Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Celebrate with us…Two Years of Promises kept!

2nd Annual Luncheon & Silent Auction 
When: 
Saturday, February 25th, 2012 
11:00am - 2:00pm
 
Where: 
Westminster Presbyterian Church
1502 W. 13th St.
Wilmington, DE 19806

Tickets are $20 and you can get them in a few ways: 
- visit our website, www.familypromisede.org
- or mail a check to 2104 St. James Church Road Wilmington, DE 19808

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

November & December Donations Appreciation

Thanks to all of the individuals and organizations that donated to Family Promise in November & December - you are making a difference for homeless children and families in Northern New Castle County!  Here is a list of the organizations that contributed:

Artisans' Bank
DuPont
Fidelity
Hockessin United Methodist Church
Limestone Presbyterian Church
Marshallton United Methodist Church
Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
St. Philip's Lutheran Church
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Trinity Community Church
White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Open House & Opus One

Meet the New Executive Director

You're invited to a Holiday Open House to meet Carolyn Gordon, our new Executive Director.  If you haven't been to the Family Promise Center before you can also take a tour.  Punch and cookies will be provided!  Please come welcome Carolyn to the family!

WHEN: Sunday, December 11, 2011 from 5:00pm to 6:30pm
WHERE:  The Family Promise Center - 2104 St. James Church Road, Wilmington

Opus One Concert

After the Open House, consider attending the Opus One concert at St. James Episcopal Church - right next door to the Family Promise Center!  It's recommended that you purchase tickets in advance.  A portion of the ticket sales will benefit Family Promise.  Thank you, St. James!  Here are all the details!



A Musical Christmas Story

“Sing Joy,”  a musical rendition of the Christmas story using contemporary music selections, will be presented on Sunday, December 18, at 7:00pm at White Clay Creek Church, 15 Polly Drummond Hill Road, Newark.   The program is free and open to all.  A love offering will be taken for Family Promise, a local ministry to homeless families.  Handicapped accessible.  Contact the Church Office at (302) 737-2100 with questions.

New Congregation!

We welcome Skyline United Methodist Church to the Family Promise network!  In the words of congregational coordinator Vicki Gordon-Stith:

 "Skyline takes great joy in joining the Family Promise team! As a congregation, we emphasize Radical Hospitality and Vital Spirituality and hosting families in our facilities allows us to live that radical hospitality in a way that we trust will nurture us spiritually. We look forward to learning the process and growing in faith through this life-giving mission."

Friday, November 11, 2011

New Executive Director For Family Promise!

Carolyn Gordon has joined Family Promise as our new Executive Director! She comes to us with tremendous experience, capability and enthusiasm for our mission.  Carolyn can be reached by calling the FP center or email:  carolyn.gordon@familypromisede.org.

Please feel free to stop by the FP Center during working hours to say hello. She also will be reaching out to meet others in the community and the wonderful volunteers in our congregations.

We also would like to thank Merrie Bailey who has served as interim ED for much of 2011. She has provided tremendous contribution to FP during this period, with particular strides in increasing the successful housing & job placement of our families. Thank you Merrie!

Carolyn Gordon Bio:

Carolyn Gordon is bringing to Family Promise over eight years of experience working in the non-profit sector. She has held a variety of roles including manager of a regional crisis hotline, direct care for adults with developmental disabilities, and case manager for at-risk youth. She has a MSW and an undergraduate degree in Psychology.

For the past four years she has created and managed Social Enterprise programming. Social Enterprises are small businesses that have a double bottom line: to hit earned revenue benchmarks while having a social mission. Her particular enterprise experience involved managing a retail and online bookstore, farmers market and a café that all served as job training for at-risk young adults. As a result, not only did she generate positive outcomes and receive political and media attention, she prides herself in making a mean latte and has an extensive personal library!

Under her leadership, youth served doubled and over 80% of the clients transitioned on successfully to full time employment and/or education endeavors. Additionally, funding was secured for the next four years and earned revenue increased each month. The outstanding outcomes she witnessed were due, in part, to supervising a tremendous group of volunteers and garnering resources from local congregations, businesses and schools.

She is very excited to bring her program development and evaluation expertise, case management experience and enthusiasm to Family Promise. She looks forward to helping the families of Family Promise achieve self-sufficiency.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

September & October Donations Appreciation

Thanks to all of the individuals and organizations that donated to Family Promise in September & October - you are making a difference for homeless children and families in Northern New Castle County!  Here is a list of the organizations that contributed:

Grace Lutheran Church
Hockessin United Methodist Church
Limestone Presbyterian Church
Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
St. John the Beloved Catholic Church
St. Philip's Lutheran Church
Trinity Community Church
White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church

Thank you Reybold Self Storage!

"Family Promise has acquired some storage space through the generosity of Reybold Self Storage of Newark!  So if you are looking to donate some furniture that is in good to great shape, we now have the ability to store it until the next families graduate. So feel free to contact the Day Center at 998-2222 if you'd like to donate any furniture items. Please take a picture of the items and email  to us at info@familypromisede.org."  We still need all the help we can get transporting items to the storage unit."

Community Thanksgiving Service - Wednesday Nov 23rd, 7:30pm

Join us for a
Community Thanksgiving Service
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
at White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church
15 Polly Drummond Hill Road, Newark
Rev. Steven Brundage (First Presbyterian) will preach from
Deuteronomy 26:1-11, sermon title “Family Stories”
Two offerings will be received:
Non-perishable food donations to benefit Delaware Food Bank
Monetary donations to benefit Family Promise
Participating churches:
Church of the Resurrection
Ebenezer Methodist Church
First Presbyterian Church, Newark
White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

FLYER

Friday, October 7, 2011

Box City 2011 A Great Success!

Thank you to everyone that supported Box City 2011! $9000 was raised for Family Promise in the first year of this event. Eighty-six participants attended from 14 organizations (plus 36 volunteers) and many slept outside, despite the rain. People of all ages and faiths joined together to help homeless families. We think the event was a great success and thank Hockessin United Methodist Church for use of their facility!

The program consisted of:
• Comments by Senator Chris Coons, Representative John Carney, and Secretary of Health Social Services Rita Landgraf. They talked about the importance of what Family Promise does. NCC Council President Tom Kovach attended as well.
• Entertainment provided by Ray Seemans and Ross Troy, Kiki Marshall, and Lori Citro. Kiki is in 9th grade and attends Presbyterian Church of the Covenant; her peers were dancing the whole time she was singing!
• The youth of Grace Lutheran leading a worship service with a candle lighting ceremony and everyone saying their version of the Lord’s Prayer together.
• Awards given for the box decorating contest and the group that raised the most money. Congrats to Hockessin United Methodist for raising the most money! The individuals that raised the most money were Jon and Nicole Coady of White Clay Creek Presbyterian. They were named the Mayors of Box City!

By 11:00pm the rain had stopped and although our boxes and bedding were a little soggy, we braved the night. When we told Claas Ehlers of Family Promise national about our weather he said that inclement weather is the best way to experience a Box City! Although most Family Promise clients haven’t slept outside in a box, many have slept in their car or the floor at the houses of friends and family. It goes without saying that we are all more thankful for our warm, dry, quiet homes and soft beds. We hope you’ll join us next year to bond with others in God’s family and “Give up your bed… to change a child’s life.”