New network envisioned to fill needs of those struggling through COVID-19 pandemic

VENICE – Jim Foubister, president of of One Christ Won City, the consortium of churches that conducted the Feed Venice food drive in May, wants to establish a network of Caring Christians who would volunteer to fill individual needs in the community that continue to arise as people negotiate the economic realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to gather a group of people via technology – because of COVID we’re not going to meet in person,” Foubister said.

People interested can learn more at onechristwoncity.com/caring.

“You think back to Feed Venice and how hundreds of people, hundreds of people drove their cars and dropped their food off and the churches all gathered it and the food pantries made it through the summer and were so grateful, it’s because we asked people for help,” Foubister said. “They’ll help the needy; we just need to give them the opportunity.”

Foubister, who also coordinates the ServeFlorida volunteer program in connection with the Tri-County Community Foundation – the nonprofit affiliated with Tri-County Air – is hoping to quickly amass a roster of anywhere from 300 to 500 Caring Christians in the next two months, before even searching out the type of needs that can be met.

“Being reasonable, if we got 500 people in the network that are available to help, I think that would carry the day.

“Everybody’s invited, and you’re not obligated,” Foubister said.

The effort is not affiliated with a similarly named Caring Christian Network based in Benton, Kentucky.

“We’re just mavericks over here,” Foubister joked.

Just as with One Christ Won City, volunteers are not being asked for monetary contributions; the aid would be donation-based.

While in one instance he cited, a woman in Fort Myers did purchase a washer to fill the need of someone identified through One Christ Won City, Foubister is envisioning downsizing retirees and snowbirds offering items they literally have in storage, such as kitchen tables, chairs and other items.

In the past, One Christ Won City has facilitated everything from vehicle donations to donations of a robot to the Venice Middle School for science.

The hope with Caring Christians would both formalize that role and expand it.

“We need to encourage the Christians to step up. I think their heart is in the right place, but their opportunity to give and serve is a little bit more difficult because of COVID,” Foubister said. “We could be helping senior homes, we could be helping schools, we could be helping individuals.

“It’s more than just the people in the church, it’s people in the community we’re looking for,” he added.

While the core 24 Venice area churches have been the most active in One Christ Won City, Foubister is hoping the Caring Christians will reach farther north into Sarasota County and possibly Manatee County, as well as expand the effort in North Port and Englewood for both volunteers and to help fill needs.

“My hope is to ask people to be available for needs that will arise,” Foubister said. “I see 2021 as expanding a little bit, and when I say expanding it’s finding more needs in the entire Sarasota County and maybe even Bradenton that we can work on.”