| Dear FPGW family, just in case you have wondered: We’ll never stop helping families. It has been a tumultuous couple of months. Stores closed. Activities cancelled. Shelter in place orders. The congregational Rotation Program has been suspended for the safety of volunteers and the safety of the families. We are following all protocols, and we are focused on keeping families and staff safe. Currently, we are serving 4 families in shelter-in-place sites and 3 families in our Almost Home transitional housing program. With your help, we are also serving 15 graduate families that have been affected by COVID-19, through Supply Distribution, Online Life Skills Classes, and our Pen Pal Program. All 22 of these families are safe and sheltered…for now. What will our world look like in the next months? While we are in the early days of understanding the impact that this pandemic will have upon families, what is very clear is that those with the least ability to withstand this emergency are those who are most devastated. We have long talked about helping families to withstand a future crisis. We have talked about how job loss, a housing crisis, a health issue, or a family breakup can leave families homeless. This pandemic is creating a perfect storm for local families. But, with your help, we will continue to serve families struggling with hope and a home. It’s what we do. Phase 3: Launching New Homeless Prevention/ Stabilization Services As anticipated, we are starting to get calls from families who need help with rent and utilities. Job loss, reduced hours, loss of childcare and transportation due to COVID-19 is taking its toll. But just in time, Family Promise of Greater Wichita was chosen as one of only a handful of Family Promise affiliates to receive HUMI funding to begin Phase 3 of our COVID-19 Crisis Plan.. Help Us Move In (HUMI) is a unique foundation with a simple mission: to ensure children are homeless no more. Since its establishment, HUMI has helped more than 3,240 families, including over 7,100 children become sustainably housed. The HUMI model is straightforward: small amounts of funding can prevent eviction or allow families who are homeless to gain housing more quickly. The goal of HUMI Funds are: * Prevent family evictions * Assist families with move-in costs We feel grateful to be perfectly positioned to connect these funds where they can have a great impact because we KNOW the families we serve and will continue to walk with them long-term. The program involves a Challenge Match from the community in order to receive these funds. As soon as we raise an initial $10,000, then HUMI will match this with another $10,000. That’s $20,000 of funding that will be directed to helping families in our community avoid the crisis of homelessness and to quickly rehouse families facing a homeless crisis. Will you help launch this new Support Service? Visit: https://familypromisewichita.org/make-a-donation/. You can designate your donation by entering “HUMI” in the optional field directly under the amount you’re donating. You can also send a check to the day house (address below) with “HUMI” written in the memo. Together, as the needs in our community continue to evolve, we will continue to respond. It’s what we do. Thank you! For more information about how our COVID-19 response has developed, read about Phase 1 and Phase 2 below. Phase 2 4/3/2020 COVID-19 Response: Phase 2 How We Are Adjusting and How You Can Help with Emergency Relief Dear Family Promise of Greater Wichita Family, Thank you for your prayers, gifts of funding and supplies, and messages of support in this unusual time. We know you are experiencing changes and adjustments to your lives as well, so we are incredibly grateful that you keep remembering local families in need as you make donations and in your prayers. We’re writing to update you on current good news and needs. First, the big GOOD news this week: A family moved into housing! We are so excited for this Graduate family and are working on a virtual celebration for them. Second, we’re working to quickly respond to new levels of instability for the families we serve, and to anticipate coming needs as the COVID-19 situation unfolds. In partnership with Family Promise National, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Centers for Disease Control and our local human services and health authorities, we’re working to continue with ways to safely serve vulnerable families who need it now more than ever. Many of you know that we work in three phases within our Sustainable Independence Program (SIP). We have been focusing primarily on the second phase. SIP I: Emergency Relief/Diversion services Creative problem solving conversations; connecting with community resources and family supports; housing search and placement; infant care items, hygiene supplies, and bus passes as we have them available; and occasional financial assistance to help people resolve their immediate housing crisis (whether homeless or unstably housed). SIP II: Rotation Program Together with your help, we provide shelter, meals, and case management to homeless families, usually with faith congregations but currently in temporary shelter-in-place sites. SIP III: Graduate Support and Stabilization We have been targeting a summer launch date for this expansion of our program, to support our Program Graduate families as they make further progress on their goals and continue in the new homes they have obtained. What is Changing At this point, the safest thing for every family’s health is to assist them from our shelter-in-place sites into a home of their own as soon as possible. We are working to expedite this process with families in SIP II. This may look different for every family but includes job searches and housing program referrals primarily. Even if housing is achieved but some of their other goals are unmet, our staff will continue to work with them on those other