The Wilsons are making a difference for foster children and families

       Health and Paige Wilson of rural Montezuma are shown with their six children, ages 5 – 15. The couple, who met on a mission trip in Mexico in 2005 and where married in 2007, oversee Roots of Home Resource Center at 315 Main St. in Montezuma. The resource center, which opened in November 2022, centers around helping children and families in the foster care system with a place to gather and heal, provide food and clothing and through their backpack program for children entering the foster care system. The couple is also part of a community-side youth group they helped form in March 2023 with other families. Future plans are to build a transition home for ​

​By J.O. Parker
 
         Heath and Paige Wilson of rural Montezuma have a heart to serve others.
        The couple, overseers of the Bible-based Roots of Home Resource Center in Montezuma, met in Mexico in 2005 while serving with a mission organization based in Nashville.
      The two were there building small houses together in poor communities and serving orphaned and vulnerable children and families.
          As Paige puts it, “So even before we were married, we knew serving God by loving the least of these like it says in Matthew 25:40 (was in our hearts).”
          Paige, who grew up in Montezuma, was in Nashville at the time studying at Lipscomb University. Heath, who hails from Hopkinsville, Ky., had learned about the Mexico mission trip and decided to make the journey.
The couple married in May of 2007 and lived in Hopkinsville until returning to Montezuma nine years ago to be closer to family. They have six children, ages 5 – 15, including a daughter and son who were adopted from Africa.
        Originally, the couple had planned to serve on the foreign mission field in Africa, but with a growing family that option took a turn to the local mission field and helping children and families in the area.
         During the next two years, the Wilsons began to pray and ask the Lord how he could use them where they were to make a difference in the lives of others. Their desire was to help orphan and vulnerable children and to reach out to families experiencing brokenness. They wanted to bring hope and healing to these children and families.
          In November 2022, the Wilsons opened Roots of Home Resource Center at 315 Main St. in Montezuma. The resource center serves three purposes and is designed to bring families together and heal broken relationships.
        “The front portion of our resource center was set up to look and feel like a home,” said Paige. “We created this space so meaningful connections could be made during family visitations for children and families within the foster care system.”
        Another purpose of the center is to be a resource for foster and kinship parents to receive needed clothing, diapers or even meals when they bring children into their homes. And the third purpose of the organization is the night backpack program.
           The backpacks are packed by volunteers at the resource center and then distributed to local Health and Human Services offices (formerly DHS) in the Poweshiek County and surrounding area for social workers to bring to children when they are first removed from their homes.
​        “These bags are filled with new pajamas, toiletries, blankets, socks, undergarments and small toys or comfort items,” said Paige.
            Paige said that without the Roots of Home volunteers, none of this would be possible.
        “Our volunteers have helped host family visitations at our center as well as help sort and organize clothes in our clothing resource room,” she said.
           And in 2024, the couple has added meal requests to the list of resources for foster and kinship families.
          “So now, I am looking for volunteers who can help deliver meals, clothing and backpacks when needed,” said Paige.
           So far, the Roots of Home has helped more than 50 children and parents within the foster care system.
          The resource center is currently in need of boys’ clothing sizes 8, 10/12 and 14/16.  There is also a need for diapers of any size.
        A board of directors oversees the work of the Wilson family and the Roots of Home Resource Center. They include Jon and Kristin Krousie, Jason and Jen Lowry and Joel and Caprice DeJong.
       Paige said that Roots of Home is geared more toward foster care and not directly involved in helping people with the adoption process, but, “I am always excited to talk to someone about adoption and answer any questions they may have,” she said.
New transition home planned
        The couple recently purchased seven acres of land north of Montezuma with plans to build a transition home for youth aging out of the foster care system.
         “This home will be large enough for eight transitioning youth,” noted Paige. “With live-in staff, this home will help equip these students not only with life skills they need to enter adulthood successfully but also a community and family of support they can carry with them for the rest of their life.”
        Donations for the project are currently being accepted with plans to start the first phase of the project this year.
        In addition to the Roots to Home Resource Center, the couple is actively involved in their home church, Community Hope, in Montezuma.
       For the last year, they have served as interim ministers overseeing pulpit duties and keeping the church moving forward.
       “We serve faithfully at Community Hope and in March of 2023, we were excited to be part of a team of parents that started Montezuma Student Ministries for students in 6 - 12 grade,” noted Paige.
       This is a community-wide youth group made up of students from many of the churches in town. The group meets every other Sunday night from 6 – 8 p.m.
          “We start back this year on Sunday, Jan. 14 at the Presbyterian Family Center in Montezuma,” said Paige.
       For more information on how to get involved with Roots of Home or to donate to the work of the outreach, visit the Roots of Home website at www.rootsofhome.org. Please click on the Get Involved tab to learn how you can make a difference through volunteerism or the Give Now button to make a donation. There you can designate a gift to the general fund or toward the transition home project. Those who wish to send a check can mail them to Roots of Home, P.O. Box 584, Montezuma, Iowa 50171.
         “We are so thankful for the people we get to serve with and together we get to make difference in our community and surrounding area,” noted Paige.