About Family Promise
Family Promise is a local nonprofit organization in partnership with the national organization which is a recognized leader in meeting the needs of homeless families.
Family Promise partners with area social service agencies, community and religious groups to provide emergency shelter, a day resource center, meals and other assistance for homeless families in Eastern Bell County.
Our goal is to alleviate homelessness by fostering the development of emergency shelter and services which will assist homeless families in finding permanent housing, employment, and spiritual support as they rejoin the community.
How it Works
Local congregations make a commitment to provide space, volunteers or both. A “Compassion Team” of volunteers from each congregation oversees and provides the set up, take down, meal preparation and spiritual support for the families in residence.
Local churches provide sleeping quarters using Sunday school or other classrooms, for one week four or five times a year. Churches also provide breakfast and supper for the families. Each Sunday morning the Compassion Team at each church removes the beds and bedding to ready them for the next week’s use. On Sunday afternoon, beds and bedding are set up at a new host church for the following week.
For the daytime hours, Family Promise provides a day resource center, where families can wash clothes, bathe, apply for employment and receive other social services necessary to move them back into society’s mainstream. The day center provides a permanent address for the families so that they can sign up for assistance, apply for jobs and enroll children in school. The center is also an excellent place for volunteers to share their experience, testimonies and knowledge.
Family Promise provides the beds, bedding and transportation to and from the host church, as well as coordination of services.
The Invisible Homeless
Think for a moment how terrible it would be if illness, economic recession or other circumstances caused you to lose your home. Where would you turn for help? While many of us can rely on family, friends, neighbors and our church community, some of society’s most vulnerable individuals have no “safety net.” There are many who are faced with this terrible burden. As homelessness grows to touch virtually every city and town in our nation, a sensitive and compassionate response is needed to address this difficult and painful problem.
Did you know that there is no place in East Bell County where homeless families can stay together? Family Promise, using the national organization as a model, is seeking to meet the needs of homeless families in our area. Our goal is to alleviate homelessness by fostering the development of Family Promise to provide shelter, meals and assistance for many of our area’s homeless families, and to increase community awareness and involvement in meeting these critical needs.
How You Can Help
There are many wonderful opportunities for congregations, organizations and individuals to support the mission of Family Promise. These include:
* Host congregations
* Volunteers
* Linen
* Transportation
* Office Equipment
* Storage space
* Sponsored fund-raising
* Donations
* Building supplies and tools
Items Needed by Family Promise
Miscellaneous Items
Small Pocket Size Calendars/Planners (found at Dollar Store)
Small Pocket Size Memo Notebooks (found at Dollar Store)
Gift Cards from Walmart, Big Lots, HEB ($5, $10, $25)
If you have items to donate, you may take them to the Family Promise Day Center located at 1018 East Ave A in Temple (Corner of S. 22nd St. and Ave. A). The Family Promise phone is 773-9980.