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Providing Hope for a Secure Future
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| | Written by:
Tera Michelson
As a single mom with two young children, Tyteanna was used to doing things alone. When she found her family to be without a home, it became clear she needed help. She didn’t know where to turn.
“I was homeless and looking for a shelter. When I contacted one, they didn’t have any rooms, so they gave me Family Promise’s number. When I called Linda, she told me that I could get in that very day,” Tyteanna says.
“I had an impression of what a shelter would look like—bunk beds, lots of people and no safe place for all of our stuff. But when I got to Family Promise, it was really different. After talking to Linda, I felt like everything was going to be okay,” she shares.
While in the program, Tyteanna and her family kept busy networking with local agencies to gather paperwork, learn finances, secure a job and weave a web of support around them that continues even now, months after moving out of transitional living.
“They helped me start the process of finding housing,” she says. “Family Promise is definitely the place to go. Linda and Michelle will help you and try their best to get you what you need. With their help, there’s no way that you are going back on the street,” she says.
The advocacy of Family Promise and many days of small steps finally led to success: Tyteanna and her kids are now enjoying a place to call home.
“I did a lot of communicating and working hard. It was some tough days, but it was all worth it to get out and have my own place and get a job and get my children settled,” Tyteanna says.
“Family Promise helped put everything in my house—furniture, even toilet paper and personal hygiene products,” she adds.
Tyteanna knows she’s still got work to do—what mom doesn’t? She’s saving money for a car and working to adjust schedule issues. But now that she and her kids are a branch of the Family Promise family tree, Tyteanna doesn’t have to try to do life all alone anymore.
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| What Do You See as Success?
Here we are, three-quarters of the way through the year, and I am just looking at all that we have already accomplished this year. Big things and little things, short and long term goals, happy events and bittersweet events. No day is ever exactly the same, but at the end of each day, I know we did a great job!
Let me share some of our successes with you. At this time, we have served 22 families in shelter. This comprised of 25 adults, 32 children over the age of 5 and 8 children under the age of 5 for a total of 65 people. Seventeen of these families have completed the program and graduated successfully into a new permanent housing situation. Such joy to see them succeed, and some sadness to see them go. I become attached to all of them. At the end of last school year, all of our children had graduated to the next grade and only one missed a single day of school, due to illness. Now that’s a huge success in the world of family homelessness! We have also assisted an additional 152 individuals/families in getting resources without bringing them in to shelter. In other family news, we had grant money from the Hamilton Community Foundation to do some fun family events. So far, we went to the movies to see Ralph Wrecks the Internet, it was the week that the temperature fell below zero all week. For spring break, we were able to go to Laser Web and have pizza for lunch. No summer would be complete without a trip to the Butler County Fair so off we went. We even had a donor give us cash to help the families purchase food and some ride tickets. These trips help to bring some normalcy to the children’s lives and for many, introduces them to new experiences that they might never have had.
Here at the Day Center, we have had much to be thankful for. We have been able to provide each graduated family with a start up set of furniture and household goods. Blessings were shared with both monetary and in-kind donations. Multiple grants have been awarded. We had a fantastic intern over the summer and she’s staying with us till Christmas. Very dear to my heart was the ability to hire in a full-time Family Service Coordinator, welcome Michelle! With the addition of Michelle, we will be able to offer some learning opportunities for our families. Some of these programs are financial literacy, good tenancy, parenting skill building, bullying and anti-bullying lessons along with families having safety plans for emergencies.
I hope you will find it in your heart to walk along side us as we continue to make a difference in the lives of children and their families when they are experiencing homelessness. Be the one who lets that child know they are loved, valued and capable of making dreams come true. Blessings!
Linda
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| | Butler County Schools Homeless Count by district for 2019
Children ages 5-18 - Ross - 6
- Talawanda - 35
- Middletown - 190
- Madison - 45
- Lakota - 182
- Hamilton - 685
- Fairfield - 162
- Edgewood - 11
- Butler Tech - 13
- Monroe - 25
Total count is 1,354 school-aged children
Children 5 and under make up 50% of total children who are homeless, therefore there are likely 2,708 total children struggling with homelessness in Butler County!
