Who We Are

Village of Hope CDA was founded by two friends, Nikki Longwell and Rachael Van Valin, who are passionate about children and passionate about the foster care system.

 

Our friends, Zach and Tawnya Mathers, started Village of Hope Maui.  As experienced foster parents, they had so much to offer.  For two summers during our annual ladies day, Tawnya would tell us all about VOH Maui and what they were doing there to support the foster care system. We would leave in awe and hearts overwhelmed, knowing the need was so great in North Idaho too.  A few months after our second visit with Tawnya, Village of Hope CDA was born.  

 

The Longwells were licensed foster parents 2010 and again in 2015 and had the privilege of adopting two of their children. Though a blessing, the experience wasn’t easy. It was lonely and the broken welfare system often left them discouraged.  Their eyes were opened to the extensive needs of foster care community and the inadequate training provided to care for these delicate children.  

 

Rachael has always had a genuine love for kids and has walked alongside several of her friends as support while they were foster parents.  Her experience as a mom and heart for those who are hurting drives her passion behind her work with Village of Hope.

 

We have a passion to see families reunited, a broken system changed, and generational trauma healed.  At Village of Hope CDA, we believe that anyone can support the foster care system.  Not everyone is called to care for a foster child, but everyone can do something. These kids need more than a welfare system, they need a village.