Tech-driven CarePortal is in Southeast Missouri

Shelly Gerard's day job is with Saint Francis Healthcare, for whom she works in wellness, specifically teaching arthritis-coping classes for 25 years.

Her overarching passion, she said, is to help families and children in crisis avoid the foster care system through online program CarePortal.org.

Gerard, who lives in Cape Girardeau, has served the Kansas City, Missouri-based technology platform as regional manager for a five-county region in Southeast Missouri since 2017.

"CarePortal is just technology connecting people who have tangible needs with others who care and can help - and requests for help can come right to your smartphone," Gerard said Thursday, May 18, in remarks to Scott City Chamber of Commerce's monthly coffee.

Heraleen Bowers of Sprenger Properties said she has utilized CarePortal through the auspices of her church, Eisleben Lutheran, in Scott City.

"There was a young mom who previously had been incarcerated, was struggling to keep a car running and wanted to work. She was turning her life around -- and our church, through CarePortal -- stepped in and helped her purchase a vehicle," said Bowers.

Gerard offered an example of how a Cape Girardeau County woman chose to help using the online platform.

"I have one lady in Millersville who loves clothes and goes to yard sales, and she'll get on CarePortal and will end up mailing clothes to families," said Gerard, who said donated beds are highly requested.

Of note

CarePortal, through its website, notes the federal government spends more than $30 billion on foster care annually.

Foster care may take several forms, including placing a child in a group home, a treatment center or in the private home of a state-certified caregiver.

"A growing body of research shows preventing children from entering foster care is more cost effective and produces healthier outcomes. With more children entering than exiting foster care each year, the need for radical change is more urgent than ever. That's why we've taken action to help transform our disconnected, reactive and expensive system in order to achieve a better social return on investment and healthy outcomes for families," according to careportal.org/the-foster-care-crisis.

For information, call Global Orphan Project, which operates careportal.org, at (816) 536-8333.

"When I'm talking to church people, I'd remind them Jesus met these kinds of needs all the time, and it's through his actions that people came to know him and had their lives changed," Gerard concluded.