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Efforts to start a local Family Promise program are continuing as volunteers work toward an Aug. 1 target date to begin serving homeless families.

“We’re progressing along, getting churches into our network to serve as host churches, and (we’re looking at) two prominent sites for the day center,” said Ann Drake, chair of the Day Center committee.

Local churches to network together to provide overnight accommodations and meals for homeless families on a rotating basis. There is a shelter in Blount County that serves men and women separately, but there is no place that takes families as a whole.

The six churches who have agreed to participate are Fairview United Methodist Church, Monte Vista Baptist Church, Maryville First Baptist Church, Maryville First United Methodist Church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, St. John’s United Methodist Church and Sycamore Tree United Methodist Church.

The effort began in October 2007 with an informational meeting that drew representatives from 16 area churches.

It will take about $100,000 to set up the Family Promise program in Blount County. If 13 churches participate, each church would host from three to five families for a week each quarter. Budgets for each church would be between $200 and $250 each week.
The day center would give families in the program a home base during the day.

“We have an area in town and an area in the county we’re looking at,” Drake said. “We’re progressing along. We have started putting word out in church bulletins about the type of site we’re for. We had a couple leads, and we have been looking at those sites and determining based on location and square footage what would best serve our needs.”

The day center serves an important purpose, Drake said. “It is not like a day care center,” she said. “It is not a place to watch kids or adults. It provides them an address when they go out and look for a job, it provides a point of contact ... it provides them a springboard during the day. It provides a place to work on their resumes, work on their interviewing skills, work on their parenting skills. They are actively out looking to resolve their situation. They are out looking for a job, They are out looking for permanent housing. This is the place that serves as a springboard to get them upon their feet and out and securely functioning.”

Drake has a personal motivation to volunteer.

“The reason I’m involved is there is a child who is an acquaintance through school of my children,” Drake said. “His family has actually been served by the Family Promise network in Knoxville. Every time I see his face, every time I think of him, I think of the need. It’s real and it exists in Blount County.”