The work of Family Promise is near and dear to my heart. My ordaining congregation was active in what was then known as Interfaith Hospitality Network. It was a network of faith communities (Christian, Jewish, Muslim) that worked together to house homeless women and their families so that the families could stay together. This became Family Promise.
Family Promise is a new mission partner for UCCEG. We are exploring how to be connected and engaged in this vital work of justice for women and their families here in Chester County.
Family Promise does amazing work! A dear friend of mine, Cara Bradshaw, has been working for the national network for years. I invited her to share with you her story and more about Family Promise.
She wrote:
"I’m a pastor’s kid, and so I grew up as a "helper,” chopping wood at the local women’s shelter and cleaning up a tough neighborhood that became a new affordable housing complex in town.
I learned that we give not only because we can, but because we never know when we might need help ourselves.
My parents raised three strong women and made sure we had a solid foundation for learning.
From the outside, it appeared I had a stable family, a nice home, and everything I needed to succeed in life.
And for the most part, I did.
But it changed in the blink of an eye.
I was thirteen when layers of family trauma reached a breaking point, and my parents told my sisters and me they were separating... and I was fifteen when we had to leave the home I’d spent most of my life.
My father resigned from the church and started over.
My mother worked two jobs to make ends meet.
Were it not for the hospitality of friends who opened their doors to our family, and some help from grandparents, we would have ended up in a shelter.
When we lost our housing, we lost ‘home’ and all the stability that came with it.
My sisters and I ultimately moved with my mother to the same housing complex where we had done cleanups with our church just years before.
We went from volunteers to clients overnight. It was incredibly humbling.
I hadn’t imagined my life going this way—family gone, childhood neighborhood gone, church gone, home gone. I began having panic attacks and missed a lot of school. There were days I could barely function.
Fortunately, there were adults who stood by me and encouraged me. The safety net of community was there for my family.
And by the time I went off to college, I didn’t see myself as a victim of my circumstances, but as a person with many choices and the ability to create the life I wanted.
Sadly, the housing instability my family experienced is not uncommon.
35% of people experiencing homelessness are families with children, and a separation or divorce is one of leading causes of family homelessness.
Families who are doubled-up with other families, like mine was for a short time, is one of the fastest-growing forms of homelessness in the United States today.
I've never heard anyone say they were expecting to lose their home. No one ever thinks it could happen to them.
But everyone ends up feeling shame—shame about their situation, and shame about why it happened, even if ultimately it was out of their control.
Today, I work with an organization called Family Promise. We’re a national network that offers families the chance to be whole again.
We recognize that home is central to a family’s identity, just like it was for me.
Everything we do is designed to welcome and support families of every composition:
1. First -- families need safety nets, and that safety net is the larger community to which they may not be connected.
● So, we are volunteer driven, with 200k volunteers who are empowering, compassionate people ready to connect with families in moments of crisis...whether it’s delivering a meal, helping with a resume, or donating a car.
● The connections that form between families allows them to really see one another and want to advocate on the others’ behalf.
2. Second, we strive to keep families together – before and after losing housing.
● We prevent homelessness by building relationships with landlords, providing childcare solutions, and short-term financial supports to working families.
● When in shelter, we offer homelike environments and individualized care.
● We keep ongoing relationships with families and work on budgeting, home repairs, and employment skills so they can remain sustainably housed.
Ultimately, our goal is to prevent the trauma and cost to a family of experiencing homelessness.
I first joined Family Promise in my twenties, training congregational volunteers about the root causes of poverty and homelessness. Understanding the systemic barriers so many families face helps volunteers meet family members with compassion and understanding.
Just like I wasn’t alone in experiencing housing instability, I wasn’t alone in finding Family Promise.
In fact, the very community that acted as our safety net more than two decades ago, is now part of Family Promise on the North Shore of Boston.
We all need people and communities who believe in us, in our inherent dignity and value... My hope is that Family Promise can be that community connector, bridge builder, and storyteller across socio-economic, racial, and geographic divides.
Preventing homelessness starts in each of our homes—when families do exactly what the families in my childhood community did – keep the promise – and be there for other families."
You can support our members pilgrimaging for Family Promise by donating through our donation link on our webpage. Please designate it to Advent Pilgrimage for Family Promise.
You can also learn more about Family Promise of Southern Chester County here
