Family Promise – Interfaith Housing Alliance

Interfaith – The 30 Day Challenge!

Calendars for sign-ups are available again through an on-line calendar. Here is the information for that calendar:

Volunteers can log in to:

Carecalendar.org to sign up to bring a meal
Calendar ID: 284299
Security Code: 7124

Charitable organizations like Inter-Faith continue to struggle to meet community needs due to the lingering effects of the coronavirus. There are currently over 150 homeless families with children in eastern Montgomery County.

This begins our 29th year of participating in the Family Promise mission. In 2020 due to the pandemic, we reimagined the workings of the mission but continued to assist the families for actually 2 months. Nancy Bennett and I have referred to September as the 30-day challenge in the past and now we have the “New 30 Day Challenge!”

In the past, during the month of September, JUMC has become the home for up to three homeless families from our community. This year we will offer the choice to the dinner volunteers to either drop off meals or eat with the families. There continue to be less churches in our network that have the necessary amenities to house the families, where we have a separate structure – the Ark. We are blessed that we have the facility to do this.

This year we will have up to 3 families that will stay at the ARK. We will not need overnight volunteers for the month, but see below for other volunteer opportunities. As we get closer I will share the make-up of the families.

During the month of September we will need volunteers to:

  • make dinners and drop them off in the coolers outside of the Ark, marked : Family #1, Family #2, etc to keep the food separated; or bring the meal and eat with the families.
  • transportation, if needed; and
  • donations of gift cards to local food stores or restaurants.

Last year there were some volunteers who also added notes of encouragement to the families (which were greatly appreciated) and small toys, books or other items for the kids.

Family Promise’s mission is to help homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence through a community faith-based response. Please help us once again make this a success and share your thoughts and love with those that are less fortunate than us. Remember you may be the only person in their lives that has shown them that someone cares!

And lastly but most importantly – I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. As many of you know this is a special way to reach out to the community, help a family in need, and pass on the love of Jesus! For any questions, please email the church office jarrettownumcoffice@gmail.com

Thank you for caring and making a difference!