File - Family Promise of North Fulton/DeKalb

Affordable Housing Out of Reach for
Minimum Wage Earners
According to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, in Georgia, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two
-bedroom apartment is $817 monthly. In order to afford
this level of rent and utilities — without paying more
than 30% of income on housing — a household must
earn $2,723 monthly or $32,675 annually. Assuming an
individual works a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per
year, this level of income translates into an hourly wage
of $15.71 per hour. A family earning minimum wage
would have to work about 87 hours per week to afford a
two bedroom apartment at fair market rent rate. This is
why one of the leading causes of homelessness is a lack
of affordable housing options.
June 14- Alpharetta Presbyterian Church
June 21- St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church
June 28- Northminster Presbyterian Church
July 5- Kingswood United Methodist Church
July 12- Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church
July 19- Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church
Acts of Giving
We are so grateful to the 7th grade students at The Epstein School!! They participated in a program called
Nediv Lev, "Gift from the Heart". As a part of the process, they researched our organization and created a
class presentation about the work that we do and they
donated $1,740.00 to our program. Thank you for helping us to make difference in the lives of homeless children and their families!
Huntley Hills Elementary School
We are so thankful to receive donations from
Huntley Hills Elementary School in Chamblee!!
Dr. Marlane Speed, who is an Interrelated
Teacher at the school and Mr. Harvey Beasley,
who is a Paraprofessional at the school are the
faculty directors of two student groups at the
school, Boys to Men and Young Ladies of Distinction. These young students put together one
hundred toiletries packets for our Family Promise families to have!! We are so appreciative of
their generosity and hard work in putting together these packets and we know that our families will benefit from using them while they are
in our program. Thank you all for helping to
make a difference!! Pictured at right are
Dr. Speed and Mr. Beasley.
We would like to thank the
Cowart Family/AshfordDunwoody YMCA who have
welcomed FPNFD children to
camp this summer! The Y also supports our
organization throughout the year during
school holidays by opening the facility and
welcoming our guests. The children enjoy
spending time in the pool and the other activities provided.
Family Promise gladly accepts donations for
assistance with camp and holiday activities.
AUTO REPAIRS
We are always in
need of assistance
with auto repairs
for the families in
our program who
have cars. If you
know of anyone
who repairs automobiles and is
willing to give our families a reasonable rate, please let us know.
Also, many thanks to Steve Rajabi of
Alpharetta Auto who has assisted us
with prompt repairs to the FP van and
box truck to keep the program moving!
Make sure to “like” us and visit us often for updates and
news. Search on Facebook for “Family Promise of
North Fulton/DeKalb” and become even better
friends with us today!
Yippee! Celebrating 1 and 3!
Two of our guests celebrated their First & Third birthdays recently! We would like to say thanks
to the coordinators and volunteers at Roswell United Methodist Church and Dunwoody United
Methodist Church for making their days special! We would also like to thank Priscilla Brown of
Prissy's Cakes for her creations of the birthday cakes! Priscilla can be reached at Prissy’s Cakes
at www.prissycakes.com or at 678-608-7281. Hire her for your next event!
Edna is a single mother of 5 children ages 3 to 14. She came
into our program because she and her children didn’t have
anywhere to go. She had recently moved to Atlanta from Iowa
and became homeless due to an inability to find employment
adequate enough to care for her family. While in the program
for only a month, she was able to find a job and secure stable
housing! She said that she “would have never gotten this far this
fast without the assistance that Family Promise provided”. She
also said that Family Promise is “a great program for people
willing to do the required work”. She added that she benefitted
greatly from the wonderful resources that Family Promise North
Fulton/DeKalb provided to her to help her get back on her feet
like case management, job coaching, financial assistance and
housing assistance. She said that it was a daunting experience to
move to a new city with her children not knowing exactly where
to turn for help and that FP was a blessing to her family! She is
very happy in her new home and the children now have a yard to
play in. Since leaving our program, Edna has secured another
job with an increased salary in the last month and she reports
that her children are excelling in school. We are very proud of
Edna, and we are so happy that she and her children are doing so
well!
MEET OUR INTERN!
Miguel Montoya has recently joined Family Promise as an
Intern. Miguel is originally from Coahuila, Mexico. He is
currently a Senior at Oglethorpe University where he
majors in Sociology with a Social Work concentration and
he minors in French. This is his first college internship and
he has previously worked for the Center for Civic
Engagement at Oglethorpe University where he helped
plan community service projects for other students. He is
excited to learn as much as possible from the opportunity
given to him by Family Promise of North Fulton/DeKalb.
MEET OUR OFFICE ANGELS!
We would like to thank our wonderful office
angels Mary Guerrant and Marylyn Brown.
Office Angels are volunteers who help us with
answering phones, creating documents,
completing special projects or just providing
coverage for the Day Cay center. If you would
like to be one of our office angels, please call us
today at 770-609-5407.
Our Board of Directors
Rabbi Bradley Levenberg, Immediate Past President
Pam Anderson, President
Gretchen Keyser, Vice President
Jenny Carter, Treasurer
Jeff Willard, Human Resources Committee
Steven Blaske, Fundraising Committee
Reverend Joe B. Martin, Host Committee
Reverend Brian Dale, Host Committee
Gerald Aldridge, Host Committee
Reverend Nancy Lane, Board Member
Penina Richards, Board Member
Judy Davis, Board Member
Donnaire Murray, Board Member
Easter Treats
Some of our guests enjoyed celebrating Easter this year
and there was even an appearance by the Easter Bunny!
See their adorable photos here!
Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at Buca diBeppo
We recently celebrated our volunteers and coordinators with an appreciation dinner at
Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant in Alpharetta. We would like to extend our warmest
thanks to all of our volunteers for all of their contributions. We realize how much time
and energy this demands and we deeply appreciate all of your efforts to help make this
program a success! Thanks to Buca di Beppo for the wonderful dinner arrangements for
our volunteers, and our FP guest’s children who decorated the table favors for each diner!
Our Host Congregations
The resources are already there. In the community there are congregations that can provide
space in their buildings to serve as temporary homes. Day centers, where families can take
showers, receive case management and look for housing and jobs, can be located at a house of
worship or agency. There are multiple options for transportation to get families from the host
congregations to the Day Center and back. With volunteers giving their time, making meals,
and sharing hospitality family homelessness is addressed without the creation of expensive
shelters. Across the country, people have realized that this innovative approach truly makes a
difference for families experiencing homelessness—and more than 160,000 volunteers.
These volunteers are the core of the program. They share food, spend the night, play with children and lend their passion and expertise to help families get back on their feet. They prove that
motivated people can solve family homelessness…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alpharetta Presbyterian Church
Temple Beth Tikvah
Congregation B’Nai Torah
Dunwoody United Methodist
Church
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church
Kingswood UMC
Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church
Northminster Presbyterian Church
Roswell United Methodist Church
Roswell Presbyterian Church
St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church
St. Luke's Presbyterian Church
Sandy Springs Christian Church
Temple Sinai
If you know of a congregation of any faith or denomination in North Fulton/
DeKalb who may be a good fit for Family Promise program, please let one of
our Host Committee members (Reverend Joe B. Martin, Reverend Brian Dale,
Gerald Aldridge) or our Executive Director, Felicia Hardy, know. We are
always looking to expand our program and grow our services.