RANTOUL -- The desire to give and receive — to help and to be needed — brought Dave and Yolanda Keefe together with a family of four adopted children and their new mother.

Still hurting from the loss of their 31-year-old daughter to cancer last November, the Keefes decided one way to heal is to give.

The Keefes, who are seniors — or "honorary grandparents" — at Rantoul's Hope Meadows community, are among the residents who help Whitney Gossett with her suddenly large family of four children.

A photo of the Gossetts with a Champaign County judge taken earlier this year bears testimony that the children know they finally have a permanent home. Children and mother are beaming as the adoption is official.

Six-year-old Bella might have put it best: "I'm actually thinking it's really good," she said about living at Hope Meadows.

Seniors becoming involved in the lives of the children at Hope Meadows is part of what the community is all about.

Each senior must go through a screening process that involves fingerprinting and a background check that takes upwards of three to four months.

Keefe said the seniors' role is quite broad.

"It just entails (at least) six hours a week per senior family," Keefe said. In addition to working with children directly, "it might include working as a crossing guard or working in the office."

In return for their work, the seniors receive reduced rent on three-bedroom apartments. They serve as mentors, tutors, companions and "grandparents" for the children.

Seniors are able to volunteer in whatever areas they feel comfortable, whether it's working with children, writing grants, tutoring children, playing basketball or babysitting.

"We live right next door to the Gossett kids. We adore them, and they seem to feel the same way," said Dave Keefe, 67.

"We had the kids over," said Yolanda, 61, "and they told us how to make pizza. We took them to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients (and said) 'This is what we like.'

"I think that the most rewarding thing is the child knows that they're loved ... and we're here to help you. It's not about us; it's about you growing up strong."

In addition to Bella, the children are Jeremiah, 3, Andrew, 8, and Patrick, 9.

"I love it," Andrew said of living at Hope Meadows. "I just like all the people that live here. They're nice to people."

From work to adoption

Whitney Gossett worked in the social services field for about eight years when she heard about Hope Meadows.

"I had seen the impact of how the system was with the kids and wanted to do something besides just work in it," Gossett said.

The West Frankfort native earned a criminal justice degree from Murray State University, which led her to working with young people — as a caseworker and counselor for a private Department of Children and Family Services agency.

Gossett continues to work with young people, but she has a different relationship with them. They're her own children. She adopted the four children earlier this year.

From Monday through Thursday during the school year, the Hope Meadows children head to the Intergenerational Center after school for about 2 1/2 hours. There, they receive help with their homework and take part in activities "to run off some energy," Whitney Gossett said.

"I hate homework," said Bella, who attends Pleasant Acres School.

During the summer, the children take "lots of field trips," Gossett said. "For instance, they went to Indiana Beach last year and the petting zoo in Champaign."

The families who live there are contracted with Hope Meadows. One function of Hope Meadows is to house children who need to be adopted. The other is to make available rental housing to seniors who agree to volunteer their time to make a difference in the community.

People from Colorado, Wyoming and New Hampshire have moved to Rantoul to be part of the community.

Gossett is no longer working in social services.

"I will eventually," she said. "That's really a part of what Hope is. You are considered an employee here so you get paid a salary."

Lifetime commitment

Hope Meadows parents make a lifetime commitment to always "be there" for their children, according to its website.

Housing is furnished to Gossett, who pays only for renter's insurance and utilities.

Being accepted to adopt children is a process of finding which children will fit best with which family. The prospective adoptive parents must meet with a Hope caseworker and supervisor.

"They do an extensive home study on you," she said. "The interview takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and they ask very specific questions such as how were you raised? What about your family life? They also do a background check. They do quite a few visits to your home before they make a decision."

Gossett reviewed information on several children. When it came to the four children she adopted, she saw a match.

"There was something about them, I knew" that they would be a good fit, she said.

All four are "good kids," she said. "I tell everybody I meet 'I lucked out.' You can get some kids in your home that have issues you weren't aware of."

Gossett said her children have "normal kids' issues, not a whole lot else."

Gossett is single. She said Hope Meadows has no requirement that children be adopted into a two-parent household. Parents must be at least 21 years old and be able to support themselves.

There have been surprises, she said, but nothing out of the ordinary. Gossett is glad she adopted the children.

Dave Keefe said he and his wife are glad they made the move to Hope Meadows.

"Very much so," he said, "and I think it's getting better all the time. We're getting to know the kids better."

Yolanda said they have a desire to reach out and help.

"You just get this feeling in your heart that you don't want to work for yourself," she said. "All our lives we've been involved with kids and people. To retire and not be involved, you're going through the motions."