Black Meg 43 provides free meals to Garden of hope foster children

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

Dozens of children in foster care had the chance to come in and enjoy their pick of the menu.  whether it was a cheeseburger combo or chicken nuggets and more, with fries and fountain drink and a milkshake. at Black Meg 43 in Copperas Cove on Tuesday afternoon. 
The special treat was provided at no charge to the children or the staff with Garden of Hope, a non-profit emergency foster care shelter based in Bell County. 
On Tuesday evening, just before 5 p.m., the vans from Garden of Hope pulled into the Black Meg 43 parking lot, and dozens of children ranging in age from toddler to high schooler made their way into the restaurant. 
Black Meg 43 staff took their orders in groups of five, and the kids waited excitedly for their food. The plan is to offer this opportunity once a month to the kids at Garden of Hope as a way to spread cheer and share good food. 
Garden of Hope Administrator Kendra Maxie explained that some of the kids in their care have never been to a restaurant before, so this opportunity was so special. 
“It means a lot, just like Ms. Doreen said- we couldn’t do what we are doing for our kids if it wasn’t for the community,” Maxie said. “Because we’re a nonprofit organization, we do rely on the community to help us take care of not only our kids but it’s their kids as well, it’s coming out wof their community. We really appreciate all the efforts that they’re doing for us: donations, opportunities like this, and many more. This means a lot to us because we know it means a lot to our kids. Anytime that we can get out and do things, we love to.”
Garden of Hope aims to provide real world type experiences to the children in their care, which includes dining in restaurants. 
“Because of the varied backgrounds that our children have come from, we know that there are certain experiences that they haven’t had, so one of the things that we wanted to do is to continue to take them out in the community, for example, to restaurants so they can get used to being in that type of environment and learn how to conduct themselves in a restaurant and things like that and also just to have fun,” Maxie added. 
Doreen and Allan Vasseur, owners of Black Meg 43, were pleased to offer this opportunity. 
Doreen said she came across Garden of Hope through Facebook after seeing a post asking for volunteers. 
As the youth director of Grace United Methodist Church in Copperas Cove, Doreen said she was immediately interested and reached out. Since then, the youth group at Grace United Methodist Church has helped out Garden of Hope during the holidays for over a year and a half now. 
Doreen shared about the organization with her husband after learning that Garden of Hope was trying to involve their local community with the organization. 
“Allan said, ‘Well, these kids never get to go out to eat, so why don’t we do the wishing well and do it?’” Doreen said. 
Black Meg 43 has a wishing well water fountain located inside its lobby that is used to collect donations from customers, with most of the donations being in the form of coins tossed into the wishing well. The wishing well has been used in the past to collect funds for the Grace UMC youth mission trip. 
Three months ago, Black Meg began collecting donations for Garden of Hope, to be able to provide meals and drinks and milkshakes or ice creams to every kid in the organization’s foster home. 
Black Meg 43 matched every donation, bringing the total amount raised to $600. 
“This is really special because these kids, we want them to know that somebody loves them and that we care about them, and they’re not just kids in a foster home, and that’s why we’re doing it,” Doreen said. “Because it’s important for them to know that somebody has their back and the community has their back. To be able to raise $300 and say, ‘You’re not just a foster kid. People care about you, and they’re thinking about you.’”
Garden of Hope Central Texas was founded three years ago by Wilfredo Ocasio and his wife, Demarie, who were foster parents and had fostered more than 90 children, adopting 11 of them. They started Garden of Hope with the focus on keeping sibling groups together when they enter foster care. Garden of Hope was first established in Salado, with a second location in Killeen. They have since consolidated into one larger facility on a ranch in Bell County. From February 1, 2019-December 31, 2021, Garden of Hope has served over 400 children. 
As an emergency foster care shelter, Garden of Hope serves children from the age of 17 down to newborns. The children stay at Garden of Hope for anywhere from zero to 90 days. Some stay for one day, and others have had their stay extended to allow them to age out of foster care in one location, according to Garden of Hope administrator Kendra Maxie. Garden of Hope has plans to offer long-term care for children in foster care now that they have moved to a larger space. 
Garden of Hope has staff that work around the clock to provide care to the dozens of children at Garden of Hope. On Tuesday, several staff members accompanied the kids to Black Meg 43.