LITTLE MISS ELLIE ASLEEP FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN HER VERY FIRST BED EVER!!!! Nationwide, over 2.8 children don’t have a bed to sleep in. Instead, they sleep on the floor or a couch or a chair. This is referred to as “bed poverty” and child “bedlessness” is now a recognized national crisis. “Bed Poverty” leads to poor sleep that results in anxiety. depression, physical growth challenges and learning struggles. Causes range from poverty, homelessness, parents struggle to provide for their kids because of alcohol and drug dependency. A huge percentage of these kids are ending up in foster care and kinship care but, a judge cannot sign off for a child to be placed in foster care of kinship care home without a bed available and this can be a huge financial strain on caregivers. Thank you, VF donors, for standing in this resource gap so kids like Ellie can live in a safe home and sleep in a comfortable bed!

It’s SCARY being a little boy alone in foster care but it’s TERRIFYING to be a little boy almost completely deaf and alone in foster care! Everything is so new, confusing, and hard to understand….so much doesn’t make sense. It takes really special foster parents to navigate this challenge on top of the mistreatment he had lived with. Working hard with doctors and working though mountains of paperwork, his superhero caregivers were able to recently get him fitted with copular implants but, that was just the beginning of getting this little guy on track to heal. Once again, because of our donors, the VF was able to help fund some of those transitional needs between this little guy’s silent world and the world of sound and all its wonder. Thank you!

This January 23rd, the VF officially begins its 6th year standing in the resource gap for children in Foster Care and Kindship Care. Over the years it’s been our dedicated volunteers and generous donors that allow us to do what we do, and we are surrounded by the best! It’s also our Founders and Board of Directors that work countless hours on grant requests and community engagements that make the VF so impactful … helping hundreds of struggling children and families every year! Thank you to Laura Calhoun, Brent Kohlhepp, Cooke, Evangeline DeVol, and of course Dan Varner. #thankyouforyoursupport #kids

Heartbreaking Abuse! … The way things were heading, this pre-teen sister and brother didn’t stand a chance! Their story on the grant application was so hard to read and brought every member of our Grant Review Committee to tears. Each child was born with multiple challenges that affected their ability to learn, speak and write. After entering foster care several years ago, they were placed with a family who decided to adopt them and promised to help them learn, grow and heal. Everyone was ecstatic … case closed. Tragically, a couple of years later, the adoptive parents were charged with multiple crimes against children including torturous abuse and neglect. Thankfully, these two children are now in a stable warm and loving home but are yet again, faced with a long, long hard road to heal, to trust, and to strive to have some sort of a "normal life". The red tape and help from government agencies never move very quickly and these children and their new foster parents needed immediate support, in a variety of ways, and not months from now. THIS IS where the VF donors made the ALL the difference! The sweet siblings are now getting targeted, impactful help….and their healing journey has finally begun!

"I was SO frustrated and ready to give up when another case worker said: Call the Varner Foundation”. The caseworker's client was a grandmother living in affordable housing and now raising her two small grandchildren. She devoted countless hours to driving her grandchildren to therapy & doctor appointments to support their recovery from prior abuse. One day, a fight broke out in the parking lot of her building, gunfire destroyed her car's windshield & side window. Her basic insurance would not cover the damage and the police’s resources couldn’t either. Everywhere she turned for help said “No, we don’t fund that sort of thing.” Public transportation with small children with challenges in the cold of winter was just not doable. Once again, the VF’s donors answered the call for a special little family in our community. When it’s a REAL need and others have said “No” the Varner Foundation says “Yes, we will help you.” #HereToHelp #helpingothers #community #thankyouforyoursupport

Success in 2024.....can't wait until 2025!!! Thank you to our donors and supporters!!

The beautiful eyes of just one of the 521 children whose lives the VF impacted in 2024. All children have “WANTS” but the VF steps into the “NEEDS” of children that have been abused and are healing. The VF funds “Needs” for unfunded items and services that others can’t supply or won’t. EACH donor dollar touches a life that brings POWERFUL change. What a privilege it is to touch a child's life that way …. we call those “WINS”! Thank you for helping us help children “WIN” regardless of how and why and where their sad story began … and here’s to another year in 2025 of “Bring Home A Win” for more and more children.

