Apr 7, 20235 min read

FRIDAY FIVE : OPENING SOON!

This blog provides the top 5 highlights or updates about Family Promise of Waukesha County for Friday, April 7, 2023.

The Friday Five is a weekly blog post/update that focuses on the top five occurrences, issues, opportunities facing Family Promise each week. It is our hope that it will help you stay informed and connected to the mission of Family Promise of Waukesha County.

Our mission is to help low-income families and families experiencing homelessness achieve sustainable independence

through a community-based response.

The stories you can read this week are:

OPENING SOON!
WEEKEND SHELTER SUPERVISOR
NEW FAMILY
FAMILY PROMISE GIVING DAY: A BED TO SLEEP IN
A CALL TO END HOMELESSNESS

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Wishing you hope and new beginnings this Easter Season.

Thank you Waukesha State Bank for providing Easter baskets for families in the shelter and prevention programs.

POLL OF THE WEEK

On a scale of 1-5 how excited are you for the Community Shelter to open?

1. OPENING SOON!

In 2020 Family Promise of Waukesha County suspended the rotational model of shelter due to Covid-19. After three years we are opening the Community Shelter that will engage volunteers in the support of families experiencing homelessness!

This shelter will be in the facility owned by the Housing Action Coalition and used as an additional space to ensure no one is on the street during the winter.

We are so thankful to all of those who are supporting Family Promise as partners, volunteers. Currently we have:

15 Lead Volunteers
28 partner organizations
115 individuals have completed Volunteer Training 102
141 volunteers have completed Volunteer Training 101
167 volunteers have begun Volunteer Training 101

These numbers will continue to increase as more volunteers complete the training process and additional partners sign on.

We are so thankful and excited that our community is once again making a commitment to serve families experiencing homelessness.

Thank You to our Partners:

2. WEEKEND SHELTER SUPERVISORS

We are seeking individuals to serve as shelter supervisors on the first and second shift during the weekends. The Shelter Supervisor should be a person who is:

a leader
client focused
able to diffuse conflict
a compassionate and an active listener
organized
able to maintain clear boundaries and protect confidentiality
willing to hold firm (enforce) on expectations of families and volunteers
problem solver
flexible
reacts quickly
possesses a client first mentality
ethical

Previous experience which would be helpful is experience working in social services, providing trauma informed care, customer service, volunteer management, staff supervision, managing and motivating others, teaching or training,

OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

Community Shelter Food Drive

Help stock the new Community Shelter with individually wrapped food items for breakfast and lunch. We will be receiving these items at the new Community Shelter on Saturday April 22 from 12-2pm. The shelter is located at 1210 Sentry Drive Waukesha WI 53186.

Click on the brochure below to view more details on the event page.

A DIALOGUE OF HOPE

Join us on April 18 as we prepare to open our new Community Shelter Program with a special conversation with Michelle Miller. Michelle is a current member of the Family Promise board of trustees who has lived the experience of homelessness. She will share her story and the transformative impact of Family Promise.

Here is a sample of her story:

POLL OF THE WEEK

ON A SCALE OF 1-5 HOW EXCITED ARE YOU FOR COMMUNITY SHELTER TO OPEN?

5- ECSTATIC
4-FULL OF HAPPINESS
3- THIS IS COOL
2- OK

3. WELCOME, NEW SHELTER FAMILY!

Welcome to our new shelter family! Last week a new mom and her three children, who are 3 years old, 2 years old and a new born, entered the Apartment Shelter Program. Mom will be on maternity leave for a couple of months. She is working with another agency who may be able to help her find Transitional Housing, however the housing market remains chaotic. It is a joy and privilege to support a mom who has a new baby. At the same time it is a sadness that she is having this experience.

4. FAMILY PROMISE GIVING DAY: A BED TO SLEEP IN

No family, no child should ever have to sleep in a car or a tent. They all need a bed to sleep in.

Your financial support is requested on Family Promise Giving Day to be held on April 20. Our focus will be to raise funds for both of our shelter programs. As we have stated before, the Community Shelter will add $180,000 to our budget, so we hope that this day will help make up a portion of those funds.

We continue to engage community partners who are providing challenge gifts to encourage all of us to give generously. One of those partners is Vernon Evangelical Lutheran Church and another is Waterstone Mortgage! More details about our Challenge Grant Partners coming soon and our challenge amount coming soon.

Our theme for the day is A Bed to Sleep In. When asked what was her best day at Family Promise of Waukesha County, Ann responded that it was her first day because she was able to see "my kids sleeping in a bed."

LEARN MORE

5. A CALL TO END HOMELESSNESS

Author Kevin Nye, was the featured speaker at an event titled "The Spirit of Community: A Call to End Homelessness."This seminar was offered by SOPHIA, a faith based organization that works on social justice issues that promote inclusiveness and equity.

You can now hear his presentation on YouTube. One of the issues he talks about is that often we make homelessness too complicated. We look to reasons such as mental health and addiction, but he reminds us that at its heart homelessness is an affordable housing issue. He says, “You can have mental illness. You can be addicted to a substance, and at the end of the month you can still afford rent.”

We encourage you to check out his presentation to reflect more on the issue of homelessness and how we can respond.