Gibsonia couple fundraises for adoption through service project

Gibsonia residents Roger and Stephanie Poorman, along with a team of volunteers helped their friend, Patti Navilliat, by staining her deck and painting her deck furniture.

It was a fundraiser, but not a typical one. The volunteers who came together on June 3 to help Navilliat also played a critical role in fundraising for the Poormans, who are pursuing a domestic infant adoption through Christian Adoption Consultants and hope to be chosen by an expectant mother soon.

Navilliat and her late husband, Joe, were married for 35 years before he passed away in 2015. They have two daughters and three grandchildren.

The initiative was coordinated by Both Hands, whose mission is “to serve orphans, widows, and adoptive families.” Both Hands helps families fundraise for their adoptions. A family gathers a team of volunteers, and Both Hands coaches them to coordinate a service project benefitting a widow. The family and their team send letters to raise sponsorship for their day of service. It’s similar to raising money for a 5K, but the team is serving a widow instead of running. The funds raised help an orphan become adopted into a forever family.

The organization is committed to fundraising support for its operating expenses through private donors. No funds raised by a family and their team are deducted for Both Hands’ administrative costs.

“We really liked the idea of raising money through service,” Stephanie Poorman said.

The Poorman’s adoption journey officially began in October 2022 after they got their home study approved. The biggest part of the home study process was compiling all of the necessary documents for review for several background checks: social security cards, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and financial records. A social worker then completed a home study with an in-person visit. The following approval opened the door for the couple to apply for agencies and grants.

The Poormans were told to expect anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000 upfront in adoption costs.

Their first big fundraiser was a puzzle project. Each puzzle piece represents a $25 contribution to their adoption fund. As donations came in, they put the puzzle together and posted pictures of the progress on Facebook. After the puzzle was completed, Stephanie Poorman’s cousin made a hand-lettered list of everyone who contributed. The list and the completed puzzle will hang side-by-side in the nursery.

“We completed our puzzle in April 2023, which means we have $10,000 ready to go for when we match. Having cash on hand will be very helpful because the grants all have specific costs they will and will not cover; much of our personal expenses when we travel, for example, can’t be covered by grant funds,” Stephanie Poorman said.

The Poormans are contracted with Christian Adoption Consultants. Working with CAC allows them to be active with multiple agencies simultaneously, increasing their odds of a match. They have chosen two agencies in addition to the three they are automatically active with as clients of CAC.

Stephanie Poorman created a profile book to send to the agencies that will present them to expectant mothers looking for adoptive families like theirs. The profile book includes basic background information about the couple, their likes/dislikes, values, traditions they would like to uphold as a family, and more. Most agencies won’t present their book unless the Poormans have said — based on basic information about the situation — that they would like to be considered. Out of the families that agree to be considered, the agency picks seven to 10 profiles to present to the expectant mother.

“The first time we chose to present, the agency did not choose us so we didn’t even make it past that first round. The second time we were chosen to present to the mother and she didn’t choose us,” Stephanie said.

The Poormans hope to match with a woman in the later part of her second trimester or early part of her third so there will not be a long wait before their baby arrives.

Once a family is chosen to present to a mother, they cannot present to anyone else until they get an answer from the first mother.

“I have to remind myself that so much of what can be really frustrating and can feel like a hassle on our end is for the biological mother to feel safe and secure in the choices that she makes,” Stephanie Poorman said.

The Poormans are working with agencies in Florida, Utah and Arizona. Once they match and the baby is on the way, they will travel to that state — hopefully in time to be there for the birth — and must stay there until cleared to come home to Pennsylvania.

The termination of parental rights will take place at the hospital, and the baby will legally be placed into Roger and Stephanie Poorman’s custody. Finalization, where the baby’s last name will become Poorman and a new birth certificate will be issued, won’t happen for several more months.

The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children is a legislative agreement between states that says Florida, Arizona or Utah will need to check with Pennsylvania to ensure that the Poormans have been duly cleared to bring the baby across state lines. This process can take up to 14 days.

“It’s really humbling to have so many people helping. When we see the list of people that have given to support us, the vast majority are people we don’t know because they have responded to letters our friends and family have sent out,” Stephanie Poorman said. “A substantial number of people contributing either don’t know us at all or only know us tangentially through our mutual connections.”

Roger and Stephanie Poorman said they are grateful to their friends and family who wrote letters to raise money, everyone who donated funds, the volunteers who worked on project day, their church family at St. Thomas Anglican Church (Gibsonia), and local businesses including Sherwin Williams’ Wexford location, SweeT b Sweet Shop in Gibsonia, Board Brush in Gibsonia; and Macy’s Westmoreland Mall location.

“It felt great knowing everyone was there to support us physically and in spirit. It makes you think about all the people that are pulling for you and willing to support you both financially and with their time. I think that everybody that was on the team on Saturday had already contributed significantly financially, so to give up their Saturdays as well is a really special feeling,” Roger Poorman said.

The Poormans also received a grant from Anglicans for Life for $2,000. Roger Poorman’s employer, TriState Capital Bank, offers a $4,000 reimbursement for adoption expenses.

St. Thomas Anglican Church in Gibsonia, particularly its rector Father Jay Slocum, assisting clergy Father Ron Baillie, and church administrator Carol Bergstrom have been critical to their fundraising efforts.

“Steph and I are relatively new to the church and their support has lent credibility to our various fundraising efforts and has helped us raise a lot more money than we otherwise could have,” Roger Poorman said.

The church gave the couple a donation from the Father Ron and Sue Baillie Christmas Hope Fund last Christmas, publishes updates about their fundraising efforts weekly in the church bulletin at no charge, donated all of the color copies for the fundraising letters they sent out for the Both Hands project (roughly 900 letters). In addition, the church talks about their projects at the beginning of Sunday services as part of the weekly announcements and allows the Poormans to address the congregation about their fundraising efforts.

“We’re most thankful for Patti’s willingness to participate. She opened her home to us and let about a dozen (mostly) strangers take over her house for an entire Saturday, not to mention letting us stop by in advance to prep, drop off materials, etc. She’s an able-bodied, proud woman and I’m sure it was humbling for her to accept help. Without her, there would have been no project and no fundraising,” Roger said.

As of June 4, the Poormans had raised $14,000 from the Both Hands fundraiser. Roger and Stephanie Poorman’s fundraising goal is $25,000. For more details, visit ww.BothHands.org/poorman-10385.