Sitting at my desk, I struggled to
make sense of the words scrolling
across disturbing images on the local
evening news.
Baby found in dumpster.
Earlier in the day, a baby’s body
had been found wearing only a dia-
per in an industrial dumpster by a cou-
ple searching for scrap metal. Police
would investigate to determine the
identity of the child and its parents.
My stomach clenched.
I searched online for the reporter
who’d broken the story and called
him to ask what would happen to
the baby. He directed me to call the
City Coroner who informed me the
baby’s body would be “disposed of”
when the case was closed. When she
explained that the corpse would be
placed in a mass grave, a jolt of indig-
nation shot through my frame. What
she was describing sounded more like
Rwanda or Auschwitz than Indianap-
olis.
Before we hung up, the coroner
had promised to keep my name and
number on file so when the case was
closed I could give that precious
baby a funeral with dignity.
For the next fifty-six weeks, as I
prayed for the baby and the family
who’d lost him, Deputy Coroner Al-
6 Solutions
farena Ballew received a phone call
from me every single week.
Baby Zachary
A few months after we’d first spo-
ken, I made my weekly call to the
coroner I now knew as “Alfie.” She still
had no news for me.“But,” she of-
fered, “I was just about to call you.”
My curiosity was piqued.
Alfie told me about a five-month-
old-baby who had died of natural
causes and then been abandoned
at the coroner’s office. He’d been
there a month, and after repeated
phone calls to the family, no one had
claimed his body. Alfie asked if my
“organization” wanted to help.
What organization?
In that moment I heard the gentle
whisper of God’s voice, “This baby
needs a family, and I’m in this with
you. I’m all you need.”
More afraid of ignoring God’s voice
than I was of the absurd adventure
He’d seemed to call me to, I agreed
to meet with Alfie. The following week,
surrounded by family and friends, I
was burying baby Zachary in a gown
embroidered with his name in pale
blue letters. My friend Jenn sang
Brahms “Lullaby and Goodnight” as
those who’d never met Zachary in life