At Family Promise, we talk about “The Letter E” every day, and I wanted to share this inside story with you because it really does articulate so much of who we are and what we do.
Our 90-day program really does impact generational change to break the cycle of dependence from trauma to independence and stability. And here are the steps we “E”mphasize:
Empathy:
Empowerment:
Exploration:
Education
Empowerment (yes, again)
In addition, we “E”quip people with life skills and job training so they can sustain their new stability for years to come. We’ve even recently added “E”ntrepreneur Training for families where appropriate. Each family comes to us with different circumstances, different stories, different needs and different goals. We let them know upfront that we are not going to “E”nable them to continue their mistakes and bad habits, but we are going to “E”mpower them to build new futures.
2021 is such a big year for us with the opening of our new building this summer. And guess what our new address includes? That’s right – the building is the Letter E.
We are so grateful for each of your “E”ngagement with Family Promise and the ways you “E”mpower us to further our mission. Each of our donors and volunteers makes a significant impact on our program and the individual families we support!
I want to highlight our 2020 impact again! Through your support, we provided funds for:
581 nights of safe shelter
1,914 meals to our families
Transportation and workforce development to our families exploring new opportunities
Continuing education and skilled certification that evolved into stable employment
What’s Ahead in 2021 It’s our 20th year Anniversary serving Montgomery County
New Building: We successfully broke ground on our new building and anticipate moving in this summer. We still have many room sponsorships and naming opportunities available – see the map below!
This will provide much-needed space to provide temporary shelter for up to SIX families at once. Plus, we’ll get expanded office and classroom space to conduct much of our program onsite.
Need More Church Engagement: With the impact of the pandemic, many of our churches were hesitant to continue providing temporary shelter to our families. We moved some families to hotels to make sure they had shelter, but the cost of hotels is unsustainably high. We’ve developed a stringent protocol for sanitation and social distancing that we believe will allow our families to safely stay in churches again with minimal risk of spreading the coronavirus.
We would love to reopen the conversation with existing partner churches and new churches to reestablish these valuable connections that make our program so successful.
Key Needs:
Skilled Volunteers:
We need volunteers in lots of areas, and our continued engagement from church congregations is essential to making our program work!
In addition, we need volunteer support in several specific ways:
Grant Writing
Corporate Sponsorships – introductions to decision makers and donors
IT/Tech Support, especially in setting up our new building
Donations Needed: Food Pantry, Gift Cards and Basic Necessities
Having nonperishable food on hand allows us to meet families in crisis right away as we get them settled with temporary shelter. Storage space is limited.
Gift cards to grocery stores, Walmart, Target and similar stores empower them with the dignity to choose familiar brands of basic necessities, like shampoo or laundry detergent, as they begin building their new, more stable lives.
These may be sent to or dropped off at our headquarters.
Our program continues to lift local families out of poverty. And YOU – our volunteers and donors – are the secret to our success. I saw that economists from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago recently released a study indicating that the poverty level spiked more than 2.4% in late 2020 – more than any time in the last 50 years! More than eight million people across the United States are now classified as “poor.” The impact of the pandemic on our neighbors is real, and it’s increasingly important to support people in crisis.
Thank you again for your continued support and your prayers. I am so grateful for each of you!
Best Regards,
Marilyn Kasmiersky
Executive Director