WOMEN CARE FOR ABUSED YOUNGSTERS

JACKSON -- Several years ago when Lorrie Christman became a widow her home became very quiet.

Then, she made a phone call that changed her life and the life of her daughter, Karen Forgette. They became foster parents.

"They brought a little boy to me ... that's all I needed," said Christman. Since being approved by the Division of Family Services, many children have passed through the women's home. Up to five foster children have lived with them at a time.

While Christman and her daughter do well with the foster children, there are times they need a friend -- like the time Christman fell trying to paint her house.

Rod Metzger, a security guard at St. Francis Medical Center, learned of Christman's fall and her work and became that friend.

Impressed by their work, he organized a house-painting party of volunteers from St. Francis.

The painting project has mushroomed, and on Saturday, 26 hospital employees, including doctors, painted the women's house.

Metzger said many people have shown they care. Schnucks, Burger King, Lowe's and the hospital donated food and materials.

Metzger became involved after visiting Christman and seeing a 2-year-old boy who had been sexually abused and then burned.

"When he came into their care he could not walk or talk," Metzger said, and then one day when Metzger visited Christman he found the boy laughing, running and talking.

To Christman, kids are magical; there is something special about them.

The two women have furnished the house with two rooms of toys, children's pictures and decorations, and even a tiny sofa in front of the TV.

"We took some of our furniture and put it away," Forgette said. "We brought in things for the children."