Family Promise

Family Promise header

 

Family Promise (Interfaith Hospitality Network) is a national, non-profit organization that assists religious and community organizations in developing and operating programs to house and assist homeless families.  In Midland, MISD has identified over 500 children in the school system whose families do not have a home.  These families might be staying with relatives, living in motels or cars, or staying in parks.  Presently, Midland offers almost no shelters where families can stay together.  Family Promise seeks to provide a place for families like these to get back on their feet again.   

What does it mean for FPC to be a host church?

As a host church, FPC hosts the guest families four times a year for one week at a time.  This includes providing a place for the families to stay (one room per family), meals (supper, light breakfast, and sack lunch items), fellowship, and at least two volunteers to spend the night at the church each night the guests are here.  The guests are only at the church from about 6:00 p.m. to about 6:30 a.m.  The rest of their time they will be at the Day Center, school or work.  

The guests are pre-screened by the Network Director so that those who need treatment for substance abuse, violent behavior or other issues can be referred to the right place to get the help they need rather than becoming a part of the program. 

 We need VOLUNTEERS!

Being a host church requires many volunteers.  Each time that we host families in our church, we need volunteers to cover all of the different jobs that must be done. 

Some of the options for volunteering are:

    • Preparation of part of dinner meal (cooked at home-brought to church)
    • Dinner and evening hosts--5:30 - 8:00 (visiting, being hospitable and helping serve dinner)
    • Overnight hosts--8:00pm to 6:30am (2 per night)--just sleeping!  
    • Breakfast baggie preparers--(prepared at home-brought to church)  
    • Set up--Sunday afternoon May 6 (about 2:00 for about 1 hour)  
    • Break Down--Sunday morning May 13 (before Sunday School for about
      30 minutes)  

    FPC’s host dates for 2013:

    • May 12-18

    If you would like more information about this ministry, please see these links:

    Midland Family Promise website

    National Family Promise website

    Please contact Cynthia Howard with any questions or to volunteer.  432.413.6178   or