Graphic by Michaela Durner

By Peter Romano

It’s no secret that not everyone in the world has a safe and secure place to call home.

Some walk by a homeless person downtown feeling sorry for them and maybe drop a dollar or two in their cardboard box. However, a program called Family Promise is taking action to make a real difference in homeless families’ lives.

“It’s an organization that gets families back on their feet,” senior and volunteer at Family Promise Haley Ryan said.

Family Promise’s mission statement reads, “Our mission is to transform the lives of homeless children and their families by providing safe shelter, food, counseling, and training in partnership with local communities of faith through hospitality and daily living support in a compassionate setting.  The program is designed to address the needs of families and equip them to move into permanent housing as quickly as possible.”

Family Promise is a national organization that has established 174 affiliates across 41 states. The program works through churches around the country, and utilizes the services of more than 15,000 volunteers and 5,500 churches.

“It’s a really great environment, and I’ve been there multiple times,” Ryan said. “I love hanging out with all the kids there.”

The families the program takes in spend the day at the Day House where the volunteers look after the children.

“During the day, they can have computers, get laundry and store their stuff,” freshman and volunteer Abbie Treff said.

This way, parents have the day to go to work or school. At night, the families stay in one of the churches where the volunteers make dinner.

“Eventually, they’ll go into transitional housing where they will have part of their rent cut out while they are still getting up on their feet,” Treff said.

Aside from spending time with kids and making dinner, volunteers like Ryan and Treff help out by doing odd jobs around the Day Houses and churches.

“I usually just go there and be like, ‘Well what do you need me to do today?’ ” senior and volunteer Sarah Stringer said.

To these three girls, working at Family Promise is more than just a volunteer job. Looking after the kids and getting close with the families has made a big impact on their lives.

“Everybody has this image of the stereotypical homeless person, and it’s not true,” Stringer said. “You think of maybe, the guy sitting on a corner has all these like ratty clothes. These people aren’t like that. They actually have heart and there’s a story behind their face. There’s a story behind who they are.”

Ryan was very aware of how hard these families have it. She is thankful to have had the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

“It’s very humbling,” Ryan said. “It makes me really appreciate what I have and greater appreciate the way that I have grown up and my relationship with my parents too because in the program you see a lot of tense relationships.”

Stringer became particularly close with one of the girls she looked after.

“Over the summer, I hung out with a girl,” Stringer said. “She was so happy that somebody actually cared about her, wanted to spend time with her, get to know her and do things with her.”

Though Stringer’s time with this girl has come to end, she hopes to stay in contact with her and see her again someday. Even if she doesn’t, making such an impact on the girls’ life was enough.

“To see her just light up and glow when we hung out together,” Stringer said. “It was something else.”