Church leading effort to assist homeless families, By Michelle Mundy, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, October 25, 2006.

The Rev. Andrew Sherman promises to bring hope to the homeless.

Sherman, rector of St. Gregory's Episcopal Church, and his congregation want to start a local branch of Family Promise, an interfaith, nonprofit group that was started in Union County, N.J., in 1986 and now has affiliates throughout the country.

St. Gregory's is hosting a meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 2 at the church, 100 N.E. Mizner Blvd., to stimulate interest in Family Promise. About 70 congregations are invited to the meeting.

Once the nonprofit is established, participating homeless families would live at the houses of worship that are part of the Family Promise network until they find a home. Congregations would volunteer to provide food and other necessities. And a social worker would follow the families until they are self-sufficient.

"This seems to be a model that works," Sherman said of Family Promise, whose 124 affiliates operate 134 programs throughout the country.

It's difficult to put a number on how many homeless families there are in Boca, said Joanne Szaja, the executive director of Boca Helping Hands. The organization, which helps people in crises, provides 100 meals a day, and at least one-third of those people are homeless.

"Homeless doesn't necessarily mean the family is sleeping on the dirt," she said.

They could be sharing a house with a friend or family, she said. And some hide the fact that they're homeless by giving a false address because they're afraid they'll lose their children.

Sherman hopes that Family Promise will help parents feel comfortable enough to come forward and ask for assistance.

Sherman heard about Family Promise through St. Gregory's member Carl House of Boca Raton, who discovered the organization when he started researching homelessness.

To set up a Family Promise affiliate in the Boca Raton area, about a dozen congregations must commit to hosting homeless families, according to Claas Ehlers, Director of Network Development for Family Promise (formerly called the Interfaith Homeless Network).

Ehlers will speak at the Nov. 2 meeting about what's needed to start a Family Promise affiliate, including filing for nonprofit status and organizing a board, and how to maintain it.

At least $100,000 is needed to start the program. The money pays for a social worker's salary and transportation for the families.

A family normally stays in the program and at church-provided shelters an average of 48 days, Ehlers said, and churches need to be relatively close together to keep kids in the same school.

Families are screened for substance abuse, domestic violence and untreated mental illness before they can participate.

There is a need for a program like this, said Rose Marie Arnold, director of parish social ministries at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, whose congregation is interested in Family Promise (www.familypromise.org).

"There is a lot of homelessness in the area, probably more than people are aware of," she said.

And help is limited, Arnold said. "Right now if people come, we send them to the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale or The Lord's Place."

Sherman thinks that Family Promise could be a way to help families.

"It's not the cure-all for homelessness," he said. "This is just one way of addressing the problem, and it's part of the solution."

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