The promise of a bed | A testimonial from Renae Denbow, CarePortal Ambassador

Sometimes all it takes is the promise of a bed to keep families together. Below is a beautiful, goosebump raising testimonial from Renae Denbow, Greater Cincinnati Ambassador for CarePortal, of how this very promise kept a single dad and his eight children together. We hope it inspires you to continue to serve, just as much as it did us!

Recently, CarePortal received a request for eight beds for a single dad, struggling to keep his family together after a COVID shut down related layoff. His caseworker had amazing things to say about this great and hardworking dad as she lamented the prospect of removing his kids. We made a plea, on this dad’s behalf, to the CarePortal network of local churches and social media followers.

Immediately, support started pouring in. One church had bed frames and bedding in storage. Another church’s men’s group offered to connect with this family, transport the beds and help build them all, but the mattresses were missing. I reached out to the caseworker to report our progress. I could sense both relief and joy in her voice. “Just the promise of beds will keep me from having to proceed with the removal process. These kids won’t have to be disrupted and that is always good news!”

By the time I got off the phone with the caseworker, I’d received an incredible Facebook message. “I’d like to help the single dad of eight.” Turns out, after CarePortal served Mrs. Jackson’s family last year, she started following us on Facebook. This need gripped her heart and she wanted to donate her stimulus check (which I’m sure she could have used herself) to stabilize a stranger’s family! The amount of her check was exactly the price of eight mattresses (if I purchased them from my regular discount seller on Amazon). These kinds of full circle moments get me excited!

When I went to order the mattresses, I got an automated message telling me that I had “reached my limit” for mattresses and would no longer be allowed to purchase them. What?! I’ve never heard of being “too good” of a customer. Suddenly, I wasn’t able to purchase the items this family needed with the money we were so miraculously provided. Seeing the humor in the situation, I posted a funny selfie, sort of explaining the situation (with a little bit of hyperbole) I said “I’ve been banned from buying mattresses… who’s getting the next round” with a silly challenge to my community to #getbanned and order some mattresses for me. It was all in fun, and I assumed I’d get a few laughing face emojis and go on with my day. Instead, it started raining mattresses! 42 mattresses were pledged to CarePortal over the next few days, and our city rallied to meet every need on our list.

Once again, God orchestrated more than we could have imagined to ask for!

Share CarePortal with your church to get the enrollment process started and start serving those affected by COVID-19. With your support, we can mitigate food, home essentials and housing insecurities for the most vulnerable children and families.