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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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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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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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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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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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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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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When Family Promise Chicago North Shore was opening several years ago, a volunteer listened to Founder Karen Olson’s story about meeting a homeless woman, Millie, on the streets of New York City and going on to create the organization that became Family Promise nationwide.  That volunteer, Lois-Eve Anderson was inspired …
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https://youtu.be/JP2WPQX2oeo
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There’s a ding on the wall!  There are  dishes in the sink!!  There are unpacked boxes on floor!!! There is a spot on the carpet!!!!   There is a dead spot on the lawn!!!!!! Today I met with one of regular Office Angel Volunteers and we shared a little about how …
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“Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, and it allows us to appreciate their true value.” These words were spoken by Rafael Eduardo Pino. A native of Venezuela, he said he visited the Amazon jungle in Leticia, Columbia, near the borders …
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July 1, 2013 was a hot and rainy Monday in New London, Connecticut. As my husband and I pulled away from the United States Coast Guard Academy, leaving our youngest daughter to begin her Swab Summer training, I strived to catch one last glimpse of her, but she had already …
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