needs in order to make sure they can maintain a stable life. In addition, we will be focusing more time and resources on SIP I and SIP III, meeting the needs of more families who may need a hand up to maintain housing before it becomes a crisis, and to assist our Graduate families who have worked so hard in the past and have recently lost jobs, transportation, childcare, and stability in this crisis. How we respond can prevent a spiral back into homelessness for our friends and Graduates who have become extended family. To do this, we will need funding. Assisting families with temporary relief may look like help with rent, utilities, childcare, or transportation expenses. It may mean hiring our Graduate Case Manager sooner than we had planned. It may mean other creative solutions we have not yet identified. But we are committed to helping families in this time, together with you, our extended Family Promise family. How You Can Help We have begun an Emergency Relief Fund to provide Shelter Diversion, Emergency Shelter, and Stabilization (all three phases of our program) services to homeless or at-risk families that have been impacted by the COVID-19 situation. – If you’re able, please donate funds. – If you have connections to businesses or organizations who are offering relief funding, advocate for our program or let us know who we can speak to. – If you are on Facebook, share our posts and ask your friends to remember our families. Thank you again for your partnership. Homeless and at-risk families need us now more than ever, and we are believing that God will provide for their and our needs as we seek out ways to share our blessings with those who have less. Will you help us respond? Donations are available on Facebook or at our Website. Or mail a check to the address below. Let’s continue to spread the Hope that Changes the Story. Blessings, Carrie Corliss Board President Family Promise of Greater Wichita Phase 1 3/19/2020 Our COVID-19 Social Distancing Plan Even with distance, you can still help! Dear Family Promise of Greater Wichita Family, As a community organization, we strive to do everything we can to preserve the safety and health of our guests, volunteers, staff, and community. While we have not had any cases of COVID-19 among anyone connected to our organization (as of March 18 at 8pm), nor do we have anyone suspected of infection connected to our organization, we are monitoring the developments of the COVID-19 virus very closely. We have decided to implement a social distancing plan for Family Promise of Greater Wichita. The purpose of this plan is to protect the health of our guests, staff, volunteers, and community as a whole and to play our part to slow the spread of this virus in our community. The plan outlined below will go into effect starting Sunday, March 22, 2020, and will extend until April 5, 2020. On or before April 1, Family Promise Leadership will evaluate whether or not to return to normal operations on April 5. Please monitor our Facebook page for the most up-to-date information. Phase 1 – Social Distancing Plan – Actions Family Promise is Taking: 1. Churches: Our Congregational Rotational Shelter Program will be placed on a temporary hold until at least April 5, 2020. *In an effort to protect our guests, volunteers and congregational partners, there will not be families rotating to local churches during this time. The guests currently in the Rotation Program will shelter in place at temporary secondary sites. We still need partner congregations to provide meals and supplies. More detailed information will be communicated directly with partner congregations. 2. Volunteers: All in-person volunteer activities and events, including Thursday night life skills classes, will be suspended until at least April 5, 2020. Our Day House lobby will be closed during this time, and we will not be accepting unsolicited donations . Please call the day house to arrange to drop off supplies requested . 3. Guests: We intend to keep the same capacity levels, with the 6 families currently in the Rotation shelter program and 3 families in our Almost Home transitional housing program. 4. Staff: Our amazing staff are our biggest asset as an organization and we want to do everything we can to ensure they and their families stay healthy. We intend to have staff at the Day House during normal business hours, but this may not be possible. Phones will be answered on site or remotely during business hours. Staff with fevers or who have underlying health restrictions are asked to stay home. 5. Community: While volunteer opportunities are limited during this time, we need our community now more than ever. Here are four ways you can help:Give Financially: This transition will increase costs for Family Promise of Greater Wichita, so your financial support during this time period will be significant. Please feel free to donate online at: https://familypromisewichita.org/make-a-donation/ Supply Donations: We are in need of specific supplies for cleaning, sanitation, and infant care during this time. Please follow us on Facebook to keep track of updated needs requests: https://www.facebook.com/familypromisewichita/ All other donations will need to be postponed until further notice. Be Kind and Pray: We ask that you be kind to one another and pray for our neighbors and community during this time. We will be posting updates on our Facebook page in the weeks ahead. This is an unprecedented effort, but together we can meet this challenge as a community. Let’s continue to spread the Hope that Changes the Story. Blessings, Carrie Corliss Board President Family Promise of Greater Wichita Family Promise of Greater Wichita unites hearts and hands to provide compassionate hospitality and empower homeless families with children to achieve sustainable independence. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. |
COVID-19 Response: We’ll never stop helping families
