"The Farm" for foster kids in LaGrange ready to build

LAGRANGE, Ind. - The non-profit building "The Farm" for foster children in LaGrange County is now ready to build.

ABC 57 first introduced you to the group last summer, when they had just bought their plot of land.

Now, they're showing off their new headquarters.

“We’ve made progress at every step, and we’re now well on our way to making it a reality," said "The Farm" founder, Margaret Malone.

The process started with an idea born out of a crisis.

“We saw a newspaper article that talked about the hidden face of meth...The children were falling through the cracks," said Malone.

So, she and a few others decided to build those kids a safe haven where they could land.

"'The Farm' is a place where we can help children who are going through traumatic experiences...and they’re taken out of the home, and their children are left to be put into foster care or with relatives...Currently, there is no place where in an emergency situation, where the child can be taken," said Margaret.

Once complete, it will consist of a house, a barn for some small animals, and then a lodge where the children can meet with professionals.

Thanks to the generosity of their neighbor, they now have a headquarters to draw up their blueprints.

That neighbor, Judy Cook, says she's had experiences of her own with meth.

She owns apartments above her business, and some of her tenants ended up getting arrested on meth charges, leaving behind children.

“if you see a problem, you better take care of it. Otherwise, that’s your problem, too," said Cook.

Luckily for their funds, the community has decided to help take care of it.

The end goal is raising $1.2 million to build all three components.

Right now, their balance sheet is sitting at right under $300,000.

They have another $150,000 in the bank that will go toward building the house.

Come June, a shovel will be breaking ground on the new home--a home to create a story like former foster parent Jackie Myers'.

She was pulled over by a state trooper one day with her two-year-old foster, now adopted son.

He was deathly afraid of police, which she told the trooper.

What he did next still moves her years later.

“He handed him a state trooper teddy bear...Now that little boy is 20 years old and he still has that teddy bear, and I think that is very moving about what the farm project is doing and why I feel so passionate about it, because that was one man who did something, and this little boy will never forget it," said Myers, who now volunteers with "The Farm."

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