Josh and Sarah Weaver struggled with infertility for many years. Traditional adoption and continued infertility treatments weren’t in the cards for them either. At the end of the day they just desired to be parents. They began fostering in May 2016 with a heart for reunifying and building stronger families when it was safe for the child(ren). They have fostered over 27 children since then and have adopted three children.
Getting involved in the foster care system has completely changed the trajectory of their lives causing a shift in their careers from the church ministry world to working at nonprofits that serve foster children, foster families and biological families. Josh works at Man Up and Go as a Fatherhood Engagement Specialist and Sarah works at One More Child as the Director of Major Gifts.
In 2017, Sarah was asked to have her church sponsor 45 foster children for Christmas in Hillsborough County as a one time event. Due to the overwhelming support from the church and local community, it snowballed into 96 children being sponsored.
Having been a foster family for several years, they have seen the gap in support for foster children along with the families and professionals who serve them which spurred on Christmas for Fosters.
Each year, more and more foster children are being given the best Christmas ever and after six years of successfully executing Christmas for Fosters and other additional service programs throughout the year, the Give Joy Collective was established in May 2023 as a 501(c)3.