Connect Your Faith Community

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Organize your congregation to cover a week of balanced, home-cooked dinners for our guests.  Not only does this make logistics easier on our end, it allows your congregation to get to know our program and guests over a length of time. The link below will bring you to an on-line schedule - just find a week that works for your group and sign up.   (Please note that a week of meals means just 5 days for us  - we don't schedule meals on the weekend). Help our children and families get the nutrition they need to succeed! 

 Not afraid of the East Side?  Share hospitality to our guests by covering an evening and overnight hospitality shift at our 75 Hickory location. You have the opportunity to provide compassion and kindness when you choose to sit and converse with our guests, read books to our kids, or by simply being present.  When our guests need space, feel free to read a book or catch up on homework.  Volunteers work in pairs and are mentored until they feel comfortable.  This volunteer position requires a once-a-month commitment and training.  

Be a part of our special events team for our guests!  You could drive guests in our van and accompany them on one of our prearranged field trips to places like the Buffalo Zoo, Niagara Falls, Fantasy Island, etc.  Or you could stay in-house at 75 Hickory and offer fun activities such as movie night, painting class, cookie baking, etc.  Our goal is to promote fun and interactive engagement between our parents and children in the hopes of minimizing the trauma of homelessness and strengthening that fundamental parent-child bond.  We work ahead of time to recruit families and get tickets donated, but ask volunteers to bring supplies for projects.  We are looking for 2-3 volunteers from a congregation per event and for field trips. Volunteers must drive our vans. 

When our families graduate from shelter, often they start their life in their new apartment with just a handful of things.  Congregations have a great opportunity to help collect gently used apartment items such as lamps, end tables, kitchenware, etc., and deliver the items directly to a newly graduated family.  These little essentials are often out-of-reach for our families, who without support may end up eating on the floor or not having enough blankets to sleep with.  Help our families succeed by starting their new life on the right foot!

 Whether through youth groups or outreach teams, churches bring in the majority of our critical donations!  Challenging your congregation to bring in donations for us is a great way to build awareness about Family Promise, allows us to spend critical operational dollars on other high priorities, and helps us keep our supply room well stocked for our families. Our wish list is frequently updated with our critical needs, such as diapers, pillows, underwear and socks or cleaning supplies.  

Being homeless is a difficult lift for the soul.  But you have the power to make special occasions magical!   Sponsor a child's wish list for an upcoming birthday, put our families under your Giving Tree at Christmas, cook a Mother's Day brunch for our moms, fill backpacks in September or deliver turkey dinners to our graduated families at Thanksgiving.   Any opportunity to celebrate with our guests makes their time in shelter more humane and hopeful.  The only limit is your next idea!  

Some congregations prefer hands-on projects!  Do you have a garden group that can assemble potted plants for our walkway?  Does your youth group want to tour and learn more about family homelessness and do some light housekeeping?   Do your members have a knack for assembling raffle baskets or could help face paint at our next fundraiser?   Can your congregation make our families fleece-tied blankets?  Call us to brainstorm a plan for your next project today!

Faith Communities are our longest standing partners.  Making a financial commitment to Family Promise allows us to count on your support, build it into our operating budget and serve our guests more effectively.  Some congregations have the resources to make an annual gift.  Some invite us to speak and pass the basket.  And others have quietly supported us for years through small, regular collections.  Another way to support us is by making us the charity of choice at your next event or fundraiser - congregations have done everything from worship contests to 5k races for us.  Donate directly below or contact us with your next idea.