One Big Family: How Family Promise Connects Congregations Through a Common Goal
One Big Family: How Family Promise Connects Congregations Through a Common Goal
Family isn’t only in their name; it’s in every aspect of their outreach.
Family Promise North Fulton/DeKalb started small through a local rabbi and a handful of ministers who believed different congregations across the community could create bigger change if they united over a common purpose.
13 years later, Executive Director Andrea Brantley is leading North Fulton & DeKalb’s Family Promise and coordinating with the committed network of congregations with a heart to serve families in need.
“We are a three-pronged approach to homelessness,” Andrea explained. “Obviously, our first prong is to get people to not be homeless. We know once families do become homeless, it is really hard to dig themselves out.”
Family Promise provides funds for local families as they face eviction or are in the process of eviction. As Family Promise helps these families, they are learning more about the causes of homelessness in the community to help other families prevent reaching that point.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Andrea said. “It’s not that people are lazy or they’re drug addicts or they don’t have an education. A lot of times it’s just a certain circumstance that puts a family into homelessness, and it’s beyond their control.”
Whether the reason is health, divorce, an inadequate income, cost of living or one of the many other reasons driving economic instability, Family Promise is working to recognize these situations and lend a helping hand.
For families who are currently experiencing homelessness, Family Promise connects them with congregations willing to provide shelter.
“We have a rotational shelter where we work with congregations of all faiths to provide housing and food for three families at a time,” she explained. “While they’re with the congregations receiving shelter and food, our case managers are working diligently with the families to come up with a case plan so they can hopefully get to self-sufficiency.”
The third prong of Family Promise’s outreach focuses on families who have left the program. Family Promise created this prong to give families they serve confidence that the loving network they met while getting back on their feet would still be available to help if they face financial insecurity again.
“We had a single mom with her four children move out, and she had been on her own for six months,” Andrea shared. “She called us and said, ‘My car died, and I have a car payment. I need a little help because I’ve got to figure out what I need to do so I don’t become homeless again.’”
The Family Promise team invited this mother to their office to provide money for her to make her car payment. Instead of just offering this temporary fix, they also helped her plan ahead.
“We redid her resume, and we helped her find a better-paying job. We also went through a budget, and we saw some ways that she could cut back,” she said. “A lot of times families just need a little hand up.”
Recently, a gift from a partner congregation, St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell, is allowing Family Promise to continue growing in its third outreach area.
“They gifted us a house for the next ten years where we will move two families at a time into transitional living. This will give families a longer opportunity to get a reduced rent on a sliding scale based on their income and a bit more time to work on credit so they can eventually rent with a traditional landlord [or own].”
While Family Promise meets immediate needs, it also connects with families on a deeper emotional and spiritual level. One story in particular emphasizes this truth for Andrea.
She had invited two teenage boys in the program to lunch while their father was working. While there, Andrea’s mother gave her a call.
“I said to her, ‘I’m out to lunch with my family, and I’ll call you when I get off work,’” she shared. “I hung up the phone and one teenage boy looked at me and said, ‘Do you realize what you just said to your mother? You just told your mother that you’re with your family.”
“The fact that he felt like he was part of my family meant a lot to me,” she said. “A lot of single moms and dads that come to us are missing that family unit. A lot of families come to us with generational poverty, and their families are no better off than they are. They don’t really have a lot of people to rely on except our family.”
One of Andrea’s favorite parts about Family Promise is the opportunity to see congregations with different doctrines and traditions recognize community needs and come together to serve.
“With so much strife going on in our world right now, to see that we’ve got all these different religions and beliefs coming together for our community is really cool,” she said.
She’s appreciated meeting and working with these congregations who prioritize prayer, something special to her personally.
“It’s a way to let go of your stress and know that you are not in charge,” she said. “To know that there’s something bigger than us is a really good feeling.
“We all have different viewpoints, but we’re all praising the same God.”
To partner with Family Promise North Fulton/DeKalb, consider donating to their fund.