You may never meet or know the names of the children you have impacted with YOUR support and encouragement this year but please know this … YOU have made an enormous difference in the lives of countless children that came from trauma and heartache but who are now rebuilding their lives with the help of people like YOU! Thank you for being THE GIFT in their lives that literally lasts a lifetime!

Easy Choice: let her four grandchildren be separated and go into foster care to be raised by strangers OR care for them herself on her modest fixed income and with limited resources…. she would make it work. Hard Choice: everything is more expensive now and her 10 yrs old dryer is broken and unable to be repaired. She is resorting to use food money to drive to the laundromat and dry the limited clothes her grandkids have, that still fit…keeping it all together it just all so exhausting. Thank you, VF donors, for giving so generously that we were able to purchase and install a new modest clothes dryer for this grandmother. One small, but important way to help this grandmother who has sacrificed so much to hold her little family together.

RT @varnercare: HOME…SAFE….WARM…and LOVING. Providing a home for four very active grandkids can be tough, especially when you are on a fixe…

HOME…SAFE….WARM…and LOVING. Providing a home for four very active grandkids can be tough, especially when you are on a fixed income and there is just plain not enough room in your small two-bedroom house.  Since custody of the children was taken away from their horribly abusive and cocaine addicted parents, the grandparents of these four kids took out a loan, knocked out some walls, and the grandfather himself went to work creating three bedrooms out of the house’s one small extra room.  Tragically, a few months later the grandfather passed away and all remodeling stopped.  A year later the kids were still sleeping on the floor in the living room which threatened to interfere with the grandmother formally adopting them and put her custody of them in jeopardy.   With the VF’s help and because of its faithful donors, the remodeling work will now be completed, and grandma can keep her grandchildren safe, warm, and loved in their now “FOREVER HOME”!

Born in early 2016, this little girl was already struggling due to mom’s use of meth and heroin while pregnant. Placed in a foster home at eighteen months, this little girl was too “injured” for everyone to successfully help her. She suffered, and suffers, from hyperactivity, inattention, and processing issues. A couple of foster homes later, she is right where she belongs with loving parents who are able to make her recovery and future one of the most important focuses of their day, every day. She is five years old now and after extensive testing and evaluations, the foster parents knew they needed specialized help for her young brain to overcome its detrimental beginnings but, financially just couldn't make that happen. The VF is so humbled and thankful that we have such faithful donors to make helping this precious little girl possible and literally giving her a “gift of lifetime”.

“In the U.S. 1 out of every 6 children experienced neglect or abuse within the past year. This # is likely underestimated because not all cases are reported.” (CDC) 32% of children abused have a disabling physical and/or mental challenge. Your donations are changing lives!

Because of our donors!!

Heroic grandparents are raising grandchildren when parents can’t. Varner Foundation donors have helped 100’s of children by paying for beds, appliances, high chairs, living expenses, car & home repairs. Grandparents instill love, hope & value; VF donors assist, & kids WIN! ♥️

A recovering mother 3 years clean, full-time job with a small apartment worked hard & got her kids back. Then, her truck broke down & needed help fast! Thanks to our donors, the VF repaired her truck so she could keep her job & continue living a life with her kids by her side. ♥️

A Grandmother fractured her wrist making her unable to work, care for her granddaughter & pay rent. The VF was asked to help. Instead of Christmas in a homeless shelter, they were able to remain in their home. All because of our donors! 100% of donations go to our mission! 100%!

The Varner Foundation provided 3 children & their Grandpa with new beds this past Christmas. Grandpa took on a 2nd job & stepped in to raise the kids while their mom struggles with addiction. 100% of your donations go to these families in need. 100%!

RT @final2percent: Time is running out in 2023 to support Xavier student athletes thru With a $500k matching gift,…

There is still time! Make a tax deductible gift to the Varner Foundation so that in 2024 a record amount kids being fostered can have their lives touched with your generosity! Thank you!!! ❤️ #yourdonationsatwork #yearendgifting #BeAHeroToday