December 27th, 2013
As I am writing this, we have all the children in the program in the day center, playing with toys received 2 days ago on Christmas. We are dodging remote controlled helicopters, and trying not to trip on the legos on the floor. Kids are patiently waiting to play Twister and do sticker books with Shannon and I. Music and laughter is heard and discussions are growing intense (something odd about Hitler and what does the fox say?), there are too many sweets are on the kitchen table, oh and our bathroom sink is clogged. Sounds like it could be any home in Douglas County. Except, this description is of our day center, currently filled with 3 families and 14 people and staff, and volunteers. The guests all seem to have a perspective on the preciousness of life that comes with some tough adversity and is refined by tenacity.
One precious guest, working quietly on her Hello Kitty sticker book while I write this note, asked me if the numbers I was working on are what her family has to pay to live here in Family Promise. This quickly led to an unintended discussion about generosity and how there are good people in the world and that her family is helped by people who care about her family, and other families, and that love God, and serve God by giving to Family Promise and serving in the congregations. She then described some of you that she has met while staying in the congregations over the past 4 weeks.
The good work that all of you participate in with Family Promise continues 365 days each year, 24 hours each day – because of the generosity of our network. Christmas morning this year was at First Christian Church. The first day of the New Year, will be at First United Methodist Church. The Family Promise of Lawrence budget in 2014 is only $262,000 for our basic services, which include our full rotational program involving 13 hosting congregations, and 26 supporting congregations in Lawrence and Douglas County, as well as the Family Promise Temporary Housing program which offers subsidized housing options for 5 single family units here in Lawrence. Our 2013 Temporary Housing program doubled our capacity for serving families this year. 94% of our minimal budget last year went directly into programs to serve our guests. Is it effective? YES, YES and YES, as 88% of all families who have graduated from this program in the last 2 years are still in their own permanent housing.
Our staff and some of our board read a book this past year called, When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. This book helped us re-design some of our programming, so that we can move beyond any potential and unintentional enabling in our program, work and service. We are now evaluating our year end data, and identifying what was most effective in helping families move quickly into permanent and sustainable housing. We are allowing our data to design our future work with families.
This coming year, we are launching our call to community, which is a formalized mentoring type program, matching graduate families with other families to continue the building of relationships that make such an enormous difference in the lives of families. We are also considering adding additional temporary housing units to our program, but only if we have the funding. We are always looking to improve and add to our service offerings to help families out of their difficult situation in the most cost effective and efficient way possible.
I am asking you to please consider a very practical gift to Family Promise of Lawrence as you are writing out the year end donations this year. Please visit our website, where we have all our annual reports. We want our donors to have full financial transparency, so that you can trust that your gift is indeed working as you intend. http://www.Lawrencefamilypromise.org. Please also evaluate our financials on the Guidestar website: http://www.guidestar.org
What would your year end donation provide? Here are some suggestions directly from our budget for 2014:
* $8000 = covers the cost of supporting an average family size of 4 through the program to graduation into permanent housing
* $9600 = Day center rent for 2014
* $1377 = Full coverage of the cost of the Family Promise 15 passenger van for 1 month
* $600 = Cost of pillows for new guests for 2014
* $500 = Stock the day center medicine cabinet in 2014
* $250 = Fill a pantry in a Temporary House on move in day
* $150 = Subsidize the car repair for a guest for work transportation
* $150 = Purchase 1 cot for use by guests in the congregations overnight
* $100 = Subsidize 4 counseling sessions for 1 parent
* $100 = Purchase of 10 bus passes which equal 20 weeks of transportation to work
* $50 = Purchase of gas cards to aid in transportation to work
Thank you for your prayerful consideration of a year end donation to Family Promise of Lawrence. Thank you for your continued service and prayers for this organization. Thank you for caring.
You may send a year end donation to:
Family Promise of Lawrence
PO Box 266
Lawrence, KS 66044
Thankfully and only through grace,
Dana
“All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! … Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works. The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.” Ps 145:10, 13-14 (esv)