One Big Family: How Family Promise Connects Congregations Through a Common Goal
One Big Family: How Family Promise Connects Congregations Through a Common Goal
Family isn’t only in their name; it’s in every aspect of their outreach.
Family Promise North Fulton/DeKalb started small through a local rabbi and a handful of ministers who believed different congregations across the community could create bigger change if they united over a common purpose.
13 years later, Executive Director Andrea Brantley is leading North Fulton & DeKalb’s Family Promise and coordinating with the committed network of congregations with a heart to serve families in need.
“We are a three-pronged approach to homelessness,” Andrea explained. “Obviously, our first prong is to get people to not be homeless. We know once families do become homeless, it is really hard to dig themselves out.”
Family Promise provides funds for local families as they face eviction or are in the process of eviction. As Family Promise helps these families, they are learning more about the causes of homelessness in the community to help other families prevent reaching that point.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Andrea said. “It’s not that people are lazy or they’re drug addicts or they don’t have an education. A lot of times it’s just a certain circumstance that puts a family into homelessness, and it’s beyond their control.”
Whether the reason is health, divorce, an inadequate income, cost of living or one of the many other reasons driving economic instability, Family Promise is working to recognize these situations and lend a helping hand.
For families who are currently experiencing homelessness, Family Promise connects them with congregations willing to provide shelter.
“We have a rotational shelter where we work with congregations of all faiths to provide housing and food for three families at a time,” she explained. “While they’re with the congregations receiving shelter and food, our case managers are working diligently with the families to come up with a case plan so they can hopefully get to self-sufficiency.”
The third prong of Family Promise’s outreach focuses on families who have left the program. Family Promise created this prong to give families they serve confidence that the loving network they met while getting back on their feet would still be available to help if they face financial insecurity again.
“We had a single mom with her four children move out, and she had been on her own for six months,” Andrea shared. “She called us and said, ‘My car died, and I have a car payment. I need a little help because I’ve got to figure out what I need to do so I don’t become homeless again.’”
The Family Promise team invited this mother to their office to provide money for her to make her car payment. Instead of just offering this temporary fix, they also helped her plan ahead.
“We redid her resume, and we helped her find a better-paying job. We also went through a budget, and we saw some ways that she could cut back,” she said. “A lot of times families just need a little hand up.”
Recently, a gift from a partner congregation, St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell, is allowing Family Promise to continue growing in its third outreach area.
“They gifted us a house for the next ten years where we will move two families at a time into transitional living. This will give families a longer opportunity to get a reduced rent on a sliding scale based on their income and a bit more time to work on credit so they can eventually rent with a traditional landlord [or own].”
While Family Promise meets immediate needs, it also connects with families on a deeper emotional and spiritual level. One story in particular emphasizes this truth for Andrea.
She had invited two teenage boys in the program to lunch while their father was working. While there, Andrea’s mother gave her a call.
“I said to her, ‘I’m out to lunch with my family, and I’ll call you when I get off work,’” she shared. “I hung up the phone and one teenage boy looked at me and said, ‘Do you realize what you just said to your mother? You just told your mother that you’re with your family.”
“The fact that he felt like he was part of my family meant a lot to me,” she said. “A lot of single moms and dads that come to us are missing that family unit. A lot of families come to us with generational poverty, and their families are no better off than they are. They don’t really have a lot of people to rely on except our family.”
One of Andrea’s favorite parts about Family Promise is the opportunity to see congregations with different doctrines and traditions recognize community needs and come together to serve.
“With so much strife going on in our world right now, to see that we’ve got all these different religions and beliefs coming together for our community is really cool,” she said.
She’s appreciated meeting and working with these congregations who prioritize prayer, something special to her personally.
“It’s a way to let go of your stress and know that you are not in charge,” she said. “To know that there’s something bigger than us is a really good feeling.
“We all have different viewpoints, but we’re all praising the same God.”
To partner with Family Promise North Fulton/DeKalb, consider donating to their fund.
