rush things. God has his timing for these
things that are perfect. If I had my way, we'd
have the whole building filled right now.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
But then we probably would.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Have all kinds of disasters with the kids because I
had to learn what to do. We had to learn
how to take care of them. So giving you can
give to our website at Heartstry Children dot com and
you can see right there. We make it roll obvious
where to click on. You can give via credit card,
(26:41):
and then you can also if it's if it's a check,
you know, we you can mail.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
All that Stuff's very clear on our website.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
All right, very good, And before we go, I just
want to get some final thoughts, So mister, why don't
we let you pop in here and we've got about
maybe a minu and a half for each of you,
but just some final thoughts from you.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
It's just such a privilege to be able to do
this work. You know, it's hard. The stories are hard
of the kids that come to us, The stories of
the families wanting the kids are hard. You know, we
lived that for quite a while. And God is so faithful.
He meets both sides and he brings them together in
(27:20):
such a beautiful way. As Matt mentioned, we just had
Jonathan was placed this past week into a family and
it was such a good reminder as they left, and
you know, the mom was crying as they walked out
of class of providency, and our staff were crying. We
are so glad when a child is placed into a home,
(27:41):
and then our hearts are also broken because we've been
with them since they were little and helped raise them
into who they have become. But yet God is going
to do something amazing now that this child is in
his forever home and we walk alongside of them. He
can come back for therapy anytime he wants it, and
we do psychologists and social workers support. But we're just
(28:03):
so amazed and humbled to be able to do this
work that God has called us to do, and we
just invite other people to join along. The stories are
worth it. They just keep you going When you want
to give up, you just just hear one of these
stories like Jonathan or Aliyah that just came yesterday, and
it just keeps you going.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
All right, And we got about a middle left, Matt,
some final thoughts from you.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I just want to say that.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
I've been so blown away and I'm really not just
blowing smoke by these teams in DC, these schools. You know,
the parents we always want parents to come as well
with kids when they come down. But I mean, the
kids are amazing. These kids, they're not staring at their phones.
(28:50):
They are engaged. They are like sponges. They really want
to get to the depths of what they're supposed to
get by going down there. And the fact that they
took this on their own and ran with this fundraiser.
And I know the very high functioning people like those
(29:11):
in DC, they're all very competitive, yeah, and so competitions
certainly helped love that.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
But I'm just so proud of them, and.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
It blows my mind and it swells our hearts to
know that there are people, you know, there's no other
reason other than God, that they've experienced what God has
down there at cost of Providencia and they're just championing
this ministry without me really doing anything, and it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
It really is amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Stanny. Let's get the website one more time, guys.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
It's www dot Hearts crychildren dot com.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Well, madam mister, thank you so much for your valuable time.
We really appreciate it. And continued success with everything with
Heart's Cry Children's Ministry.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Thank you, Dennis. Thanks for having as
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