ST INS CARES-Foster Village-SWFL

A child gets dropped off in the middle of the night. No suitcase, no toothbrush, sometimes not even a car seat. The adults want to help, but the logistics hit fast. We talk with Hannah Creech from Foster Village of Southwest Florida about what happens in those first hours and why practical support can make the difference between a family burning out and a family staying steady.

We break down how Foster Village serves foster parents, kinship caregivers, reunified families, and adoptive families with tangible items and real community. Hannah explains their welcome pack program for the first 14 days, how kids can come in and choose clothes and essentials, and why a toy or a personalized pack can lower anxiety and build trust. We also share the origin story: a local foster parent who once felt isolated discovers the Foster Village model and brings it home to Southwest Florida, where it has grown quickly through volunteers and donor support.

You’ll hear what a typical week looks like inside their resource center, what challenges they’re facing as a young nonprofit, and how fundraising campaigns like Growing The Villages Sweet lemonade stands help sustain the mission. We also talk about the bigger vision: a permanent, larger “forever home” so they can serve more families across Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, and beyond.

If you care about foster care support, kinship care resources, adoption support, or ways to strengthen families in Southwest Florida, listen through and get involved. Subscribe, share this with a neighbor, and leave a review to help more people find the organizations doing the quiet, urgent work.

Foster Village of Southwest Florida
Hannah Creech
1510 SE 41st Ter
Cape Coral, FL 33904

239-312-5522
hannah@fostervillageswfl.org
fostervillageswfl.org

State Insurance USA
4450 Camino Real Way
Ft Myers, FL 33966
239-567-9992

100 Lovers Ln 3rd Floor
Ft Myers Beach, FL 33931
(239) 690-6300

office@StateInsuranceUSA.com
stateinsuranceusa.com
https://www.facebook.com/Stateinsuranceusa
#StateInsuranceUSA
#SupportLocal
#WeLoveOurClients
@Stateinsuranceusa

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Transcript

Welcome To State Insurance USA Cares

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to State Insurance USA Cares Podcast, where we celebrate the heart of our community. Each episode, we highlight local charities and nonprofits who are bringing hope, health, and healing to those who need it most. Get ready to be inspired by the amazing stories of people making a difference. Because together, we care.

Meet Foster Village Southwest Florida

"Cabo" Jim 0:20

Welcome, Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbors. Today we have Hannah Creech from Foster Village of Southwest Florida. Welcome.

Hannah Creech 0:27

Hello, thank you for having me.

"Cabo" Jim 0:29

Absolutely. Always a pleasure to get to know people in the community and especially organizations like yourself and share them with our listeners and kind of expand their reach a little bit and educate people. So without further ado, let's jump into why, you know, what is Foster Village Delpha's Ford all about?

What Support Families Actually Need

Hannah Creech 0:48

Absolutely. So Foster Village is a system beyond the system. We are a village around these foster kinship, reunified, and adoptive families. We come alongside them and provide tangible items while also providing support, whether that be through week or monthly gatherings, weekly gatherings, Bible studies. We are constantly expanding and growing in our ways that we can support families just so that they don't feel like they're alone, that they don't feel isolated and they know that we are there to help support them in whatever it may be. We provide everything from large items with some grants that we have to just our welcome pack program whenever a child is brought into care. Then we pack them up all the essentials that they are gonna need for the first 14 days. Um, clothes, shoes, toiletry items. We give them toys because a lot of these kids come with nothing. Um, we have just everything that they're gonna possibly need. And then the families, it kind of helps them to not have to run out to the store and grab these items. They can come to us, we have it ready for them, we tailor it to every child. So it's a personal gift for them. Um, it makes them feel special. And then they are, you know, just breaks that barrier down also. And we are a visiting center for these families, we have play days, so truly just a support to help in whatever way that we can.

How Foster Village Began Here

"Cabo" Jim 2:27

I love it, I love it. So, how did foster village start and how did we start down here in Southwest Florida?

