We passed our fourth anniversary as an organization this last fall, and we are pausing to say THANK YOU to all who have been working at this mission for that time and beyond, to help more families find homes of their own. In addition to the more visible changes and upending of 2020, this past year saw change and growth happening internally as we mature as an organization. Batons are being handed to some new volunteers and staff, and we are excited to see that the mission still moves forward.
As planned, some of our dedicated Board of Directors have found new and incredibly talented successors for their spots this year. New team members have joined us, and retiring Board members often remain on a work team to give input and advice.
A less-planned change is that we’ve also seen the departure of our beloved Executive Director, due to health circumstances beyond anyone’s control. A special note on this before we go on:
Thank you Stacia, for the gift of your time and energies, and the organizational weight you carried to keep us all connected. You are also a friend, who brings light and laughs to so many of us. We wish you healing, and we wish you peace as you take your next steps in life and hand the baton to Dawn as our new Executive Director.
We are hiring new staff in this era, adjusting to new leadership, and continuing to adapt to changes brought about by Covid-19 this past year. And in all of this, we’re working to remember: despite changes and handoffs, local families need us now more than ever, and we will navigate this together as a team.
Community-Based Service
The Family Promise program is unique partly because it is very volunteer-based, bringing together community resources. The Staff manage the on-the-ground work at the Day House, assisted by a dedicated team of office volunteers.
The Board handles bigger-picture vision, supports the staff, and divides up into work teams for various needs, including fundraising. Board members mentor successors, often from within their own work teams, who can take over the work when a Board term ends.
This means that, if any one person or role changes, the rest of the team is ready and able to step in and support as we move through change together.
Here’s a little review of how we got here, and how the mission moves forward.
The Birth of a New Program
In 2015, a meeting of volunteers started this program. After learning that 2500 children are homeless in our community each year, we knew that something had to change.
One meeting turned into monthly community meetings, a Core Team of volunteers, and the launch of a new organization, Family Promise of Greater Wichita. We divided into work teams, began recruiting faith congregations, and started fundraising. None of us had ever done this before.
With the helpful guidance of the National Family Promise office, the spark ignited by our Founder Carrie Corliss (“We’re not going another winter with kids sleeping in cars”), and the dedication of a huge extended family of volunteers, we opened our doors in October 2016.
We are a Family
This whole network of startup volunteers became like a family, and it’s easy to say still today that Family Promise is one great big extended family across all of Wichita, and with other affiliates across the nation.
The Board of Directors entrusts management of the daily operations to our fabulous and dedicated staff, while the volunteer teams continue fundraising, recruiting of Partner Congregations, developing community relationships, writing grants, and communications. Faith Congregations take the roles of hosts, chefs, drivers, and onsite logistics coordinators.
As in a family, life hasn’t been all easy. There have been systems to set up, stresses over workloads, and dramas to calm down. With a whole lot of volunteers operating a system, there are a whole lot of personalities and occasional conflict management.
This is all growth and helps us move forward though, because no one is here to get their own needs met – we are in this together, for and with guest families, to do whatever helps them succeed and dream their own dreams. This mission unites us.
New Paths and New Adventures
The shifting of Board members and adding new staff means that new eyes and new expertise are coming in. For a while, I wondered “How could we, who birthed this baby organization, fully express its heart and hand it off to new people?” This seems like a scary organizational leap.
But the leaps are already proving successful. Board members who started with us at the beginning have wrapped up their terms, handed off tasks to new members, and the work is still going. The hearts of each person involved are compassionate and caring and committed. New members sign on for the specific reason that they are all-in on our mission, and they have new energy, new ideas, and new momentum to keep looking forward.
This is necessary growth and change. We are proving that everyone has a spot to contribute and that this little gig can WORK – and that it’s not little anymore.
The Mission Remains
The mission remains: to help families with children regain stability and achieve their own goals. The faces and the methods may change, but the heart and the mission will not.
We’re handing batons, but the mission moves forward. Not in spite of, but because of, growth and change. My favorite thing about Family Promise is that everyone can find a place in the mission. And we still have a spot for you too. How would you like to be involved in this new year? We’d love to have you on the team.
Cheers to moving forward in 2021, to help more families move from homeless to hope.
Katy Penner has been a volunteer with Family Promise since our beginning, and she recently handed off the Board Secretary and Communications Team chair role. She is also a Social Entrepreneur and Content Strategist. You can reach her at katy@createalegria.com.
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.
