Four times a year, one week each season, St. Paul’s opens the parish building doors and our hearts to 1 to 3 homeless families. We turn our classrooms into living spaces and Ordway Hall into a dining room. Staffing through volunteers we shelter, feed and offer these families a safe place in the evenings and nights that is warm and welcoming.
Every family is thoroughly vetted by the Family Promise program; no one is accepted to the program with drug or alcohol issues.
Parishioners taking part in this ministry can sign up for one or more of the following welcoming opportunities listed below. We encourage you to consider doing both the dinner and the overnight. It's so satisfying to get to know the families and provide them with the continuity of the same people for dinner and overnight.
1) Provide fixings for breakfasts and bag lunches.
2) Prepare and serve the evening meal (5:00-7:00 pm). The families are expected to clear up after eating.
3) Spend the night in dedicated spaces in the building in case a family needs assistance. There are comfortable beds provided! Two volunteers are needed (and there are two rooms available for those who prefer their own sleeping space). If you haven’t also provided dinner, you show up at 7:00 PM, and go to bed when you wish. The families have had their meal by then, and are tired and settled into their rooms. In the morning the families help themselves to breakfast items and make their own lunches. You leave at 7:30 after they have all left for the day.
4) Set up the living accommodations on Sunday and take them down again the following Sunday. The air beds need to be inflated (there are pumps provided) and made up with linens and blankets. The families bring their own pillows. The rooms should be tidied up and arranged to make the families feel welcome and comfortable.
Family Promise of Greater Concord brings people in need together with people who want to help. They provide the framework that turns compassion into action to help the homeless and low-income families in our area achieve sustainable independence. For more information about Family Promise of Greater Concord, please visit their website.