Hannah Creech 2:33

Absolutely. So, in foster village as a whole, there's over 12 now throughout the whole country. Um, the way that we brought it here to Southwest Florida was our founder, Heather, was a foster parent about 10 years ago, and she had a super hard time. It was just, she truly said it's the hardest thing that she's ever done. Um, she had no support. She just was felt isolated, her and her husband. And so they actually, once they got out of the system and out of the foster care, they moved to Texas for a while. And moving to Texas was really just a way for them to heal and kind of get away from everything that they had experienced. And while they were there, they found Foster Village. So that is where Foster Village um the organization came from, is Texas. So upon finding them, they realized like maybe if we had this village, maybe if we had the support, we would have been able to sustain. We would have been able to keep going and not have given up. So they moved back to Southwest Florida and they were just praying about what and how that looked like here. And so they just decided to take the first step. Um, and so through that, they have this was three years, over three years ago now. Um, and so through that, we have had over a hundred volunteers since then. We've had um now we have four paid positions um that help to support this system, and it has just grown beautifully since this last three years. So that's kind of the gist of where it came from and how it got started here.

Hannah’s Path Into The Mission

"Cabo" Jim 4:15

That is that's wonderful. And you know, how did you get involved in it?

Hannah Creech 4:20

Yes, so I'm actually from Kentucky, if you can tell by my accent.

"Cabo" Jim 4:24

Just a little bit.

Hannah Creech 4:26

Yeah, and so we moved me and my husband actually moved here about a year ago, and I had been praying about doing foster care. We have four children of our own, though, and so they're still very young, um, eight, seven, four, and one. And I was like, I don't know if you know, that's a lot to add more kids to our already growing family. Um, and so I had been praying about it, and we actually just started attending a church, a local church, um, that's actually right across the road from our resource center. And so one day at church, there was in the bulletin it said Foster Village, Southwest Florida, and I had a little information, and I called the number and I talked to Casey, which is our co-founder and director of operations, and she said, the main thing I need right now is people. And I was like, Oh, well, I can help. Um, so me and I have two in school and then two little ones at home still. And so we just started helping, and I felt like God was calling us in that way to be able to help more families and children and not necessarily bring them into my home right now while we're still in this season babies and little ones. Um, but to still be able to, you know, have that mission-minded heart and help in another way. So that's how I love it.

"Cabo" Jim 5:42

Follow your passion and it works out and you get put in the right positions.

Hannah Creech 5:46

Right.

"Cabo" Jim 5:47

So yeah, you're a fairly young organization here in Southwest Florida, anyways. But uh, what are you most proud of accomplishing over those three years?

Hannah Creech 5:55

So truly, I think as a whole, all four of us that are there every day would say we are most passionate about being able to be that support. We've seen so many countless times that just us being able to deliver a welcome pack. It seems so simple, but like they're not able to make it here. They these kids got dropped off in the middle of the night. They don't have car seats for them. And we're able to come and just love on them a little bit and bring them a car seat and just spend that time with them to let them know they're not alone. Um, so just to be able to actually see it played out and see our volunteers now growing and and loving to be a part of the mission and and how we are expanding, like we've already outgrown the two-bedroom house that we've turned into a resource center here in Southwest Florida. Um, it's already outgrown. And so, like to see the movement just explode and the more families we get to reach, the more families, the more hearts we get to touch, um, it's just it's truly what we're most proud of.

Challenges And The Need For Awareness

"Cabo" Jim 7:03

Yeah. And you you speak about, you know, challenges, you know, as a young organization or just Southwest Florida in general. We've been through a lot of challenges over the last couple of years. But are there certain ones that you guys are facing currently or you've been through?

Hannah Creech 7:17

Yes. So our biggest challenge right now, one of them I would say, is to let people know we're here, to just let them know we are we are here for all kinship, all foster, all adoptive, all reunified families. We want to be able to help them. Um, and so to get our name out to more of those families is definitely always something that we are advocating for and trying to do. Um, and then also on the other side of that, um, just donors, partnerships with local businesses, um, whether it be individual or a business. Um, we that, you know, just monthly donors and and the way that our, you know, system runs, obviously, as a most nonprofits, is it's all donor-based. And so, you know, having that strong connection with donors, and we love to get out in the community and just share about what we do and see, you know, in what way we can help.

A Typical Week Plus Lemonade Fundraising

"Cabo" Jim 8:15

So, what does a typical day look like at Foster Village? What kind of things are you going through and dealing with?

