Hello, my name is Michelle Thurston and I am the president of Hills and Valleys Refuge. If you asked me where our nonprofit started, I would tell you it began on a mission field. God placed in my husband and me a longing to serve others. This started with wanting to help foster kids to nurture and love them until they were able to reunify with their families. But through the process we realized there was a big problem with the system and what needed to be done could not possibly happen without God. During the time we began to foster God brought us great friends and a wonderful support group. This group allowed us to see the importance of a great community and how a strong foundation can take trauma and pain and turn it around for the good. Because of this Hills and Valley Refuge was built on a vision that became part of my life and our good friends the Dusseaus. We both can testify the importance of loving teenage foster kids and the fear of what will happen to these young kids,