Clark County churches band together to serve homeless

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According to the Family Promise website, there are currently over 3,000 children without a fixed address in Clark County. To help with this issue Clark County churches are joining together through Family Promise, a nonprofit program with 160,000 volunteers across the United States dedicated to providing homeless families with a place to regain sustainable independence. Local congregations are hoping to start the program in April of this year, and will bring in three to five families — or 14 people depending on the makeup of the families.

Linda Winnett, the director of Family Promise Clark County, is looking forward to kicking off the program. 

“This is a community effort that has been in the planning stages for two years now so we’re excited for the opening,” she said.  

Family Promise started in 1986 on the East Coast; there are currently over 200 affiliations nationwide. A set of host congregations take in a group of homeless families for a week at a time, providing them with meals and a place to sleep. In addition to the host congregation, there are also support congregations who may not have the physical space available to host but provide much-needed volunteers, supplies, and finances. 

Each host congregation is equipped with a kitchen for meal preparation, two bathrooms, and a common area. When it comes to sleeping arrangements, ideally congregations provide a separate room for each family, but if that isn’t possible a large room is partitioned to provide privacy. The families will stay at one of the host congregations for a week before going to the next. Since families are staying for the week, guest areas are not broken down during the day to provide a sense of home.

During the day families are transported by van to the Day Center located in Camas, where children then go to school and parents go to their jobs. If the parents do not have a job, they will work with the program director to find employment. According to Family Promise, they help more than 6,000 adults search or train for a job each year. 



Program directors also help parents look for housing and provide other resources to help them regain their independence. Out of all the clients that come to Family Promise for help, nearly 80 percent are able to find secure housing, the organization reports. The day center is also a place for families to shower and do their laundry. If a child doesn’t go to school because of age or a holiday the day center provides childcare. 

This project requires approximately 50 volunteers per week in each cluster of churches to provide services such as cooking and serving meals, playing with children, helping children do their homework, interacting with guests and providing overnight security. 

Family Promise is financed through donations, grants and fundraising. Within the first year of the program, it will cost about $150,000.

Family Promise is different from a regular homeless shelter, according to Katherine Radeka, the public relations chair.

“Family Promise provides more of a wraparound support, we’re not just a shelter,” she said. “When families come here they receive support from case management to help address the reasons why they are struggling with homelessness which could be employment or issues finding affordable housing. It’s not that you just come in here to sleep and then get kicked out during the day. We provide families with services that they need to graduate from this program into sustainable housing.”