Family Promise Relies on Traditional Generosity of Religious Communities

COLD SPRING – In Cape May County, over 3,500 children live with families that do not have enough resources to meet their basic needs.
Coupled with this statistic is the fact that in recent years the county has experienced an unprecedented 89 percent increase in the number of children living in poverty.
In the county 58 percent of homeless families have children under the age of 6; nearly 80 percent of these homeless families are headed by a female. Nearly 30 percent of them have experienced domestic violence.
Family Promise of Cape May County, headquartered in Cold Spring, is a non-profit affiliate of a national network known as Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN). Its mission is to help homeless families stay together during their time of crisis by providing safe shelter and meals in congregational facilities.
Family Promise also provides support services needed “to educate, encourage, and empower these families in their quest to re-establish their individual pride and independence” according to the organization’s mission statement.
The organization consists of 35 congregations, which together, harness the resources of 700 to 800 volunteers. Each participating church or synagogue serves as a host or support congregation for two to four homeless families for a one-week period, four times each year. 
Host congregations provide meals and overnight sleeping accommodations seven days a week. Guest families spend the day at the Day Center in North Cape May where they care for children and look for jobs and housing. 
A van owned by the network transports guests to the center each morning and back to the host congregation each evening. 
Laurie Johnson, director, clarified, “While congregations of all faiths are involved in the sheltering and feeding of families, there is no religious obligation to its participants. Family Promise seeks to affirm participants’ cultural, ethnic, and racial identity, and is respectfully open to any Cape May County, drug-free, family in need.”
Trained volunteers are at the heart of the program. They operate the program at their congregations and provide personal support for homeless families, who are considered guests of the network. Volunteers set up beds, cook meals, do laundry, and perform many other tasks. 
Sandra Aromando of Ocean City volunteered at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in the resort for the first time Jan. 17. Her comments reflected those of hundreds of county volunteers who support the program.
“Sunday was my first time being part of Family Promise. I guess what struck me the most was how the children immediately embraced their surroundings and made the most of the/their situation. Not knowing what their history is I can only assume that they have had many transitions for their very young lives. 
“The fact that Family Promise is available to them is really a lifeline and that they are able to stay in the same school/develop friendships even though they have a very transient life at night. As a parent I can only imagine what must go through the mom’s or dad’s minds that come and have their children meeting different people almost on a nightly basis. 
“However, if it is a stepping stone to freeing up the parent to look for a job, have access to training during the day then the payoff is priceless (not a Master Card commercial). Thoroughly enjoyed the whole night and would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Other volunteers expressed this same sentiment, one noted: “I get so much more than I put into it. I feel blessed to have met so many wonderful people who have touched my life, especially the children. The smiles, the appreciation, the interaction with the children and the success stories…all boost my spirit. What an amazing program. I spent the evening playing games with the kids. You can see it really makes a difference for the family. They were super. Sign me up again and again.”
Families, themselves, are equally effusive in their appreciation and praise of the program. One such Family Promise “guest” representative of the demographic served by the organization said, “I don’t know what we, all of us including my three small children, would have done without Family Promise. Probably we literally would have been out on the street. Now we have been able to get a small apartment, the children feel settled, and I am looking for a part-time job.”
“There are no family emergency shelters in the county,” said Johnson, “So homeless families remain at the mercy of whatever resources are available at the time, usually isolated placement in motels, or referrals to shelters in other counties, both severely disrupting their lives. Because motels have limited cooking, laundry and storage facilities, significant expense and inconvenience are created for the families no matter where they are placed. 
“The children of the targeted homeless families, must survive in physically unhealthy situations, witness drug use and violence, move from place to place and school to school, have few friends and experience academic failure. 
“Without support or intervention, they, like their parents, slowly tend to become psychologically vulnerable, and live with feelings of distrust, fear, and emptiness that tend to follow them into adulthood and throughout the rest of their lives.”
According to Johnson, the chief reason for homelessness among families in the county is the loss of a job or inability to find work. 
Since “54 percent of families in the county spend more than 30 percent of income on housing or rent, it is devastating for family stability to be unemployed and simply affording a roof over its head when the breadwinner can’t find a job quickly leads to homelessness,” she explained.
“Family Promise opened six and a half years ago and since that time we have served 69 families. Forty-five of these families (156 individuals -103 children) were served via the rotational hospitality network through the hospitality of the county’s religious communities. And the happy news is that 79 percent of these families secured housing within three months,” she added.
According to the latest Family Promise Program Services Report, there are 141 local affiliates operating across the country having supported 3,048 families comprised of 9,747 individuals (59 percent children). All told, over 30,000 individuals received some form of assistance nationwide from Family Promise.  
The Family Promise aim is to help what the organization defines as “nontraditional homeless families” who are completely drug-free with at least one working parent trying to hold together their family of small children. The strategy is to use the facilities of the county’s religious community so that those families do not need to move from motel room to motel room over months.
According to information from the state Department of Human Services at an average cost of $105 per–room-a-night, a month-long stay works out to about $3,450 – three times the average cost of a two-bedroom rental unit in Cape May County. Many question whether this is an efficient use of taxpayer funds. 
“Many motels are in congested districts on busy streets without sidewalks.  They are often dingy, with poor lighting, worn dirty carpets, and, in some places (which we have witnessed), bedbugs.
“Families, as large as six, live in one room with two beds. Children have parking lots as their only playgrounds and often experience emergency calls about medical problems and criminal activity at the motel. And it’s not an address someone can put on a job application. The children have difficulty getting to their schools when housed in motels and are like nomads going from one school to another during this very trying period,” continued Johnson.
Johnson summed up the effectiveness of Family Promise, “Our strategy is to tackle the problem from all sides, not only providing emergency food and housing, but going further and deeper, to address the root causes of homelessness. Fortunately, homelessness is typically a temporary situation for the families we serve. Our network offers a lifeline, a connection to caring volunteers and community services that can help drug-free families work through their temporary crisis toward hope, improved circumstances, and ultimately, independent living.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.