- Mark & Denise Strimple
Foster Care and Adoption Support Ministries
Bethel UM Church hosts Clermont County's monthly Foster Parent meal and training session, and also hosts the annual County "Joy of Adoption" celebration. With key leadership from Denise Strimple, supported by her husband, Mark, the Strimple's example of caring for dozens of foster children in their home has influenced others. Several parents in this congregation have become Foster or Adoptive Parents through the years.
Listen To An Audio Appeal for Foster Parents (Must hear this)
Key Contact
Denise Strimple would be pleased to furnish you with more information about this much-needed area of ministry. You may reach her at (513) 734-6068 or meemaw(at)fuse.net .
BUMC & D. Strimple Honored With "Angels In Adoption" Award
The Bethel United Methodist Church and and BUMC member, Denise Strimple, have been awarded the 2011 Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s “Angels in Adoption” award from Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. BUMC, along with Denise Strimple, have gone to extraordinary lengths to involve the church community in adoption care and foster services. Denise, a longtime member of the church, has spearheaded the cause at BUMC, according to Rev. Bill Bowdle. Denise and her husband Mark have been foster parents since 1988 and have had over 30 children placed in their home, many of whom were later adopted by other families. They have hosted children for a few hours up to two years.
What started as a passion of Denise and Mark’s soon became a church ministry through their many acts of service to these children in need. BUMC hosts Clermont County Children’s Services’ training for new and potential foster parents, as well as their “Joy of Adoption” celebration and dinner. BUMC organizes a Christmas party for adopted and foster children where they provide the children gifts through an “angel tree.”
A few of many other community services offered by BUMC include: the ‘Kitchen of Hope’ which provides hot meals to families and children in need, trips for foster families where a parishioner allows the church to use his tour bus, support for education and orphanage ministries in Haiti, and support for Bethel’s Free Clothing Store. These other ministries, and many more at BUMC, illustrate the atmosphere of Christian servanthood and mission in which the foster care and adoptive emphases have arisen.
Of the many selfless families at BUMC, Denise notes seven or eight couples in the church, including a former youth pastor, who have adopted their foster children. She also recognizes members who receive certification to care for foster children or continually pray. The passionate efforts of both Denise and the church community as a whole have truly given back to kids in need of homes