At any given time, 6,000 people are homeless in Hawaii; one-fourth of them are families with children. Hawaii's temporary homeless shelters can provide beds for only a tiny minority of these people. Windward Oahu has no overnight shelter beds for homeless families. Families with young children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population nationwide. Yet most families with children are homeless only once in their lives and are highly motivated to make changes; timely help with these families will significantly reduce our homeless population.
To respond to this urgent need, several Windward Oahu leaders started out in December 2004 to create Family Promise of Hawaii, a network of 28 faith-based organizations that helps low-income homeless families to achieve and sustain their independence. Family Promise of Hawaii is affiliated with the national Family Promise program, which has a 20-year history of successfully helping tens of thousands of homeless families, with an 80% success rate (meaning that eight out of every ten families have maintained housing for at least one year after they have left Family Promise).
Family Promise coordinates the efforts of 15 host congregations to house three to five families (up to 14 people at a time) in their facilities for one week, once a quarter. The congregation provides a home-cooked dinner in the evening, a private or semi-private sleeping area for each family, breakfast and a sack lunch. Church volunteers stay overnight with the families. Each morning, the families are driven to a shared day center in Kailua where they can make phone calls, tend to small children, look for housing and jobs, and meet with social workers. The Windward Oahu network opened in March 2006; already, five families have been able to secure long-term housing.
To get Family Promise of Hawaii started, the Harold K. L. Castle Foundation made a one-time grant providing $60,000 in 2005, $40,000 in 2006, and $20,000 in 2007. More funds are needed, as are more congregations from Windward Oahu, Honolulu, and elsewhere; contact:
Kent Anderson
Executive Director
kent@familypromisehawaii.org
(808) 261-7478