Lena Pope Home Celebrates Fourth Annual Heart Gallery
Worthington National Bank Hosts Portrait Showcase of Children Awaiting Adoption April 15- 20 During Main Street Arts Festival

Fort Worth, TX - March 26, 2008 - Lena Pope Home, the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) and Worthington National Bank are partnering to sponsor the fourth annual Heart Gallery of North Texas. This artistic showcase of children in foster care waiting for adoption will be on display from Tuesday, April 15 through Sunday, April 20 at Worthington National Bank, located at 500 Main Street, at the corner of 4th and Main Street in Sundance Square.

During the Main Street Arts Festival, children in Lena Pope Home's foster care will be displayed on canvas and open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the downtown Worthington National Bank.

 Each Heart Gallery portrait provides a photographic journey into the essence of the children's hearts, all who are anxiously waiting and looking for their "forever home," where they'll have a family to nurture, love and care for them.

"Worthington National Bank is committed to the children of our community, and we're honored to host this unique art display again, in order to help these deserving children find homes they can call their own," said Greg Morse, CEO of Worthington National Bank.

 Lena Pope Home's Heart Gallery was the first of its kind in Texas. Since then, fourteen other Heart Galleries have opened across Texas, and the first statewide Heart Gallery event was showcased in Austin at the State Capital in 2007. Today, over 80 Heart Galleries thrive in 42 states. The first Heart Gallery originated in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to provide a unique way to raise community awareness of the need for adoptive homes for children in foster care.

To create the Heart Gallery portraits, each foster child was photographed at the Lena Pope Home in Fort Worth by professional photographers Denise Cook and Brian Hutson.

"The success of the Heart Gallery exhibits have been rewarding to all of us involved in this project," said Marilyn Sammons, Lena Pope Home development & community relations director. "The Heart Gallery continues to increase public interest in our community's foster care/adoption needs."

The goal of The Lena Pope Home Heart Gallery is to inspire people to take on roles in these and other children's lives as friends, foster parents, adoptive parents, companions, mentors, employers or contributors.

"Most children in foster care stay for more than two years, and the older they get the less likely it becomes that they will find permanent, forever homes," said Ted Blevins, Lena Pope Home executive director. "Whether you are interested in adopting, fostering or helping children, the Heart Gallery is a special way to help the Dallas/Fort Worth community connect with the children."

Some children waiting for an adoptive home have expressed their own thoughts below:

Nine-year-old Susan is worried that she and her sister are "too old" to be adopted. "Do people really want to adopt kids like me and my sister? My sister is twelve and that's pretty old." Susan and her sister Mary have been waiting for an adoptive family for three years.

Tommy and Johnny are ten and eleven year old brothers who are excited about the prospect of a permanent home. Johnny says, "Until we came into foster care, we never lived anywhere very long. We are on a baseball team and go to church and stay in the same school now but we want to get adopted so we never have to move again."

"We have always been together and I'm scared nobody wants three kids," 12-year-old Richard tells his caseworker. Richard is worried that no one will adopt the three siblings as a group. "I need to stay with my brother and sister because they're little, and they need their big brother."

Jason, age 9, runs into the room smiling and asks, "Do you have someone to adopt me? Will I have my own room when I get adopted?" He has been waiting for an adoptive home for over three years, but remains hopeful.

About Lena Pope Home
Lena Pope Home is committed to creating a future of hope for children and families through an effective continuum of behavioral healthcare services to strengthen families and develop resilient children. For more information about Lena Pope Home, visit www.lenapopehome.org , or call 1-877-WE-FOSTER.

About Worthington National Bank
Worthington National Bank, one of the few locally-owned and operated banks in Tarrant County, puts a priority on relationship-based banking. There are no 1-800 numbers and no automated phone systems. Offering checking, savings, money market accounts and loans, Worthington National Bank's philosophy is that all customers are treated the same and clients are a name, not a number. Additionally, Worthington is committed to serving its communities and preserving Texas heritage, history and art. For more information, please visit www.worthingtonbank.com .

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