Momma Kim - The Story That Started It All

MOMMA KIM - The story that started it all

In Fall of 2016, the founder of Amarillo Angels, Gwen Hicks, sat across from Momma Kim for the very first time over Mexican food at Abuelo’s. At the time, Amarillo Angels had not yet launched publicly. The vision was still forming, and the Love Box® program had not yet been tested. With the help of friends at CPS, we were connected to Momma Kim as a potential family to pilot the program.

Before the first basket of chips needed refilling, it was clear her family was exactly who the Love Box® program was created for.
Momma Kim was a single mom of two teenage daughters, working full-time, who had chosen to open her heart and her home to children experiencing some of the hardest moments of their young lives. As Gwen and Momma Kim talked through what the Love Box® program could look like, and how a group of women, the founding board of Amarillo Angels, wanted to walk alongside her during her foster journey, it became clear this was a perfect match.

Just like that, Amarillo Angels’ very first Love Box® group was launched.

On January 15, 2017, Amarillo Angels was officially established, but the heart of the mission had already begun beating.
That Love Box® group watched Momma Kim love fiercely and care deeply for every child who entered her home. They also watched her grieve. They were there when little ones, who knew no other home but hers, were picked up from their beds long before sunrise, taken to the airport, and flown across the state to live with relatives. They held her as she sobbed and wondered what those children would think when they woke up and she was no longer there. Would they believe she had abandoned them?

Despite the heart ache, Momma Kim continued to foster other children while having support from her Love Box® group.

Another child that Momma Kim cared for had since left her home and was now placed in an adoptive home. Momma Kim hadn’t seen her in years and had often wondered where she was and how she was doing. Momma Kim was then connected with the child's adoptive mom. When they met up, Momma Kim shared baby photos with the adoptive mom, who wept because she had never seen her adopted daughter as a baby.

As the Love Box® group walked alongside Momma Kim over the next four years, they learned that before meeting Amarillo Angels, she had experienced a potential adoption that fell through. The heartbreak lingered, emotionally and financially. She vowed she would continue fostering, but she would never try to adopt again. She promised to keep her home open for as long as children needed a safe place to land.

And she did.

The Love Box® group fell in love with countless children who passed through her home. Some stayed only a few days. Some stayed much longer. She loved every single one of them completely.

Momma Kim learned she could call Amarillo Angels and her Love Box® group when a tiny baby came home from the NICU and she didn’t have clothes that fit. She leaned into the arms of a Love Box® member, a pediatric nurse, when one of her little ones was hospitalized. She trusted the group to sit with a baby so she could go home to feed and settle the other children before returning to spend the night at the hospital.

Then, in November of 2021, the woman who vowed she would never adopt again did exactly that.
She adopted two precious little girls. They were home forever.

After the adoption, Momma Kim closed her home for a bit. But not long after, a Love Box® volunteer spotted her fostering again. Amarillo Angels quickly connected her with another Love Box® group.

Recently, she reached out once more to share exciting news. She is adopting again. Another precious little girl is joining her forever family. She is also fostering a little boy and hopes one day to adopt him as well. When that day comes, she says she will finally close her home for good.

Until then, she has a Love Box® group walking alongside her and her family.

If you have ever given a financial gift to Amarillo Angels, stories like Momma Kim’s, and so many others like hers, are possible because of you. Your generosity makes this work possible. Thank you.

If you have ever volunteered as a Love Box® leader, you have supported a family just like Momma Kim’s. Thank you.

You are changing lives, and the children, youth, and families we serve are so, so grateful.