Another way our community is #bettertogether.
We are very excited to announce that Family Promise of Greater Wichita is partnering with A THRIVE Community to provide our guest families with important training and support through “Getting Ahead” classes.
Getting Ahead is a 12 week program that works with families in poverty and teaches them skills like budgeting, resume’ building and goal setting strategies. These classes are every Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30, and families enjoy a meal together before class. Children attend the THRIVE child care center.
There is a cost for this program, and part of the collaboration Family Promise has committed to provide for this opportunity is the community meal one Tuesday evening per month for 60 persons, and to provide volunteers to help watch children during class time. A Family Promise support group, Friends of Friends, will provide the once/month meal.
We hope that each Host Congregation will schedule Tuesday evening volunteers (who would have normally been at the host site) to work at the THRIVE child care center. The child care center is staffed by certified employees, and our volunteers will reduce the number of paid staff needed to care for our Family Promise children while parents are in class.
When our Family Promise guest families graduate from Getting Ahead and our Rotation Program, they have the opportunity to enter the THIVE Community Program. This provides a match with two or more Allies to continue the work of lifting families out of poverty, progressively maintaining the security and sustainability that they have been working toward in Family Promise.
We encourage all our Host Congregations and Support Congregations to become involved in the THRIVE Community program as Allies. This allows continuation of the caring relationships we have developed with graduate families who choose to become Team Leaders in the THRIVE Community. Can you join us?
Our Partnership with A THRIVE Community is a wonderful and important collaboration for our families, giving them additional exposure to caring people in a diverse, enriching environment. They can build social capital and interact with other families who are using the tools needed to become stable and secure. Team Leaders in the THRIVE program share the goals of our families, and seeing the success of others is a great confidence builder. Please consider your role and pray about how we can continue our work here at Family Promise in collaboration with THRIVE, to give our families every opportunity for success.
By Bart Wilson, Congregation Coordinator at East Heights UMC
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. All donations are tax-deductible.
