Foster Families Receive FAST Service

Vicki Houska is the first to admit she and her husband Tom weren’t experts on foster care when they started.

“I didn’t really know a lot about it,” she said.

Since then, she’s picked up a thing or two.

“The main focus is children in need. Because of the actions of their parents, these children are in need now,” Houska said. “It has nothing to do with them at all. Adult decisions have caused these problems for these children.”

And these days, thanks to Houska and others, adult decisions are part of the solution. The St. Charles resident is director of community relations for the Foster Adoption Support Team (FAST), a group she helped found to assist families that take in such children. Originally, the idea began as a food pantry in the garage of Vicki, 51, and her husband, Tom, 56, but later expanded to include a wider variety of logistical services for foster families. Last year, the couple received the St. Charles County Council Hero Award.

In November, the operation moved out of the Houskas’ residence and into several hundred square feet of space on Boone’s Lick Rd. as part of a deal with O.A.S.I.S. Food Pantry and Thrift Store.

“We’re a resource for them, an advocate for the foster parent,” said Carrie Carter, director of operations with FAST.

Carter, along with Chris Grissom and Mike Ficken, helped create FAST by expanding Houska’s original pantry idea in 2009. Today, FAST, a local chapter of the Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association, provides everything from training and moral support to help in finding other resources including therapists and court-appointed special advocates.

Carter has hosted 22 foster children throughout the years and presently has four. She said that at any given time, there are about 10,000 foster children in the state of Missouri with about 200 in St. Charles County alone, where the reunification rate runs at roughly 95 percent.

“It can be very, very stressful but it can also be very, very rewarding,” Carter said of foster parenting. “You are involving yourself in the lives of children and families.”

A quick tour of the pantry during the two hours that its doors are open on Saturday reveals a crowded, bustling place. Shelves contain an assortment of canned and dry goods from vegetables to ramen noodles to macaroni and cheese. On the bottom shelf green tea is on display. Refrigerators hold eggs, milk and prepared sandwiches. There are even birthday cakes for special occasions.

The operation doesn’t limit itself to foodstuffs. Light bulbs, detergent and other necessities can often be found, and a table out front displays piles of clothing.

The items are the result of donations, some from area business establishments, including Whole Foods, and . Operation Food Search also kicks in. Houska said that Schnucks, the pantry’s biggest giver, probably donates the equivalent of about $8,000-$9,000 in food every month. During the Christmas season, Borders donated books and a recent grant from the United Way helped provides milk to the pantry.

Houska said the support is a big boost to families who choose to accept the extra responsibility of foster children.

“It does cause a financial hardship,” she said. “This is a way of helping parents keep the status quo they had before they took on the kids. When you take the kids on, there are a lot of things you have to deal with, so it’s nice not to have to worry about the money situation as much.”

Herself a foster parent, Houska has also adopted three children and has two biological sons, but she’s far from the only one involved with the foster care system. FAST relies on the efforts of volunteers such as Jan Dubray, who has worked with foster children as a court-appointed special advocate. The St. Charles resident has just started doing work for FAST, but said she enjoys it so much she plans to come back twice a month.

“I just think that these people are in such need, and they’re putting themselves out there to help children so the least I could do is to help them help these children,” she said. “Whatever I can do is good.”

Cindy Butler of St. Peters is an adoptive parent of two children and has been helping out at FAST for several years. She said the move from a suburban garage to the new space is a big improvement.

“Vicki is awesome with organizing people and places and food,” she said. “This is the best facility that we’ve had. It’s wonderful here.”

Terry Rodewald, executive director of O.A.S.I.S., said he’s been impressed with both Houska and the entire FAST team. The arrangement between the two organizations began when the pair ran across one another at a planning and zoning meeting last year.

“She’s a fantastic individual, and I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people who work with her,” he said. “They are a very active group providing a very necessary service.”

Houska was profiled around that time in the Suburban Journals in a piece by reporter Raymond Castile that had bigger results than just a little publicity.

“Within two or three weeks of him writing that article we had our rent pledges for the whole following year,” she said.

The new digs have also allowed the pantry to expand the number of people it helps. Last year, it recorded about 9,000 visits. Houska said that could hit 10,000 this year. She estimates that there is a core membership of about 300 to 400 people. Often the organization serves around 35 to 40 families a week.

“A big week used to be 30 families,” she said. “Now 32 is like a piece of cake. While it doesn’t sound like a lot, five families is 30 or 40 more people.”