Over 20 years ago, I first began volunteering through my church to cook a meal for Family Promise of Bergen (formerly called Inter-Religious Fellowship for the Homeless). We usually prepped, cooked and served dinner to about four to six families who were sheltering at St. Cecilia’s in Englewood. It was a humbling and motivating experience to know we were helping a few working mothers & fathers who could not make ends meet. Fast forward to today and the work of Family Promise has grown impressively, responding to growing needs of working homeless families in Bergen County who have been challenged even more by the impact of COVID and food inflation.
The organization now serves about 125 families experiencing housing insecurity by finding them temporary shelter, and counseling them on government programs that can help them manage money and get a better job. Success stories bring many smiles. The organization is currently feeding dinner to over 200 people every day of the year in Hackensack. For years I’ve been volunteering, and recently was proud to join the board. I can’t think of a more deserving charity for your support!
Review from Guidestar
This program has grown to realize the needs to be met include both food and shelter but also education in independent living. Successfully beating homelessness long term means helping the families stay together with positive self image for all, stronger job prospects and counseling. These staff and volunteers know that homelessness could affect any of us. Sbb
I have been a volunteer for this charity for 15 years. We help homeless families stay together. Everyone is working and substance-abuse free. It is set up with very low overhead, and the daily programs are run by volunteers with just enough of a staff to hold everything together. It is a real person-to-person connection, where you can directly help people in your own community pull themselves up by their bootstraps. It is hard not to have your heart melt when you see how infants and children are caught in such a situation. The other volunteers I have met and the staff are just outstanding can-do people who are flexible and helpful. The emphasis is on providing enough help to get people permanently out of danger of being homeless.
I have had the honor of working with Family Promise for many years. Over time my involvement grew and I had the pleasure of watching my sons get involved. Family Promise helps keep homeless working families together and in their home communities while they work to get back on their feet and into their own housing. The guests are literally our neighbors. They attend the same schools as our ownchildren and deserve our support. This program works. This is an organization worthy of our support and personal involvement.
28 years ago I heard about this organization and decided to help. Since then, I ran a shelter for homeless families for 22 years and when that closed, I moved on to office work. This organization has sheltered more than 500 families in those years, has moved most of them into independent living with the assistance of a very small staff and a tiny budget. Volunteers have staffed the shelters, handled the office work and demonstrated the power of goodness and generosity of the "haves" toward their less fortunate brothers and sisters! As an example of that, several ex-clients have returned to serve the poor who followed them into the program!
I retired from the corporate world in 1985 and for some 10-11 years thereafter I was involved with an
organization that sponsored seminars for business executives. Then strictly by chance, I had my first contact with Family Promise when I volunteered to help out a local church who was then sheltering homelessindividuals. From that early experience I have become a more active volunteer and am now involved in many of their other activities, a Walk-In Dinner program they sponsor yearround and another sheltering program for working families with children. At various other times I have also served on many of the FPB committees including marketing and fund raising.
All in all, I describe my work (20-30 hours per average week) with this organization as THE BEST JOB I HAVE EVER HAD. What it pays in personal satisfaction to me, is far greater than any paycheck I ever received in my working career.
I have been supporting Family Promise of Bergen County for many years and am honored to be able to endorse their activities. The neediest among us are their constituents - either feeding homeless individuals at the county shelter, sheltering homeless families temporarily down on their luck, helping them get back on their feet with professional family case managers or giving homeless children two weeks of fun in the late summer sun. We often forget how lucky we are - until we see ourselves in the faces of these families.