Family Promise of Greater Wichita (FPGW) is excited to welcome Melanie McLey to the staff team as the new Program Coordinator!
Melanie has been a volunteer with FPGW since 2018. After spending some time doing outreach, she had a desire to be a part of a movement that focused on sustainable change. As an attendee at a partner congregation, Aldersgate UMC, she was easily able to learn about and begin partnering with the Family Promise mission through her church.
Melanie’s first experience volunteering with Family Promise was by making meals for Shelter Guest families. In remembering this first experience, she recalls the nerves she felt going into the church building with her homemade meal, but immediately felt at ease and quickly realized just how much she loved this mission and these opportunities to be a part of it.
Since that first experience, Melanie and her family have volunteered in lots of different roles, with her eventually taking on a leadership role in her own church by becoming a Volunteer Coordinator. She enjoyed stepping into this task of recruiting, training, and organizing volunteers from her congregation.
Her time as a Volunteer Coordinator also brought a renewed desire to dive more deeply into the world of Family Promise, which prompted Melanie to begin volunteering at the FPGW Day House once a week this Summer. Taking on a shift where she could focus on the kids who were not in school, she enjoyed lots of play and craft time, as well as learning more about the inner workings of the program and building relationships with the FPGW team and families.
After previous Program Coordinator Trista Wilson announced that she would be moving back to New York to be with family, Melanie decided that the timing was presenting as an opportunity for her to engage even more with this mission and organization and make a big impact for families and for our community.
“When Melanie applied we were thrilled because we already knew that she was passionate about the mission, loved our families, and had experience as a Volunteer Coordinator. That experience will serve her well as she leads and supports our volunteer teams who are serving families on a daily basis.” – FPGW Executive Director Dawn Epp
As a firm believer in the impact that people can have on each other’s lives, Melanie’s passion for advocacy and being a positive influence on those around her is obvious. She is excited about this new opportunity to make meaningful connections with families and with community partners, to partner with like-minded people that can support this mission, and to work with families to have an effect on the next generation.
So far, Melanie’s favorite part of the job is the work environment and the team she is a part of. The days go by even quicker than she imagined, but she’s hit the ground running and the Family Promise community is excited to have her on board!
Melanie loves calling Wichita home. While the Day House is one of her favorite places to be, she also adores spending time at Leslie’s Coffee and at Botanica.
Welcome to the FPGW staff team, Melanie!
