Love First 2025

God has welcomed us into His family and given us a brand-new identity in Jesus. At Pinelake, we’ve carried a vision to share that love by caring for the overlooked and reaching out to the forgotten. Since 2015, we’ve called this Love First—because that’s exactly what Jesus has done for us.

This year, we’re coming alongside Canopy Children’s Solutions as our 2025 partner to expand the CARES Center in Jackson—a place where Mississippi’s most traumatized children can begin to heal.

Restoring Hope, Changing Lives

For over 113 years, Canopy has served children and families across Mississippi. Its CARES Center, operating for more than 30 years, provides intensive residential psychiatric care for kids who’ve experienced deep trauma.

Working alongside state partners, Canopy identified a major gap. Mississippi had no facility equipped for children needing this level of care. In June 2025, construction began to expand and upgrade the CARES Center with new facilities and specially trained staff.

Now, we have the opportunity to help finish what they started by funding the final pieces that will bring this place of healing to life.

What’s Still Needed

A total of $400,000 is needed to complete the expansion.

• $150,000 → Therapeutic equipment for healing through play, music, and technology

• $250,000 → Campus landscaping and therapeutic outdoor spaces – providing outdoor spaces that foster peace and play

This is more than a building project. It’s a mission to create a place of safety, healing, and hope for children who need it most.

To give, please click the link below and change the Ministry Offering option to Love First.

A Call to Foster

As a church, we believe every child deserves to know the love of a family. Some of the children who leave the CARES Center will still need a safe, stable home to continue their healing journey. That’s where we come in.

We’re praying that families within our Pinelake community will answer the call to become Therapeutic Foster Families. Canopy provides training, licensing, and ongoing support to help you care for a child coming out of trauma with grace, stability, and love.

Even if fostering isn’t your step right now, you can still make a lasting impact by supporting foster families through prayer, meals, respite care, and encouragement.

Serving Opportunities

Even if fostering isn’t your next step right now, you can still come alongside Canopy through hands-on service:

• Support Foster Families: Provide meals, respite care, financial help, or encouragement.
• Encourage CARES Staff: Offer meals, snacks, or small comfort items to support staff who provide round-the-clock care.
• Lead Weekly Activities: Use your gifts—Bible study, music, art, or a hobby—to bring joy and connection to children in treatment.
• Volunteer at Summer Camps: Help create safe, fun camp experiences where kids can laugh, learn, and grow.

All volunteers must complete a background check through the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, and Canopy’s Volunteer Manager will guide you through the process.

Pray

Every child, family, and staff member at Canopy is facing battles that only God can heal. When we pray, we invite His presence and power into those spaces of pain, fear, and hope.

Here’s how to pray this year:

• Pray for the children — for peace, safety, and the freedom to dream again.
• Pray for the families — that God would raise up Therapeutic Foster Families filled with love and patience, and ask Him if He might be calling you to open your home, too.
• Pray for the staff — that they’d experience renewal and strength as they care for others.
• Pray for provision — that every need for the CARES Center would be met in full.