Click on this convenient link to sign up for the next upcoming family promise event: https://signup.com/go/wJfOygz
Family Promise, formerly known as Interfaith Hospitality Network, is a national organization that reaches out to homeless families and, working through churches and other faith-based organizations, provides temporary shelter, food and fellowship. Sparta United Methodist Church is proud to be one of 40 some churches in Sussex County and thousands of churches nationwide that participates in this important mission.
Family Promise is a non-profit organization that gets most of its funding from private donations and local fundraisers. Without congregations like ours – people willing to live out the Gospel and take in the homeless in our midst – Family Promise could not survive.
Twice a year, participating churches are scheduled to host homeless families, or guests as we refer to them, in their church buildings, providing meals and offering our hand in friendship. On weekdays, children attend school and parents travel to the central Family Promise office in their county or region for help with job searches, HUD benefit applications, and counseling. The families are transported back to the church at dinnertime, where volunteers are waiting with a home-cooked meal. Volunteers from the church then spend time with the families and sleep overnight until they leave the morning. A typical schedule for a weekday looks like this:
– 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Provide and serve dinner
– 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Visit with guests
– 9:00 pm to 7:00 am Stay overnight
Each shift requires two volunteers, and of course weekend days require more volunteers because guest families stay at the church all day.
Volunteering your time for this important mission is a deeply rewarding experience. This is real time, real world Christian outreach at its best. Come join us. Live out the Gospel 2 hour shifts at a time. The life you touch could be your own.
Please feel free to contact the Family Promise /IHN coordinator at SUMC:
Mike Vrabel: (973) 600-2960