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DAY CENTER NEEDS
- baby wipes
- paper towels
- toilet bowl cleaner
- toilet bowl brushes
- pine sol for mopping
- new brooms/dust pans
- vacuum cleaner
- shampoo
- baby shampoo/wash
- shampoo for natural hair
- body wash
If you can provide any of these items, you can drop them off at the Day Center at: 19 S. Front Street, Hamilton or contact Linda at 513-444-2033.
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| | WELCOME NEW STAFF MEMBER
Family Promise of Butler County welcomes our new Family Service Coordinator, Michelle Payne. Michelle has been a volunteer for Family Promise since we opened and was Lord of Life Lutheran Church's coordinator. Michelle has degrees in Education and Sociology as well as a Master’s degree in Elementary Education. Michelle taught in the public schools, was the Director of Youth Ministries at Celebration ELCA church, and has worked in social services for the last few years. Michelle is very passionate about outreach and service to others.
Michelle has been married to her husband Dave for 16 years. They have 3 daughters and a dog and live in Liberty Township.
Michelle states, “I was happy to hear Family Promise was hiring a family services coordinator. I feel like God brought me the perfect position at the perfect time! I love seeing the transformation made by our guests as we help them find their way back to being stable and see them go from being discouraged to seeing them smile!” |
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Host Congregation Spotlight |
| Family Promise of Butler County just celebrated our 3rd birthday since opening. Two and a half years before we were just a dream and we have the staff and congregation of Faith Community United Methodist Church to thank for that dream. Faith Community UMC is known as a leader in West Chester/Liberty Township for its programs meeting the needs of individuals and families struggling economically. With its food pantry and Tuesday night Stepping Forward Community meal and programming, it meets some basic needs of those in our community.
It was at that time five years ago that it became apparent there was a gap in services for families with children who were struggling with homelessness. Faith Community UMC was a host congregation for Warren County IHN (Family Promise) but knew families in Butler County could not access shelter through this program. Therefore, Faith Community UMC became a founding congregation for a new non-profit startup, Family Promise of Butler County.
Tara Yunker, Director of Outreach explained, “We continue to serve as a Host congregation because we value the hands-up model and case management provided by the staff at Family Promise. By working together with other religious organizations and the community, collectively we are able to better assist families who are transitionally homeless.”
Ms. Yunker shared they have about 35 committed volunteers who serve throughout the year, and an additional 10 families that graciously donate breakfast and lunch items. She states that, “Serving at Family Promise, helps to breakdown the stereotypes of homelessness and helps our volunteers to see that they are individuals just like each of us. They work hard and want the best for their families”.
Volunteers have a huge effect on our families by providing them with hope and love. Equally, the children and families impact the volunteers. Ms. Yunker shares the following stories:
“On a recent election day, one of our volunteers had not voted and when she came to the church that night to serve at Family Promise a single mom had on her "I Voted" sticker. She shared how she had gone to the Board of Elections to vote and even though it was more difficult because of living at Family Promise and not in a home, she knew it was important to teach her son the value of this right. This struck our volunteer and now whenever someone acts as though voting is too hard to fit into their day or that they cannot be bothered with it, she remembers the determination of this mom to vote.”
“We also have a family that serves during Family Promise, and this winter they brought with them board games to play. The Minecraft version of Monopoly was a huge hit with all the kids. It was wonderful to see the kids from Family Promise and the kids who were here with their family serving all playing games together. If a person had walked into our community room they would have seen tables of kids laughing and playing and would not have seen homeless children...”
Thank you Faith Community UMC for continuing to love on children and families in need.
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| | Keeping the Promise annual fundraising event has a NEW time and venue this year! Join us for an evening of fun. Come and support a wonderful cause to help children and families gain housing and independence.
This event will feature a graduated family who will share their struggle with homelessness and their journey to permanent housing with the help of Family Promise of Butler County.
Thursday, October 17, 2019 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Wetherington Country Club 7337 Country Club Lane Wetherington, OH 45069 |
| Tickets
$30 until October 5 $35 after October 5 |
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| VIP Tables
Full table (for 8) $500
Half table (for 4) $250 |
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| RSVP Deadline: October 10, 2019
Schedule
5:30 - 6:30 Hors d'oeuvres, Cash bar, Raffle baskets 6:30 - 7:00 Guest Speaker, Video Launch 7:00 - 7:30 Live Monetary Auction |
| | Family Promise of Butler County is a 501(3)(c) non-profit charity. Donations are tax deductible. Thank you for your continued support!
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