Five years ago next month, over one hundred concerned citizens met near Woodstock to discuss the challenges of homelessness in our community. God enabled the seeds planted at that initial gathering to quickly sprout and speedily bear good fruit through what now is Family Promise of Shenandoah County. This ministry is now in its third year of serving Jesus disguised as homeless children and their families.
God has been diligently at work and much has happened since November of 2013. He has risen up host congregations to provide lodging for these families and has provided a Family Center where they can do their laundry and receive case management. He has motivated individuals to donate their time and money that has provided a van for transporting the families, as well as personnel to administer the work and help these families get back on their feet.
He has provided broad community support to establish the only current homeless shelter in the county. He has also risen up eager servants in various congregations to provide healthy meals for the participants and He has stirred others to visit with them and spend nights at the various churches. He called together a dedicated and gifted Board of Directors and He provided an Executive Director with extensive skill and compassion in the form of Sherry Arey who continues to lead this ministry with excellence and efficiency.
Since we began hosting in February of 2015, FPSC has utilized 900 volunteers to provide over 1900 nights of lodging and over 7,000 meals at a total value of more than $180,000! This has benefited 63 children in 32 families including 3 disabled veterans and 8 expectant mothers.
All of this has been provided without any federal, state or local tax money and the services are passed along without cost to guests. In addition to the total dollar value, the money FPSC has saved localities in terms of reduced burden on local government agencies is also significant.
Our goal has never been to encourage dependence on churches, Family Promise, the government, or other people. Instead, we work to help families get established in jobs, homes, and situations that they can sustain and prosper in.
October 20-28 is National Family Promise week and the local affiliate joins with the other 205 nationwide to celebrate what God has done. This low-cost practical ministry provides a tangible vehicle through which Christians can obey and serve Jesus right in their own churches and meet pressing needs.
If you are not involved in this local ministry, but would like to be, there are a number of ways to do so. Our biggest need right now is for more congregations to become hosts. This commitment involves allowing up to five homeless families to sleep in the church building one week each quarter of the year. Transportation is provided by the affiliate and families are dropped off at 5:30 each evening and picked up again at 6:30am.
Host congregations provide evening meals as well as cold breakfasts and food to pack lunches with. They also offer friendship in the form of someone present at the church from 6-8pm and then usually someone else spends the night there in case any needs arise. The cots are provided by FPSC and no showers are necessary since these are taken at the Family Center.
The families are spared spending cold nights in their cars or cardboard shelters until they can get back on their feet and church members benefit by making new friends and knowing they are touching lives in Jesus’ name.
Beginning next month, FPSC will begin an exciting new phase by offering transitional housing for selected clients through cooperative support of various partners. This will help our guests be even more successful in the long term as they become established in jobs and routines.
FPSC is very grateful for all the individuals who have been involved in this ministry over the last five years since that first meeting. We are thankful for the churches currently hosting as well as those who continue to support the ministry financially. Most of all, we are grateful to God for all that He has done and is doing to care for homeless children and their families through FPSC. We look forward to what He will continue to do in and through this ministry! If you can help in any way, please call 540-459-4599.
Blessings, George