By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
After a soul-searching board meeting last night, the board of Family Promise of Seattle – this area’s only shelter program aimed at keeping homeless families together – made a momentous decision: They set a tentative date for reopening their program.
Almost seven months have passed since their surprise hiatus – first reported here – and decision not to reopen until they had raised enough money to operate for half a year, $90,000.
They don’t have the full $90,000 yet, but as one board member put it last night, they are “within spitting distance” – with funding on hand plus pledges equaling an estimated $75,000.
The Family Promise model, which is employed nationwide, calls for a local branch to partner with area churches – the churches provide nighttime shelter and food for the homeless families, on a rotating basis, one church, one week, then on to the next, while the organization works with the families as they search for jobs and other assistance. (There is no proselytizing, however, and the families who get help are not obligated to participate in faith activities at the host churches.)
Typically, Family Promise local branches also rely on partner congregations for a significant share of their funding. This branch hopes to add to that, and guarantee their organization’s sustainability, by creating a business network, spearheaded by the newest board member, Libby Carr, known well in West Seattle for her successful leadership of the project to raise money to design and build the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza.
The motion passed unanimously by the Family Promise of Seattle board last night – meeting in the library of a partner church, St. John the Baptist Episcopal in the Admiral District – has a couple of caveats. Provided they finish raising the $90,000 and provided they have enough partner churches still interested in hosting homeless families, they will reopen the program on June 1st.
The money has come in sums big and small. They have organized many fundraisers, proud of recent successes including a Taco Night at Alki Tavern that brought in $400. They are looking ahead to hosting a major fundraising gala – possibly with “sock hop” as its theme. And they’re thinking about other enterprises such as creating and selling a cookbook, which has the potential to bring in thousands more.
Bottom line though, came from board member Lynne Downs, when they went around the table for everyone’s honest sentiments on whether it was time to call it quits, or keep going. “29 weeks we’ve been closed – we get about 5 calls a week from families looking for help – that’s 145 families. If each of those families has two children, that’s 290 children who are homeless.”
Others agreed that they just couldn’t give up, as wearying as the six months of working to raise reopening money has been. They are hopeful that reopening will also bring a new “rush of support” from the community, when it happens – many hands make light work.
“We know we have a lot of people in our community who are concerned,” one board member offered. “It hasn’t translated into dollars – but I think the dollars are waiting.”
They will need a steady, if modest, supply of those to keep going, once those doors reopen so that homeless families can stay together while trying to get back on their feet. And they need to verify – starting with a meeting next Monday – whether they have enough congregations still ready to get back to the business of helping host homeless families.
You can help in myriad ways – either with the aforementioned dollars, or with your time (they are hoping to add to the board, after a small, dedicated group has kept chugging through these months of “hiatus” to raise money and strategize). Contact information is on their website.
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