March Newsletter

Spring Fundraiser

Spring is finally here, and we are ready for it! This year for our 8th Annual Spring Fundraiser we present A Night at the Manor, April 21st, 2021.

This is an event with many options:

- Join us in person at Willowbrook Manor for an evening of English Tea, Speakers, and fun.

- Seating is limited, so head here to purchase tickets now!

- For those on our mailing list, you can mail in your donation via the envelope provided. - Join our Live Virtual event on our Website or Facebook page. - Donate online anytime before April 31st here.

Spotlight : Shelter Care and Day Center

Interfaith Hospitality Network (Shelter)- Our shelter model is for homeless families with children and first-time mothers. This program provides an outlet for churches, non-denominational groups, and local resources to come together to help homeless families. Due to COVID-19, we have stopped our rotational model. Our guests now remain at neighboring static sites. Each participating group in our rotational volunteer network takes turns coming to our static site and serves for a full week, this occurs on a two- or three-month rotating basis. During the week they provide dinners, dinner servers, and overnight volunteers. Volunteers cover nighttime operations from 4:30 when dinner is set up until 7 am on weekdays and 8 am on weekends. Prior to COVID, we served 3-4 families (up to 14 individuals). During COVID we have been able to expand this static model to now serving 8 families at a time between two buildings. All Shelter guests have access to our Day Center.

Day Center- Is open and staffed daily. The Day center is the touching point for all outreach and in-house services. This includes Prevention, Shelter, and Diversion services. At the Day Center guests from our housing programs can take showers, make meals from our fully stocked kitchen, receive case management to assist in goal setting, financial literacy, and housing searches. Due to COVID-19, most other services are done via phone or video conference.

Day Center Services Include- Family Mentoring, New Beginnings Financial Literacy Classes, Prevention & Diversion Services, Pet for a Promise, as well as showers, laundry, dining and play areas, and much more.

Check back next month for more in-depth information on our Guest Services offered at the Day Center and beyond...

Looking for ways to get involved?

There are many ways to get involved here at Family Promise of Skagit Valley. Interested in serving or preparing meals? Go to the SignUp Genius below! Wanting to engage as a Family Mentor to a family in need of encouragement and compassion? Sign up for one of the Family Mentor Trainings we offer each month!

Thank you, Coordinators!

Church Coordinators are a vital part of our Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN). Coordinators are the liaison between Family Promise, Churches, and Organizations. They recruit and inform the volunteers throughout our 25+ network! The next Coordinator meeting is via Zoom on April 6th at 6 pm.

April Newsletter

Fundraiser Success

What a great day we had at Willowbrook Manor for our 8th Annual Spring Fundraiser!

We have so many people to thank for the success of this event.

First of all, to our Donors and Sponsors! We raised an astonishing$50,000!

Thank you to our Matching Sponsors, Thrivent Financial, and Janicki Industries

for matching donations!

Thank you to Commissioner Lisa Janicki for sharing about homelessness in Skagit County!

Thank you to our MCs, Millie Fosberg, Bob Wygal, and Laurin Vance for helping everything

run smoothly!

Thank you to our Clients who shared their stories, Lelani and Katie, you both were amazing!

Thank you to Terry Gifford and her wonderful staff at Willowbrook for a wonderful event!

Spotlight: Guest Services

Last month we shared a bit about our Interfaith Hospitality Network, our Shelter Model, and what goes on in general at our Day Center. This month, we would like to share the services our guests have access to at Family Promise of Skagit Valley.

Case Management is the backbone of our Program. Guests in the Shelter meet weekly with their Case Manager to set goals, address progress, and get support. Goals are set surrounding health, finances, child care, employment, and housing.

Case Managers help guests to navigate housing lists as well as a myriad of community services. Supplies like diapers, wipes, hygiene products, gift cards, etc. are regularly distributed at the Day Center. There are showers, communal areas, a tutoring center, and laundry facilities available. As Guests progress, they have the opportunity to begin using the kitchen to prepare meals for their families. At Family Promise, we strive to help guests obtain the tools they need to be successful.

Financial Literacy Classes

We offer New Beginnings Financial Literacy Classes through Family Promise National. This is offered to our Shelter guests who are stabilized and ready to tackle finances. It is a requirement for our Transitional House guests as they progress through our Programing. These classes teach Guests how to budget, repair credit, save for the future, and more. We partner with the volunteers utilizing their diverse skills to enhance guests' experiences.

WSU Food $ense Program

WSU has partnered with us to provide a 3 part series of classes. We have run 2 Cooking classes, and a Food Safety class virtually over the last year. Beginning this week we will have a 4-week Outdoor Activities class for the children in our Programs.

We hope to continue to partner and provide more classes in the future.

Transportation Assistance

Transportation Assistance comes in a few different forms. When a Guest has a vehicle in need of maintenance or repair, our Community Partners at Vollins Automotive donate diagnostics and help us get the needed repairs done. Occasionally we get vehicle donations either from individual donors or from the Charity Cars Organization. These can replace or supply Guests with a vehicle.

Pets for a Promise

Losing your home is traumatic. This can be multiplied when you lose a pet to get into a shelter. Pets for a Promise is a program through PetSmart Charities that help families to keep their pets or find Foster Families for their stay in s shelter.

Ongoing Shelter Needs:

Paper Towels

Toilet Paper

Disinfectant Wipes

33 Gallon Trash Bags