Commentary by Cindy Benedict
Schools, trustees and human service groups are all noticing a trend here – increased homelessness. Usually a cocktail of unemployment/under employment—with bad choices—and a sudden crisis bring on homelessness. In the last 10 months, trustees report 68 families without homes representing 147 people, and 42 percent of them are children.
However, our faith community is partnering with Family Promise to bring a well-tested, national model to Hamilton County. The program is called Interfaith Hospitality Network and it serves homeless families. The concept is simple – 13 churches agree to host three to four families for one week, four times a year. The rhythm is that families leave every morning to go to the day center run by Family Promise. School buses arrive, parents receive counseling, and working parents head off to jobs. In the evening, they return to the church for dinner, fellowship, and homework. Families each sleep in their own room (usually a Sunday school room tidied up to handle cots).
Family Promise director, Jim McElhinney, recently hosted two well-attended informational sessions. Churches can help IHN in one of three ways – be a host site, partner with a host site, and/or provide funds to run the program. The program will start here as soon as 13 churches sign on.
McElhinney and Family Promise have been running IHN for several years in Marion County and are seasoned pros. I had the pleasure of spending an evening at a church and it was a wonder to behold. The volunteers were absolutely in love with the program, and the families were grateful for the dignity and love shown to them. This night we celebrated a single mom who had found housing and it was her last night.
This hospitality surely makes people feel good, but it is so much richer than that. It makes a critical difference in a family’s life, when they need it the most.
To learn more, call McElhinney at 261-1562 or go http://www.familypromiseindyihn.org
Cindy Benedict is the community engagement manager for the City of Noblesville. She may be reached at 770-2007 or [email protected]
