On a warm summer afternoon at the 140-year-old Saluda United Methodist Church (UMC) in Saluda, NC, you might find three young boys peeking into a refrigerator for a cooling snack. The ladies of the church keep a special shelf stocked just for the boys, who live next door in a foster care home that the church owns.
“We call the foster house the ‘impossible house,’ because it shows us what we can do when we all lean in together,” said Rev. Rob Parsons, who leads Saluda UMC and a new church called WithALL in nearby Columbus. Both churches are in in Polk County, which has a population of about 20,000 – 3,000 of whom are under age 18.
Through programs like Bridging Families in North Carolina, children in foster care can live in homes with professional foster parents, who are trained, supervised and paid by child welfare organizations like Crossnore Communities for Children (Crossnore). But the need for foster homes in Polk County far outpaces the supply, with some 45 – 52 children in care at any given time. That means many children are placed in care outside the county and away from everything familiar to them.
An “Impossible” Opportunity
Parsons was already familiar with foster care before the “impossible” became possible – both he and his wife were trained as foster respite care providers in 2015. They were also familiar with the multifaceted roles that churches can play in the lives of a community, particularly its children. He began to see a stronger connection between foster care and church ministry when Saluda UMC participated in Congregations for Children in 2016, a pilot program supported by The Duke Endowment that brought schools, churches and communities together to provide reading support for students during the school year. Parsons was awed by that experience.
In 2020, he began talks with Kim Wilson, a program director at Polk County Department of Social Services, about the need for foster care support. WithALL joined with Saluda UMC and other area churches to create a child advocacy center at the former Columbus UMC. Through his involvement in various local task forces to support families and children in crisis, Parsons began to explore potential sites for professional foster care homes. He initiated discussions with Crossnore about a potential partnership with Bridging Families™ a family-focused and team-based model of care designed to directly address the obstacles to family reunification. Bridging Families began in 2020 with support from The Duke Endowment. As of January 2026, the program has successfully reunited 34 children with their families and secured other permanent placements for 8 more. In 2024, the NC Department of Health and Human Services selected Bridging Families as the state model for professional foster parenting.
Possibility Through Partnerships
When the property next door to Saluda UMC became available for $371,000 in November 2022, Parsons and his congregation were ready to take a chance. A $200,000 anonymous donation helped defray the cost of purchase. The congregation pledged to raise funds and other entities provided funds as well. Since the first residents moved in at the end of 2023, the home has served five children in two families. One of those families has been successfully reunited.
Your Generosity Helps Others
By supporting your local congregation’s outreach ministries, you impact lives of your surrounding communities and those around the world. No matter what part of the world we live in, your generosity can reach across oceans and help churches like Saluda UMC help youth caught up in the foster care system.
Adapted, Western North Carolina Annual Conference website
This story represents how United Methodist local churches through their Annual Conferences are living as Vital Congregations. The overarching purpose of The United Methodist Church is to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." A vital congregation is one that is effectively engaged in this mission. Together, we become a powerful force for healing, growth, and transformation—living out the Gospel in every corner of the globe.
This article was originally published by The Duke Endowment on February 20, 2026.
