The Greensboro nonprofit that hands foster families beds, clothes and diapers at a moment's notice wants to build a 20,000-square-foot center on Piedmont Parkway.
When a child is placed in a foster home, it often happens fast, sometimes in the middle of the night, and the child may arrive with little more than the clothes they are wearing. For eight years, a Greensboro nonprofit called Family Room Foster Care Resource Center has tried to close that gap by giving foster families the essentials a child needs right away, at no cost. Now the group has outgrown its rented space and is asking the City of High Point to help it build a permanent home, according to a High Point Enterprise report published Oct. 24.
Family Room supplies children entering foster care with beds, mattresses and bedding, clothing and shoes, toys, school supplies, car seats, strollers, cribs, formula, diapers and groceries. Foster parents pick the items up at the center for free. The organization's website highlights three policies that set it apart: no cost to families, no restrictions on where a family lives, and no caseworker referral required. Many assistance programs require a referral, and skipping that step lets Family Room respond faster.
Speed is the point. Founder and executive director Carrie Thompson told the Enterprise the group is "an on-call resource, 24-7" for foster families and the children in their care. A TowneBank profile of the organization notes that state financial assistance can take about 30 days to reach foster parents, while the child needs a bed and clean clothes the first night. Family Room's support does not end at intake, either. It keeps helping a child for as long as they remain in foster care, as sizes and needs change.
The group's guiding line, as stated in a Triad Moms on Main feature, is that no child in a new foster home should ever have to sleep on a couch because a bed isn't available.
Thompson was a foster parent before she became an adoptive parent, and she started Family Room in 2018 after seeing how little support was available to foster families at the moment a child arrived. The TowneBank profile says the organization began at a local church. Thompson told the bank's magazine, "Once my eyes were opened, I was driven to start Family Room." She also stressed that the children are rarely in foster care by choice: "It's usually an emergency situation and never their fault."
The group marked its fifth anniversary in 2023 with its first Fun Festival at LeBauer Park in downtown Greensboro, with bounce houses, food trucks and live music, according to its website.
The numbers Thompson shared with the Enterprise show how quickly the need has grown. Family Room served 565 children entering foster care in 2024 and 693 in 2025. Through September of this year, it had already served more than 620. (The group's own "2024 in Review" counts 825 children served that year, along with more than 33,900 clothing items, 45,300 diapers, 233 car seats and 218 beds. That total appears to include ongoing follow-up help as well as new placements.)
Thompson told the Enterprise that county social services departments don't have budgets for these essentials, which is the gap Family Room was created to fill. The nonprofit receives no public funding. It relies on donations from businesses, individuals, foundations and churches, plus grants.
Family Room currently rents office and warehouse space in Greensboro. According to the Enterprise, the group is asking High Point to annex and zone 6.8 acres on Piedmont Parkway, off West Wendover Avenue, where it plans a 20,000-square-foot resource center with a larger supply and donation area. The building would not include housing or overnight stays.
The location matters because Family Room does not limit its help to one county. "We serve any child in foster care in North Carolina, so that's the big reason this land is so important," Thompson told the paper. Thompson said she wants the new building to be "a place of peace and inviting and kid centered."
The capital campaign aims to raise $2.5 million to $3 million for the land and construction. The timeline described to the Enterprise is to buy the land in the next few months, start construction in early 2028 and open by the end of 2028. Tanger recently gave $20,000, and Tanger and the general contractor Landmark Builders of the Triad are volunteering their help with planning, the paper reported. High Point's annexation and zoning decisions still lie ahead.
Family Room's slogan sums up its pitch to the community: not everyone can foster, but everyone can help. The group takes money, goods and volunteer time.
Know about a new shop, a family business milestone, or a community project we should feature? Send us a tip, and it may become a future Local Spotlight.
Know about a Triad business opening, closing or community event? Email steve@nchomepartners.com.
Cava opens on North Main in High Point, a barre studio and a matcha bar join Kernersville, a Big Lots closes, and the Triad gears up for Halloween and Veterans Day weekends.
The lodge-style campus near PTI was BB&T's signature leadership project. It opened in 2018 and doubled in size in 2024, and Truist says operations end by year-end.
After losing her husband and business partner, Chantae Reynolds has grown their Winston-Salem woodworking shop into pop-up classes, a monthly Cash Mob and new vendor markets.