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Staff writer

Jane Doe is a single mother working two part-time jobs and, at bedtime, shares a couch at a friend’s house with her three-year old daughter.

John Doe works construction but has been laid up with a broken leg. Unable to work, he was unable to pay the mortgage and lost the house to foreclosure. Now, he and his wife and two children make their home in their mini-van.

A faulty wire ignited the shared wall between the John Q. Public family’s attached garage and their single-story home, leaving them without a roof over their heads.  

Yes, the names are generic – Jane and the Johns and the children portrayed here are fictitious characters, but their stories are real, their homeless lives true scenes lived out day after day right here in Anoka County.

The homeless are too-soon overlooked and often under-served but, the fact is, families now make up 40 percent of the homeless population.

In 2008, Family Promise affiliates located throughout the United States served more than 45,000 children and adults across the country and involved more than 125,000 volunteers in 5,000 of the nation’s congregations.

Homelessness in Anoka County was described in a January 2009 study that identified over 1,000 people without permanent housing, 365 of whom were children living with families.

Family Promise of Anoka County aims to help those families regain their housing, reclaim their independence and retain their dignity.

For the past several months, an eclectic collection of Anoka County’s faith-based groups have been meeting, planning and organizing, determined to serve the county’s homeless families.

“This started as a gathering of strangers in March 2009. The vision and leadership has evolved over the past nine months,” said Steve Thomason, vice president of Family Promise of Anoka County.

Family Promise of Anoka County is part of a nationwide, non-denominational organization headquartered in New Jersey.

Family Promise offers an opportunity for volunteers of all faiths to reduce homelessness and transform lives.

Family Promise of Anoka County President Rhonda Steele said, “We plan to open our doors and begin serving (homeless) families in late spring or early summer of 2010. We are currently recruiting host congregations and fund-raising.”

“We’re trying to ensure that enough congregations are involved to ensure a stable, successful program,” said Mike Nelson, who serves as secretary of Family Promise of Anoka County.

“Most important to the success of this program is people of goodwill who are willing to volunteer their time and their skills to help homeless families return to stable home environments.”

“We need openness and commitment. We’re inviting people on a journey,” said Thomason.

Currently, Family Promise of Anoka County counts six local congregations as “host congregations.”

Those congregations are Christ Lutheran Church, Blaine; Faith Lutheran Church, Coon Rapids; Grace Evangelical Free Church, Fridley; Grace Lutheran Church, Andover; Redeemer Lutheran Church, Fridley; and Unity North Church, Coon Rapids.

Two congregations have offered to serve as “support congregations” for Family Promise of Anoka County.

Those congregations are First Congregational Church, Anoka, and Meadow Creek Church, Andover.

There are five key components to the ministry of Family Promise:

Hosts

Hosting is provided by 10 to 13 Family Promise congregations and rotates weekly. As host, each congregation provides lodging, meals and hospitality.

“What you do is create a living room space and bedroom spaces. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy,” Thomason said.

“Remember these people are sleeping in their cars or on couches, so having a warm place with an air mattress is a godsend,” he said.

Thomason reiterated the broad definition of “faith-based.”

“There are no boundaries,” he said. “Mosques, temples, churches...all of these can be used as housing. This is truly inter-faith. Any faith-based group can be part of Family Promise.”

Volunteers

Volunteers are the heart of the program, said Thomason.

Family Promise volunteers can share their time and talents in many ways, usually for just a few hours every three months, he said.

“Your job is simply to be a friend,” Thomason said about the role of the Family Promise volunteers.

“You can eat a meal together, help with homework, watch some TV, read books, play games...really just be a friend.”

Volunteers also stay overnight with the guest families staying in the Family Promise facility.

Day center

Guests use a local day center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., where the director (a professional social worker) provides case-management services. There, guests pursue employment, tend to their preschool children, shower and do laundry.

The day center provides guests with a mailing address and a base for housing and employment searches.

Family Promise of Anoka County is in the process of finding a day center and reports that there is currently a “gentleman’s agreement” to consider one section of the Olive Branch Lutheran Church facility in Coon Rapids as a day center for Family Promise of Anoka County.

Transportation

Transportation to and from the day center is provided for Family Promise guests.

Family Promise of Anoka County is hoping to find a 15-passenger van for this purpose.

Fund-raising

Since Family Promise of Anoka County is self-supporting, it is critical to open and maintain avenues of funding for the program.

It is estimated that $125,000 will be required for start up and operating the first year.

Family Promise of Anoka County uses existing resources as much as possible, but there is still the need to employ a social worker and to fund insurance coverage, utilities, furnishings and a number of other necessary items to make the program a success.

According to familypromise.org, Interfaith Hospitality Networks like Family Promise are currently operating in 39 states and the District of Columbia, in large cities, suburbs and rural counties around the country.  

The Web site reports that this strategy “enables networks to help homeless families achieve sustainable independence at a third of the cost of traditional shelters.”

“Family Promise is just going to scratch the surface of homelessness in Anoka County, but it’s something. It’s a start,” said Thomason.

For more information about Family Promise of Anoka County, visit www.familypromiseofanokacounty.org or call 763-634-1252.

Sue Austreng is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it