Welcome to Family Promise of Athens (formerly Interfaith Hospitality Network)
Family Promise of Athens, Inc. (formerly the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens, Inc.) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide immediate shelter and guidance to families with children who are experiencing the crisis of homelessness. Once accepted into our program, FPA provides food, shelter, daycare, transportation, case management, and other resources each family may need. FPA helps to create structure out of chaos by implementing a goal-oriented plan so that those desperately in need can focus beyond daily survival to achieve a life of sustainable independence. We provide shelter through a coalition of congregations through our Interfaith Hospitality Network. Congregational facilities are transformed into comfortable living spaces for up to three families at a time. The Host Congregations provide volunteers to assist with meal preparation, staffing the family room, providing hospitality in the evenings, driving the FPA van to transport our guest families, and even spending the night. FPA is part of the national Family Promise network that includes more than 200 Affiliates in 43 states, and has served over a half million guests since its inception in the 1980's. Family Promise of Athens was born in 2004 as the 100th Affiliate.
Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens has become Family Promise of Athens |
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We are excited to let you know that Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens has changed its name to Family Promise of Athens. Yes, after fifteen years in Athens our name has changed, but our mission remains the same: mobilizing the Athens community to help families without homes to become self-sufficient.
With tremendous transition and program expansion over the past year, the time was right to embrace the more recognizable Family Promise name, shared with the national office and many of their affiliates across the country. We remain committed to our interfaith alliances and practice of hospitality—the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), our original program uniting diverse faith organizations, volunteers and social services to provide shelter and food, will remain Family Promise of Athens’s core program.
Family Promise of Athens’s program expansion includes a new Day Center, new staff, and intensified case management. New programs have also been developed that provide additional help for families experiencing homelessness to achieve their goal of sustainable independence. These programs include an expanded Extended Network and Transitional Housing.
Since opening our doors in 2004, we have served over 660 individuals, including 198 families with 412 children. Our organization has moved the majority of our families into permanent housing or temporary accommodations with a 75% success rate.
We look forward to continuing and strengthening our relationship with you. In the meantime, we will continue to make a difference—one family at a time.
Bare with us as we adopt the new name. We are in the process of creating a new website which will be ready later this fall and will continue to use this website until that time.
With tremendous transition and program expansion over the past year, the time was right to embrace the more recognizable Family Promise name, shared with the national office and many of their affiliates across the country. We remain committed to our interfaith alliances and practice of hospitality—the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), our original program uniting diverse faith organizations, volunteers and social services to provide shelter and food, will remain Family Promise of Athens’s core program.
Family Promise of Athens’s program expansion includes a new Day Center, new staff, and intensified case management. New programs have also been developed that provide additional help for families experiencing homelessness to achieve their goal of sustainable independence. These programs include an expanded Extended Network and Transitional Housing.
Since opening our doors in 2004, we have served over 660 individuals, including 198 families with 412 children. Our organization has moved the majority of our families into permanent housing or temporary accommodations with a 75% success rate.
We look forward to continuing and strengthening our relationship with you. In the meantime, we will continue to make a difference—one family at a time.
Bare with us as we adopt the new name. We are in the process of creating a new website which will be ready later this fall and will continue to use this website until that time.
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Meet FPA's new Service DirectorWe are excited to announce that Blayne McDonald will be joining our staff (on June 3rd) as our new Service Director/Case Manager! Blayne is originally from Brunswick, Georgia but has lived in Athens on and off for over 6 years. She is a "Double Dawg," having completed two degrees from UGA - a psychology degree in 2015 and a Master’s in Social Work in May, 2019. She has several years of experience in the nonprofit sector and most of her research has been focused on poverty, women, social justice, and policy. In her spare time she enjoys fishing, hiking, kayaking, and walking around downtown Athens. She is excited to join the IHNA team and looks forward to working in the Athens community.
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Read IHNA's 2018 Annual Report to find out about our recent successes!
