When Jen Dexter-Edsall was young, she bounced from foster home to foster home each Christmas. As an adult, she has vowed to make the holiday magical for children living in foster care, wherever her US Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer husband Craig Edsall is stationed.
Dexter-Edsall was in the Sault this year, which is why multiple local foster families were blessed with Christmas presents and dinner at Sault Wesleyan Church recently.
“We host something for foster kids on Tuesday every month,” Wesleyan Pastor Brooks Sayer said. “If we are not caring for the orphan, we might as well close the church. A number of the families here are connected to our church. We just love that.”
He quoted James 1:27 in stating: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Jennifer Hendry was in attendance, alongside her US Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer husband, Cliff, and their two small children. The couple has housed a total of seven foster kids over the years.
“We do emergency placements, which are no longer than four months,” she explained.
Like Dexter-Edsall, Hendry relocates wherever her coast guard husband is stationed.
As if she had read the pastor’s mind from across a room full of laughing children and playful chatter, Hendry also shared Bible verse James 1:27.
“We care for orphans and widows,” she stated. “Psalm 82:3 tells us to care for the weak and fatherless – ‘Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.' I read that verse and felt like we were supposed to adopt. When that didn't work out, we had our own kids."
The next stop was Guam.
“We were at Orphan Sunday,” she said. “They had church candles lit to represent each child in Guam in need of a home. I broke down crying. I told him we need to look at this.”
According to Hendry, 275 children in Guam were in need of homes in 2019.
"It was heartbreaking," she said, telling her husband they needed to look into fostering.
The Edsalls were the first people the couple met upon moving to the Sault.
“He was an Oklahoma University fan,” said Mr. Hendry, finding rare commonality with his coast guard co-worker in the Mitten State. “We were hanging when we mentioned that we foster.”
Dexter-Edsall revealed that she had been in the foster care system herself.
"When I grew up, I never got a Christmas," said Dexter-Edsall during the event’s wrapping party last week. "I never got a tree. I never got gifts. My mom always told me, 'There's no chimney, so Santa doesn't come.' Maybe you are separated from your siblings. When the holidays come, it is a reminder that you don't have your parents."
Dexter-Edsall was out of her mom's care at the age of 11. She aged out of foster care at 19.
"I was homeless for a while," said Dexter-Edsall. "I lived in about seven or eight different homes. Some foster homes aren't the greatest. I wasn't in that many good ones."
Christmas was especially difficult. Fast-forward to Christmas of 2022, Dexter-Edsall has made this holiday one to remember for many Sault area foster families.
Hendry was taken back by the joy of the evening, tearfully smiling and proud of her friend.
"We will never know how much of a difference this one night has made to a child," she said.
With the help of volunteers from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Great Lakes Recovery Centers, Coast Guard Sector Sault, and other agencies, Dexter-Edsall's 2022 Christmas for area foster families was a hit.
Tim and Lindsay Ellis of Eagle Radio 95.1 FM played a wide assortment of Christmas classics.
“Being community focused and community oriented is the fabric of our business purpose,” said Lindsay Ellis. ”Engaging with the community and activities within it adds joy to our lives.”
Shelly Morely of Five Water Realty did all the catering. Several volunteers helped wrap gifts, prep, serve, and clean.
But this was not the first time Dexter-Edsall has acted as the Sault's Christmas angel.
"I organized shopping for the Christmas gifts about six years ago," said Dexter-Edsall. "Christmas is about making a difference."
