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LAKELAND, Fla. (May 20, 2025) – One year ago, Better Together planted roots in Central Florida with a mission: to ensure that every family seeking its help would receive it and that no child would be turned away. Its aim was to empower people to reach their full potential and keep children out of foster care by surrounding families with community and support. Better Together recently celebrated that milestone surrounded by local leaders, volunteers, church partners and community champions who have helped make it all possible.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the community came together to celebrate the lives changed over the last year—and the hope that lies ahead.
Since launching in Central Florida, Better Together has walked alongside more than 550 families in need, thanks to a generous launch gift from Bernie Little Distributors. With their support, Better Together is building a growing network of 45 churches and 80+ dedicated volunteers across Hardee, Highlands, Orange, Osceola, Polk and Seminole counties. Better Together is showing up—offering a voluntary, non-threatening safety-net for families, working hard to address the root causes of their hardships and find jobs and mentors, all while maintaining a local community where families and volunteers stay friends for life.
“This celebration isn’t just about what we’ve done—it’s about what’s possible when a community comes together for families,” said Megan Rose, CEO of Better Together. “Because of our partnership with Bernie Little Distributors, we’ve been able to wrap love and support around parents who are going through some of the hardest moments of their lives. We’re just getting started, and I truly believe the best is yet to come for families in Central Florida.”
“Partnering with Better Together was an easy and meaningful decision. The impact they’ve made in just one year—keeping families together and dramatically reducing foster care placements—is truly inspiring,” said Joseph Little, president of Bernie Little Distributors. “As a father and a business leader, I’m proud that our team’s work directly supports something so impactful. Our employees now know that their effort each day plays a part in keeping kids safe, loved and at home. That’s the kind of purpose we’re honored to stand behind.”
Better Together is not foster care. It’s neighbors helping neighbors—families helping families. When a parent is facing a temporary crisis, like homelessness, job loss or a medical emergency, host families step in to provide short-term care for their children, while mentors and job coaches walk alongside the parents to help them get back on their feet.
“Many people have hesitations about doing something like this, and whether or not they have everything they need to do it, and to them I say, ‘You don’t need to have everything. Do you have space in your heart and home to love and care for a child who needs a place to stay for a short time?’,” said Pastor Orrin Witt, a volunteer host parent, father of five and pastor at Neighborhood Church Lakeland. “If we can do it, I believe you can find a way to help, too, whether as a host family or as a volunteer in another of Better Together’s amazing programs.”
Why does this matter? Because right now, nearly 2,000 children in Central Florida are in foster care or out-of-home care. But with the right support, that doesn’t have to be the outcome. In fact, 98% of the children Better Together serves never enter foster care.
Since its founding in 2015, Better Together has helped more than 10,000 children and 40,000 job seekers across the country. Better Together is growing quickly, because the need is great—and so is the compassion in local communities.
To learn more about Better Together’s mission and how to get involved as a volunteer, visit BetterTogetherUS.org.
About Better Together
Better Together is a nonprofit organization that helps parents going through a hard time keep their kids out of foster care, find work and address the root causes of their struggle so that they can reunite as a family with the tools and support system to thrive. A privately funded and professionally supported organization, Better Together is made up of volunteers who believe helping people help themselves is the best way to restore dignity and bring families together. Through the Better Families program, families are offered a preventive alternative to foster care while they get the help they need. To date, the program has kept 98% of children served out of foster care. The Better Jobs program was created to address the 76% of families that come to Better Together because of economic hardship tied to unemployment. In addition to community job fairs, the program offers job seekers coaching, guidance, support and encouragement through local church partners. For more information, visit BetterTogetherUS.org.
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