Each day, families in the Family Promise Emergency Shelter program have a regular daily schedule. This includes staying at host sites with other families, going to work and school, and staying together at the day center. With COVID-19 though, the family schedules have had to be changed to accommodate social distancing and safety guidelines.
Typical Day
A family’s regular day starts off early, waking up at the host site churches where they stay overnight. Families arrive at the Day Center around 7 AM to prepare for their day. This includes packing lunches in the stocked kitchen and getting any personal supplies they need. Families then leave for work and school for the day. After the day is done, they return to the Day Center for the evening, then transition back to the current host site church for dinner and their overnight stay.
COVID-19 Day
In order to provide a socially distant and safe day for Family Promise employees, volunteers, host sites, and families, we have partnered with local area hotels and apartment landlords. This allows families their own spaces to stay, work or learn from home, and be safe during COVID-19. Even though they are not staying at Family Promise host sites, meals are provided to families while they are in the program, no matter where they are staying.
Future Emergency Shelter Plans
As the COVID-19 situation changes and evolves, so do we! Our programs have evolved and grown to accommodate families experiencing homelessness is the best and safest way possible. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone in person again, but until then we are following state guidelines as best we can. We’ve also introduced our new Prevention Program to assist families in staying in their homes, you can read more about that in our previous blog post.