Nestled in the heart of Southern Georgia, the city of Valdosta is known for its exceptional southern hospitality, relaxing atmosphere, varying entertainment options and beautiful, scenic drives. Now known as the “Azalea City,” Valdosta was recently named one of the top six friendliest towns in all the United States.
Valdosta is also the center of an overwhelming battle with generational poverty and child welfare crises. 1,000 children in Valdosta are in foster care. After they exit the system, more than a quarter of these youth will experience homelessness again within the next few years.
Send Relief’s Valdosta Ministry Center is stepping into this gap by training local churches to support vulnerable children and their foster and adoptive families. By offering free meals and education services, the staff is able to get a closer look at these families’ experiences and hear directly from them what would be most helpful.
Whether it’s through mentorship camps, trauma-informed trainings or therapy, the center’s goal is to decrease the number of children in Valdosta’s foster care system while increasing the number of churches willing to come alongside foster and adoptive families.
What We Do
The Valdosta Ministry Center is committed to serving its large refugee population, protecting vulnerable families and children and strengthening the neighborhoods around it. The ministry center team focuses their efforts on:
- Providing resources to foster and adoptive parents
- Offering ESL courses to migrants
- Meeting medical and dental needs
- Hosting food distributions
- Supporting neighbors experiencing homelessness and poverty