Hannah Creech 8:21

So, currently we have open volunteer days on Wednesdays. So that's our big day. Um, we have several volunteers that come and they help us organize donations that have been shipped in or dropped off. They have we are constantly reorganizing our shopping room. So in a child, if they do, if they are able to come in and shop, then we let them come in, pick out all their clothes, and they get to pick out their items for their welcome packs. So we don't have to pack them, they can come in, um, which is super fun, of course, for them and for us, even to see how excited they are to get to pick out their clothes. And um, and so our volunteers help us with that. They help us clean, really. We have different events that go on throughout the month, and so we're constantly, you know, reorganizing and cleaning. Um, but then obviously we are always making phone calls, we are doing podcasts, we are out in the community have doing um tents. Currently, it's at we're in the middle of May, and it's our Growing the Villages Sweet campaign. So throughout Southwest Florida, we have families, businesses, whoever wants to host lemonade stands, and then the money goes right back to us so that we can sustain throughout the year. It's one of our biggest um fundraisers through the year, and it helps us, you know, keep going and keep doing what we're doing. And so it's super fun too because it's kids helping kids, and we love that. We love seeing all the pictures of the little kids at the lemonade stands, and they're so excited, and and it's just bringing more awareness. So that's really in a gist of what we do is bring awareness any way we can.

"Cabo" Jim 10:03

And then who doesn't like lemonade on a hot Florida afternoon, especially down here? We're gonna need a lot of

Bigger Space And Bigger Reach

"Cabo" Jim 10:09

that. So, looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future? And where do you see you know Fort Myers playing a part of that?

Hannah Creech 10:16

Yes, so for the future, we like I said earlier, we have already outgrown our little two-bedroom house. So, big picture. We are envisioning and we are praying and we are hoping and looking at all the steps of getting a forever home and a bigger resource center so that we can help more families across all of Southwest Florida. Um, and to be able to have more of those items and more um, you know, trainings and all the things that we're doing just to be able to have a bigger scale of that. And so currently we do have, like I said, over a hundred volunteers um that help either monthly, weekly, or they help um yearly. And so any way that someone can help is always a blessing. And so, growing that, we are currently growing our volunteer team. So, whether it be delivering a welcome pack, that is always needed. And we have welcome packs that go right to the Fort Myers Beach area that we would love to, you know, pull in some of those volunteers to be able to help us deliver and just to grow, you know, obviously, uh who doesn't want to grow, I guess. Just to be able to grow more families.

"Cabo" Jim 11:32

Yep, absolutely.

How To Volunteer Or Donate

"Cabo" Jim 11:34

So, speaking about helping, how would people go about contacting you if they wanted to volunteer, wanted to donate, or just wanted to help in general?

Hannah Creech 11:41

Absolutely. You can email me at hannah@fostervillageswfl.org. Um, we also have a website, fostervillageswfl.org, that you can go to and it shows everything. So you'll see where you can give, where you can volunteer, where you can, you know, where you can receive a welcome back if you are experiencing um that side of it as well. And so we would love for you to reach out. You can fill out a volunteer application, and then you will hear from your team lead, and we will get you plugged in.

"Cabo" Jim 12:16

Very good. Any last words for our listeners today?

Hannah Creech 12:20

Um, I just want to thank everyone. Thank you so much for having us. And um, we are, like I said, growing that volunteer team. That's our big thing right now. We are constantly needing people for child care, for delivery team, for um making food, um, just coming and playing. You know, we have a lot of ways to get involved. We have really big events coming up as well. And so just that's that's our biggest need right now. And we would love to see the Fort Myers Beach area to get involved in that.

"Cabo" Jim 12:52

Very good, very good. Hannah, thank you for being such a good neighbor. Thank you for all you do in Southwest Florida for Foster Village and the foster people down here. And we hope to see you out here soon.

Thanks And Community Resources

Intro/Close 13:03

Yes, thank you. Thank you for joining us on State Insurance USA Care. We hope today's story uplifted and inspired you. If you'd like to support or learn more about the incredible work happening in your community, visit StateInsuranceUSA.com or call two three nine five six seven nine nine nine two. You can also visit cabowabojim.com. Until next time, be sure to let your sun shine and keep sharing good and positive vibes wherever the waves take you.