Check out our new video which gives a brief overview of our work
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Thanks to some of the member of the 2019 LEAD Athens class, IHNA has a new video. We are grateful for their help in getting the mission and vision of our organization out into the Athens community.
Watch the video here:https://youtu.be/fOC6UgNhbm4 |
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Want to volunteer with FPA? Check out our next training opportunities...
IHNA will be offering monthly training and orientation opportunities in 2019.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with FPA or if you want to sharpen your volunteer skills, please join us for training on these days:
October 3, 12:30 - 1:30 pm
November 7, 5:30 - 6:30 pm
December 5, 12:30 - 1:30 pm
Training sessions will be held at the FPA Day Center which is located in Athens First Baptist Church (355 Pulaski Street, Athens, GA 30601)
Contact Nathan Byrd at: assist.ihnathens@gmail.com if you have any questions.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with FPA or if you want to sharpen your volunteer skills, please join us for training on these days:
October 3, 12:30 - 1:30 pm
November 7, 5:30 - 6:30 pm
December 5, 12:30 - 1:30 pm
Training sessions will be held at the FPA Day Center which is located in Athens First Baptist Church (355 Pulaski Street, Athens, GA 30601)
Contact Nathan Byrd at: assist.ihnathens@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Family Promise of Athens / IHNA has moved!FPA has moved its operation across the street to First Baptist Church . Click HERE to read more about it.
We are excited about this move that will bring reduced costs and increased hospitality to our guests. Here is our new addresses: Mailing Address Day Center and Office Location Post Office Box 581 First Baptist Church Athens, GA 30603 355 Pulaski Street Athens, GA 30601 |
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We are thankful for all donations and here is some more in for about in-kind gifts.
Family Promise of Athens accepts in-kind donations to assist our families as they transition into stable homes. We typically need good quality bedroom furniture (including mattresses), kitchen items (pots, pans, plates, silverware, glassware, etc) and linens. Sometimes we need items for other areas of a home, but most of the apartments our guests acquire are rather small. In addition, we have limited storage capacity. What we are able to accept at any given time depends upon what we already have in storage and how soon families will move out of our program into their new homes. Please contact us if you have items you would like to donate. If we can use your donations to assist our families, our volunteers can arrange to come pick them up. If we do not need them we will refer you to local partner organizations in the community that also collect furnishings and supplies.
IHN Athens featured on WUGA's Athens News Matters
Alexia Ridley, host of WUGA's Athens News Matters, interviewed Claas Ehlers, CEO of Family Promise, and Davin Welter, IHNA Executive Director, about the mission of Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens. Take a listen by clicking the link below.
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness partnership
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IHNA has be chosen by the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness to participate in a community assessment of Athens. (ICPH) is a New York City-based policy research organization focused on family homelessness. We are planning on using the information that is gathered to have more of an impact on the issue of homelessness in Athens.
For more info, check out this video: (https://youtu.be/nAzvyWdOCdA) |
Watch our video!
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Thanks to Carrie Campbell and Patricia Lee, who are UGA Masters in Public Administration students in Dr. Becky Nesbit's class, IHNA has a new video to recruit new volunteers, congregations, and funders and to inspire current loyal volunteers and funders.
Take a look by clicking this link:youtu.be/yYpwaJOwTL8 You will be moved by the stories told by past guests, current volunteers, board members, and staff. |
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What is in a name?
Though we have changed our organizational name to Family Promise of Athens, we will continue to refer to our shelter program - the core of our mission - as the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Your generosity helps us live up to our name:
Interfaith - Diverse congregations of different faiths coming together to serve children and families in need, while building bridges and relationships with one another. Our network represents Muslim, Jewish, Unitarian, Catholic, Mainline Protestant denominations and others including the Quakers, Christian Science and Mormon congregations.
Hospitality - Serving those in need with compassion, respect, and love while offering safe shelter, nutritious food, transportation and wrap around services. Caring for folks who the world passes by and judges harshly.
