Photo Credit: Love Fosters HopePeople
Meet Kristi Horton, Executive Director of Local Nonprofit Love Fosters Hope
This Hello Woodlands Nonprofit Executive Director feature is brought to you by Randy Lovelace of Paragon Independent Insurance Agencies and highlights a local nonprofit organization leader who serves the Montgomery County community.
Read our interview below with Kristi Horton, Executive Director of Love Fosters Hope.
Meet the Executive Director
Kristi Horton graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Elementary Education. Kristi met her husband, Josh, in college and they have been married for 26 years. Though she valued her time in the classroom, her most important job has been as a mom of three children: Cade, Bailey, and Maddie. In her years as a stay at home mom, Kristi was active in the community starting a chapter of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), serving in her children’s school as room mom and on PTA and volunteering countless hours with her teens as a member of National Charity Roundtable and National Charity League organizations. Kristi served in a variety of ways at Woods Edge Community Church, where they have attended for 14 years. Throughout their time there, Kristi has been active on the Women’s Council, served in children’s ministry, and led couples through a pre-marriage curriculum called Merge. In 2019, Kristi became a certified life coach with a niche to help moms of teenage girls. Kristi shared, “It was a gift to serve my clients by helping them overcome obstacles and build stronger relationships with their daughters.”
THE INTERVIEW
Tell us your story. What connected you to Love Fosters Hope? Why does their mission inspire you to serve the organization and our community?
When Cindy Mericle, the founder and director of Love Fosters Hope, shared the organization’s mission to “inspire hope and bring healing to children and youth in the Montgomery County foster care system who have been abused, abandoned, and neglected”, it deeply resonated with me. Love Fosters Hope works to fulfill this mission by offering four transformative summer camps for children and teens in foster care, ranging in age from 7 to 19.
This introduction sparked a calling in both my heart and my mind. The camp model was a natural fit for me, as some of my best college memories were made serving as a counselor at Pine Cove and T Bar M Camps. In addition, I have a huge heart for kids…they bring so much love, joy and fun into the world! I dove in and have never looked back. My first year serving at camp, I was nervous and unsure about how to connect, but those fears were unfounded. One of my favorite things about serving with LFH for the last 12 years has been seeing the visible transformation of the kids/teens throughout the week. When they arrive at camp, they are often closed off and shy. On the last day of camp, they can most often be found handing out big hugs to their “cousins” (in LFH, we are family, not counselors) with light shining in their eyes and smiles of joy as they receive their prized photo books that will be a memory of the love they felt at camp.
In my years serving at camp, I have hugged kids as they cried deep tears of sadness, laughed and danced the night away at our camp dance party, navigated hard stories and emotions while talking on the porch swings, sat with campers on the platform of the zipline encouraging them that they could do it and celebrated with shouts of joy when they did! Serving in this capacity has been one of the greatest blessings of my life—far more rewarding than anything I could have contributed. Now, as Executive Director, I’m honored to witness the hearts of our volunteers, the generosity of our donors, and the excitement surrounding the future of Love Fosters Hope.
Who and where does Love Fosters Hope serve? What programs and services are offered?
In addition to our four summer camps, we also have an incredible mentorship program. We train volunteers and connect them to teens in the foster care system. I truly believe mentorship is the water that causes the seeds planted at camp to flourish and grow. One of our main goals for 2025 is to grow our mentorship program, so that more kids have a committed mentor to walk beside them and provide encouragement, guidance, and someone to champion them when life is hard. Another facet of our program is sending a group of volunteers to our partner RTC (group home) to bring fun and, most importantly, to show these teens who often feel forgotten and very alone that they are loved and cared for by God and US!!
What makes Love Fosters Hope unique?
One of the most poignant moments I’ve experienced at camp happened during a group prayer when a camper said, “God, I came here looking for some friends, and instead I found a family.” This sentiment is what so many of our campers long for—a sense of belonging, of being seen, and of being loved unconditionally. It’s why so many of our volunteers return year after year—we are a family. In fact, many of our former campers return as young adults to serve as volunteers, wanting to pass on the love and support they received as campers.
What is your vision and hope for the future of Love Fosters Hope?
As we enter a new year, we have a few key goals:
- Expand our mentorship program to connect more teens with loving, consistent mentors who can offer guidance and encouragement.
- Increase resources for young adults aging out of foster care, ensuring they have the support they need to succeed in college or the workforce. The statistics for those aging out of foster care are grim—66% face homelessness, incarceration, or death within one year. Our goal is to continue defying those odds, providing the tools and resources needed to ensure they thrive.
- Raise awareness in our community about the mission and programs of Love Fosters Hope, and engage more people in supporting our work.
How can the community get involved, volunteer, and support Love Fosters Hope?
If you’d like to get involved with Love Fosters Hope, I’d be happy to connect with you personally to answer any questions and share more about our work. There are many ways to get involved, including:
- Volunteering at camp
- Becoming a mentor through our interview and training process
- Joining the team that visits the RTC each month
- Participating in our annual Run for Hope at Town Green (bring a friend or form a team!)
- Supporting us financially to help us continue our programs
- Attending our gala, Night of Hope, on March 22nd
One of our former campers shared this touching message: “Love Fosters Hope has taught me that I am not alone. When I first went to camp, it was hard for me to make friends. I felt lonely, like it was me against the world. This program pulled me out of my darkness. I smile and laugh more than I ever have before. If it helped me, it can help other kids in foster care. They have been on my side when nobody else was. I am so thankful to be part of this big, happy family.”
To learn more about Love Fosters Hope and how you can get involved, please visit lovefostershope.org. Visit and follow the Love Fosters Hope’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LoveFostersHope and Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/lovefostershope.
ABOUT RANDY LOVELACE
To learn more about Randy Lovelace, his “Referral for a Cause” program to help local nonprofit organizations, and of Paragon Independent Insurance Agencies, please call (281) 298-0440, email rlovelace@paragoninsagencies.com or visit www.paragoninsagencies.com/woodlands.
