Pictured above: Through mentorship, job readiness programs, and short-term volunteer hosting for children, Better Together empowers parents to achieve stability and self-sufficiency while keeping families together. Photo from recent job fair at Normandy Park Baptist Church.

FORT MYERS— Better Together, a Southwest Florida-based nonprofit that partners with churches, employers, and community volunteers to strengthen families and prevent the need for foster care, is celebrating a decade of ministry work across the Sunshine State. 

Through mentorship, job readiness programs, and short-term volunteer hosting for children, Better Together empowers parents to achieve stability and self-sufficiency while keeping families together. 

“We blazed the path forward that many people said was never possible and we proved that the impossible is possible when you have a dedicated team and passionate churches and volunteers who believe in this vision,” said Megan Rose, CEO of Better Together for eight years and member at McGregor Baptist Church, a Florida Baptist church in Fort Myers. 

By uniting churches, employers, and neighbors to build a volunteer-powered safety net that parents can trust, Better Together is able to keep children safe, address the root causes of hardship, help parents find work, and build lasting community for families to flourish. 

“Our volunteer host families provide short-term care for children, job fairs offer meaningful work opportunities, and mentors guide and encourage. Uplifting long-term relationships form, economic self-sufficiency becomes attainable, and families remain united,” Rose said. 

Fast forward ten years, Better Together has served nearly 100,000 individuals, with services now including short-term host families for children, job fairs and readiness programs, mentorship, and more.

“It’s incredible to think that we’ve had 93,319 opportunities to show the love Christ,” said Kayla Palacios, COO of Better Together. “But it’s not lost on any of us that Jesus would have done it all for the one.” 

This multifaceted ministry approach leans heavily on local church and community support, eliminating government oversite in the Christian home. 

Better Together helps families flourish

Since 2015, Better Together has helped over 46,000 people connect to job opportunities, over 12,000 children stay out of the foster care system and have mobilized almost 1,000 churches to be involved in this crucial work. 

“The heartbeat has always been to walk alongside families so that no family struggles alone,” Rose said. 

What started as a vision to prevent the need for foster care in Southwest Florida has grown into a mission that strengthens families across 48 Florida counties and helps many others across the country by stepping in further upstream with opportunities for meaningful work.

Many Florida Baptist churches have come alongside Better Together to host job fairs, averaging over 200 job seekers at each fair. Normandy Park Baptist Church in Jacksonville utilizes the job fairs as an essential part of their ministry as they seek to serve their community, drawing hundreds to their campus. 

Better Together cuts out government 

From the very beginning of its founding, the Better Together team believes the government isn’t the solution—the better solution is getting the community and local church involved before the abuse and neglect begin. With the desire to “get their first,” the nonprofit has been able to embody Matthew 22:39, genuinely loving their neighbors and loving as deeply as Romans 12:10. 

Over the last decade, this reliance on people over programs has fueled this ministry work and stood in the gap for parents and children, often times in a moment’s notice. While reflecting on ten years of standing right beside families, many recognize this milestone isn’t just a number—it’s thousands of acts of compassion that made hope possible.

“I remember ten years ago we were excited to count the number of families that were impacted by tens and now we’re counting them by tens of thousands,” said Tarren Bragdon, Founder of the nonprofit and Board President. 

As Better Together continues to celebrate a decade of impact across the state, they are encouraged for what comes next—expanding their reach outside of Florida, deepening partnerships, and equipping even more churches and volunteers to walk with families in crisis.