Our Impact
as of October 2023
From the desk of Kimberly Scott, Agape of NC’s Executive Director
This Fall the Agape team is busy sharing our mission and sharing God’s heart for vulnerable children all over the state. We have many opportunities to speak planned at churches and foster parent events in the months ahead. Many of these opportunities to share God’s heart are at churches that have partnered with us for decades and some of them are with new ministries/churches that are still getting to know us.
But no matter where the Agape team goes, the message and mission we carry is always the same. God is the father to the fatherless and He loves placing the lonely in families. We were all once far from God and he has adopted us and brought us into his family. As children of God we have the great privilege of bearing his image and showing his love to the world.
When you are part of God’s family, you carry his DNA and when you carry his DNA, the father’s heartbeat for vulnerable children slowly becomes our heartbeat.
As a ministry that represents this part of who God is, it is our joy and privilege to call Christians across our great state to shine the light of Christ in this way. We also love the ways we are getting to partner with churches to equip and support individual communities as they seek to cultivate foster care and adoption ministries in their church. Please reach out to us if you would like to have a representative from the Agape team at your church for a Sunday or any other church event. It would be a joy to partner and serve your community!
Summer Highlights
It was such a joy to once again be a sponsor of the Carolina Bible Camp Bluegrass Festival.
The camp was beautiful, the people were friendly, the BBQ was delicious, and the music was incredible. We met so many wonderful people and had the opportunity to share about the mission and important work that we do.
Agape partnered with Seven Homes and The North Carolina Foster Family Alliance to help make the LifeRaft foster parent event a success. Agape sponsored lunch at the event and was able to provide lunch for 170 foster parents. It is such a privilege to join with other great people and help make incredible events like this one that prevents foster parents burning out and helps each foster family continue to thrive.
Three of our Agape team will be attending the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit Conference this September. They will join nearly 3,000 other people from 30 different countries who are all passionate about fighting for vulnerable children in their communities. They will come back refreshed, envisioned and with new strategies and best practices for reaching children and families in North Carolina. We are excited to continue learning and growing and finding ways to link arms with other people both locally and globally who are fighting for children in nee
Agape had the great privilege of sharing with the entire faculty and staff at MACU about trauma informed care and the need for foster families and foster care ministries at local churches. Keith and Joe will be back at MACU in November to share about the local foster care crisis with the students during one of their weekly chapel times. We are thankful for this beautiful partnership with MACU and we look forward to the day when all the future preachers, ministers and pastors from MACU entire their field with a full understanding of foster care and what it looks like to minister well to children in need.
We had a wonderful day of fun and laughter with our foster parent community at Urban Air in North Raleigh. Many of our foster parents were able to connect with each other while the kids climbed, jumped and bounced all over the place (literally off the walls). It was such a joy to be with our foster families. They are truly the heartbeat of our ministry and nothing we do at Agape is possible without them. We are already looking forward to our next opportunity to be together and bless this precious group of families.
Staff Updates
Agape of NC welcomed…
Kristen Loper
Kristen is our new Agape Social Worker and Community Outreach Liaison in the Winston-Salem area. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Mississippi State University and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Alabama. She believes wholeheartedly in the mission of AGAPE and has previously worked as a foster care social worker for AGAPE in Alabama. She is passionate about filling the large gap between the number of foster children in a county versus the number of homes and loves encouraging and equipping families that have been called to foster care. She is so excited to meet with, support and pray for families and the precious children that have been placed in their homes.
Cynthia Abott
Cynthia’s first experience with Agape was in 2009 when she and her husband started the process of becoming foster parents. With a history of foster care in both their families, they decided to include it in their branch as well. Cynthia shares, “I love meeting and talking with people! Joining the Agape family and spreading our mission has given me the opportunity to do something I love while helping those who are most vulnerable. As an adoptive mom, I know how important that support is. I’m thrilled to walk alongside foster families in the Charlotte area as their Foster Care Worker and by engaging caring and supportive individuals and groups in the community to wrap arms around them. My favorite pastimes include jumping Double Dutch, playing board games with my family and loving on my Boxer, Lyla Rose.”
Edwin W. Woodhouse Tribute
Remembering Edwin W. Woodhouse, treasured member of our Agape family and supporter for over 40 years.
With family by his side, Edwin W. Woodhouse (1936-2023), a Southern gentleman defined, died peacefully at his Raleigh NC home Wednesday, August 02, 2023. Known for his powerful faith in Almighty God, Ed was unrivaled and unmatched in his service to feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, counseling the hurting, and lifting the spirits of the isolated.
Born February 01, 1936 in Mt. Airy NC, and raised in Currituck County NC, Ed Woodhouse never forgot his impoverished upbringing. After putting himself through college on an athletic scholarship at Louisburg College and Pfeffer College, Ed Woodhouse went from basketball coach to entrepreneur, generously giving back to his community.
Along the way, Ed Woodhouse successfully ran the campaign of North Carolina Governor Dan K Moore, later becoming Executive Director of The North Carolina Democrat Party. After a stint with the North Carolina Bottlers Association, the North Carolina Poultry Federation turned to Woodhouse, hiring him to become its first Executive Director. Woodhouse quickly built the North Carolina Poultry Federation into the State’s most powerful and influential agricultural entity.
Woodhouse was cited by the North Carolina General Assembly as one of the State’s most effective lobbyist, always conducting his work at the highest, professional level.
Woodhouse’s community involvement was unparalleled, holding leadership roles in Keep North Carolina Clean and Beautiful, The North Carolina Agribusiness Council, North Carolina Business and Industry, North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation. Woodhouse was appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly to be a Board Member of First In Flight, the planning Commission which celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Bros 1903 Kitty Hawk flight.
Community-based and faith-based organizations which address the improvement, education and spiritual growth of the very young and the very old is where Ed Woodhouse thrived. Woodhouse was a Board Member of Carolina Bible Camp, Christians in Action, and a leader at Raleigh’s Brooks Ave church of Christ.
Ed Woodhouse was a long-suffering NC State University Wolfpack fan, and a season ticket-holder at all basketball and football games.
Woodhouse leaves behind Betty Ann (wife) of 65 years, Anna Jane Woodhouse Summers (daughter) and Eddie Woodhouse (son), grandchildren John Andrew, Taylor Ann, Melissa Jo, Will, Hunter Jane, Morgan, Anna Lee, Maggie and Alexander, and great grandchildren Ivory, Max, Allie, Lucy, Luke and Annie. Woodhouse was preceded in death by Barry Andrew (son), Wilbur (father), Eunice (mother), Wilson (brother) and Betty Jane (sister).
Ed Woodhouse said “When the Good Lord comes to get me, may He find me working!”
And now Ed Woodhouse is hearing His God say “Well done, Ed Woodhouse, my good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with what I gave you! Come and share your Master’s happiness!”
Save the Date!
Agape’s 8th Annual Worth It! Campaign | October 1-December 31, 2023.
This year, we are raising funds to help STRETCH our wings to reach more of the state and more of the vulnerable children impacted by the ever-growing gap between the increase in the number of kids entering foster care and the decrease of safe, loving families to care for them.
Tribute Gifts
In Memory of
Given by: Rena Melton
In Memory of
Given by: Theodore Fowler
In Memory of
Given by: Freeman Stanfield