CATEGORIES

Our Community Blog: Lindsay Moore, Executive Director, FP of Genesee County, “We ARE Family”

October 18, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

  The 15th Annual Family Promise National Conference, in D.C., empowered, encouraged and engaged. Since our Affiliate opened in 2014, I have attended 3 conferences and I always come away with renewed excitement. This year’s theme, United We Serve, spoke directly to what we do every day, whether you’re in …
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Our Community Blog: Karen Olson, Founder and President Emeritus, “Meet Me in DC”

September 26, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

I can’t believe it’s been 23 years since our first conference. I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was held in Cincinnati, Ohio and we called it “A Time To Share”.  Little did I know how profound that would be, because that sense of community has only grown over …
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Our Community Blog: Terry Lindemann, Director, Family Promise of Las Vegas, “Compassion — More than a Platitude”

September 11, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

My journey with “compassion” began at the age of five when my family crumbled and my sisters and I became wards of the State of California. A snapshot stored in the corner of my mind: a woman clad in stockings with a line up the back, blue shoes, too tall …
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Our Community Blog: Jadyn Fauconier-Herry, Intern, “Growing Up with Family Promise”

August 24, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

When I first volunteered with Family Promise I was about nine years old, barely older than the children of the guests staying with my family’s congregation. At such a young age “volunteering” meant tagging along with my mom to stay over when our church hosted families, eating dinner with them, …
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Our Community Blog: Claas Ehlers, President, “Lion of Faith”

August 15, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

Thirty-two years ago, a Lutheran pastor in a suburban New Jersey town opened his church to a meeting for nearly 200 of his neighbors, people of all different faiths and backgrounds. Led by Karen Olson, they were united in their desire to address a new and troubling development: families becoming …
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Our Community Blog: Tiger Cass, National Board Member, “A Learning Experience”

August 1, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

My thirteen-year-old son and I were hosts one night at our congregation, serving meals to two families, and playing with the children. One of the moms came over to me and asked if there was a room where she could just sit down and watch TV. She wanted to watch …
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Our Community Blog: Meg Zucker, Founder, Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It, “A Chance to Be Heard”

July 19, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It (DHIFI) is a not-for-profit organization that works to advance understanding, tolerance and mutual respect for people’s differences. Inspired by the theme, “The things that make me different, make me, me,” DHIFI encourages people who possess any type of difference, whether blatant or invisible, to flaunt …
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Our Community Blog: Cary Bayless, Development and Marketing Director, Family Promise of Greater Chattanooga, “Called to Community”

June 29, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

When I first moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the beautiful trails of Lookout Mountain, the fish in the Tennessee River, and the hymns we paired with fiddle and guitar on Sundays made me feel at home. What made the feeling of Chattanooga as “home” permanent was not the natural beauty of …
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Our Community Blog: Scott Rickert, Family Promise of Florence Board Member, “Host Week”

I am writing this after our first Family Promise family left the church to move to their “new home for the week”, another church here in Florence.  Goodbye was hard, not just for the family, who asked our Affiliate’s Director if they could please stay, but for us, as well. …
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Our Community Blog: Claas Ehlers, President, “Ending Family Homelessness: It Takes a Community

Last year, one out of 30 children experienced an episode of homelessness.    That number is simply unacceptable.   Recently, two other numbers with profound implications on low-income families have been in the news.   That first one is $6 billion, the proposed reduction in the HUD budget.  This would …
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Our Community Blog: Karen Olson, Founder and President Emeritus, “Simple Acts of Kindness Change Lives”

April 27, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

I love talking with families who have been through the Family Promise program, so, before speaking at an Affiliate, I always have these conversations in order to share with  that Affiliate what it has meant to families.  You might think that families begin by talking about the shelter accommodations or …
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Our Community Blog: Cara Bradshaw, Director of Development, “Housing and The Privilege Monster”

April 10, 2017 | Voices of Family Promise

The first time I was confronted with my privilege was in a newly-created position marketing the Just Neighbors curriculum for Family Promise. I was a graduate student at the time, in an international affairs program focused on the many levels of systemic injustice. It’s one thing to sit in a classroom …
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