Family Promise

(Formerly Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens)

First Presbyterian Church is a founding host congregation of Family Promise (Formerly IHNA). The network, consisting of 12 host congregations and a number of support congregations, provides “immediate shelter and guidance to homeless families with children, due to the impact of misfortunes upon their lives. Family Promise provides food, shelter, daycare, and transportation as needed. They help to create structure out of chaos by creating a goal-oriented plan so that those desperately in need can focus beyond daily survival, to a life of stability” (Quotation from Family Promise web site).

Thanks to Carrie Campbell and Patricia Lee, who are MPA students in Dr. Becky Nesbit’s class at UGA, Family Promise has a new video that will help share the work that Family Promise does with potential guests, volunteers, and funders.

Click the button below for the Family Promise (formerly IHNA) SignUp Genius page, to volunteer:

Family Promise (Formerly IHNA) Host Weeks

Four or five times a year, our church hosts from one to three homeless families in The Pit for a week. We turn Sunday School classrooms into bedrooms, serve breakfast and dinner, stay in the building overnight with our guests, and provide transportation in Family Promise’s van. Congregation Children Israel is our supporting partner and helps provide volunteers during our host weeks.

Host Week Jobs

There are more than 70 individual jobs to be done during an Family Promise Host Week. Some people take on more than one job, such as driving the van several days, so we end up with about 45 to 50 people working as volunteers during the week.

There’s a description of what the various jobs entail here. Required training is available online here.

To volunteer for any of these positions click here for the SignUp Genius page.

Family Promise  (Formerly IHNA) Partners

For more information about Family Promise partner organizations, please click here.

Contact Susan Boatwright or Jean Bock for questions or to volunteer.