A little over two miles west from the Donald W. Reynolds Center across I-235, the steeple of Westminster Presbyterian Church stood prominently in the window view from the office of Miki Farris, founder and executive director of Infant Crisis Services.
What started out as a Sunday school community outreach effort at the church 31 years ago has transformed into a growing large-scale operation that has provided food, diapers and clothing to over 200,000 infants and toddlers in need and counting.
The ever-growing demand of resources and programs, including the BabyMobile—a traveling bus with baby food and supplies, at Infant Crisis Services underscored how integral the agency's role in helping the underserved population across central Oklahoma has become.
"These are real people. These are very small people in need," Farris said. "These are parents who are looking for a sliver of hope and we're helping to provide, especially at a very critical time during the baby's development."
Learning about the organization, Thunder center Enes Kanter wanted to take part in the activities from cradling pudgy-faced doe-eyed cooing babies, playing miniature hoops with toddlers to packing diapers at the facility on Monday afternoon.
"We're playing with the babies and having fun with them to put a smile on their face," Kanter said. "One of the most important things is to give back to the community, especially this time of the year when children of Oklahoma City are facing hunger."
As Kanter toured the facility with Farris and greeted the staff behind the scenes, he was touched by observing the volunteers hard at work packaging diapers and supplies while a rack of baby-sized coats caught Kanter's line of sight during the visit.
Seeing the 6-foot-11 big man play for a few rounds of hoops on the mini basketball goal with one of the toddlers lit the room with smiling faces and laughter all around.
Indeed, Farris' vision has served as a shining beacon of light for central Oklahoma's youngest and most vulnerable.