Network - Bringing together 36 congregations (14 host and 22 support) to share the work of housing and feeding those who are experiencing homelessness. In 2017, we have grown from 24 congregations to 36. Our network is strong and it continues to grow.
of Athens - All of us likely know that Athens Clarke County is one of the poorest in the country (over 700 children in the Clarke County schools were identified as homeless last year). We serve families from all over Northeast Georgia and have host and support congregations in Clarke, Oconee, and Barrow counties.
To make a gift, simply write a check and mail it to IHNA, 393-1 W. Hancock Ave., Athens, GA 30601 or click this secure link: www.ihnathens.org/donate-now.html
Interfaith - Diverse congregations of different faiths coming together to serve children and families in need, while building bridges and relationships with one another. Our network represents Muslim, Jewish, Unitarian, Catholic, Mainline Protestant denominations and others including the Quakers, Christian Science and Mormon congregations.
Hospitality - Serving those in need with compassion, respect, and love while offering safe shelter, nutritious food, transportation and wrap around services. Caring for folks who the world passes by and judges harshly.
Network - Bringing together 36 congregations (14 host and 22 support) to share the work of housing and feeding those who are experiencing homelessness. In 2017, we have grown from 24 congregations to 36. Our network is strong and it continues to grow.
of Athens - All of us likely know that Athens Clarke County is one of the poorest in the country (over 700 children in the Clarke County schools were identified as homeless last year). We serve families from all over Northeast Georgia and have host and support congregations in Clarke, Oconee, and Barrow counties.
To make a gift, simply write a check and mail it to IHNA, 393-1 W. Hancock Ave., Athens, GA 30601 or click this secure link: www.ihnathens.org/donate-now.html
La Table 2017 featuring Karen Olsen, founder of IHN national
Thanks to Athens First United Methodist Church for being the title sponsors for La Table 2017 which was held on Feb. 28 at the Athens Country Club. Karen Olsen, the founder of Interfaith Hospitality Network (now know as Family Promise), was our keynote speaker. We are grateful to Wanda Culpepper and our table host for their creativity and dedication.
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Volunteer with IHNA
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At the top of the page, click on "Join the Team" to see our volunteer and internship opportunities! |
IHNA mentioned in Betsy Butler's sermon at Athens First United Methodist.
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Take a listen to Betsy Butler's sermon from July 24, 2016 at Athens First United Methodist Church. Betsy is the Minister of Missions at AFUMC and in her sermon, she mentions the opportunity to stay close to God by hosting and serving the guests in the Interfaith Hospitality Network. She talks about how the volunteers from the church family offer hope to a hopeless situation. We are grateful for Betsy and to those at Athens FUMC who give help to those families in our community who are in need.
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Thanks to Jackson EMC Foundation for their support of IHN Athens
The Jackson EMC Foundation, funded by the contributions of the cooperative's members, has awarded a $10,000 grant to IHNA to help us provide compassionate care to our guest families. We will use the grant to fund summer childcare, transportation and other guest needs. We are most grateful for this generous support!
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Davin Welter, Executive Director; Jean Mullis, JEMC Neese District Manager; Regina Roth-Goldman, Service Director; Elizabeth Morris, Office Assistant; Wanda Culpepper, Board Member; Ken Sherman, Executive Director Emeritus; Capt. Mark Sizemore, JEMC Foundation Board Member; Dick Perpall, JEMC Foundation Board Member
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What Family Promise of Athens Does
Family Promise of Athens is a coalition of Athens Area Churches and Congregations of Faith, referred to as Host Congregations or Support Congregations, that may provide shelter, meals, and support for families experiencing the crisis of homelessness for up to 90 days. Host Congregations, on a rotating basis, provide 3 meals a day to Network Families. Each network family is provided with their own room within the Host facility. Our network of churches provides shelter, meals, and compassionate assistance for up to three families (or maximum of 14 people) in crisis situations. As a group, the families rotate from church to church on a weekly basis. By uniting congregations through our Day Center, and through the support of social service agencies, our program assists these families with finding sustainable housing, job training, employment, and with meeting other various needs.