There are many ways to get involved with Safe Families for Children. From becoming “host family” for those vulnerable children, to a “family friend” who encourages and supports the family in crisis. Each and every position is celebrated and appreciated. Every day, we appreciate the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and donors.
Hospitality Goin’ Big
Recently, at Safe Families for Children’s Abilene chapter, an incredible story about the importance of resource friends occurred. The opportunity to serve a mother and her three young children was given to the Abilene chapter, as she contacted them after the recent death of her own mother. She and her children had been living with her mother and caring for her, but instantly found themselves homeless after her mother’s passing.
After reaching out to 7 other places, Safe Families’ Abilene chapter was her first and only yes. Due to many circumstances, it was crucial that this family stayed together. Thankfully, a host family welcomed them into their home, but they were only able to host them for a couple of weeks.
With the help of a family coach and family friends, this mom was able to secure daycare and a new job within days. However, securing an apartment or a place to stay at a single mom facility had proven to be a struggle.
Thanks to resource friends, furniture needs were coming in, and clothes and other resources were being brought in for this family. Yet, apartment after apartment kept falling through. It was difficult to understand why securing an apartment seemed to be such a huge task, but it appeared God had other plans. By the time the few weeks with the host family came to an end, the family was moved into a hotel room for a few days.
However, with numerous resource friends surrounding this family using radical hospitality, they worked together to make the families’ stay as comfortable and home-like as possible. Two ministry teams worked together providing resources and meals to surround this family while they lived in the hotel. The incredible hospitality was taken a step further when the family received resources and gift cards that were sent in from out of state. There were even meals delivered daily to a location where they could sit around a table, enjoy a meal together and have a little space for the children to run and play.
After six attempts to secure a living situation for this family, they were finally successful, and some resource friends helped move them in. They also supplied bedding and items, and they were requested to drop them off at the office. Safe Families’ Abilene chapter director, Ronica Worgull, tells “I went out to grab the items from one of the resource friends, and her young boys could not wait to explain how they had helped pick out their favorite snacks for the kiddos, so they would be sure to like them”.
During the day this mother moved into her apartment, she asked the family coach for an application to join the Safe Families cause. The mother had explained, “I never was much a believer (in God), but through what Safe Families has done for me, I have come to believe and want to give back any way I can.”
Chain Reaction
This story of radical hospitality on the move does not stop there. No, it continued to unfold with many rich, hospitable layers when this mother went to gather some remaining things out of her late mother’s home.
When she arrived, she found that a grandmother and her grandchildren were moving in—due to a fire that destroyed their previous home, this other family was in need of a home.
The Safe Families mother mentioned to this new family to call the Abilene chapter to inquire about any extra furniture available. Miraculously, almost everything this family needed was on the list of remaining available items that resource friends were willing to donate. Even still, other resource friends immediately sent in Walmart cards and gathered some food for this grandmother and her grandchildren.
As a thank you to the Abilene chapter, one of the teenage grandchildren stopped by to deliver a “thank you” for the volunteers and request permission to share her gratitude to Safe Families on social media.
Without the hard work of many, many volunteers, and the amazing resource friends, none of this would have been possible.
Get Involved
The vulnerable are in need of generosity, love, and support. The heart of Safe Families for Children is to support these parents in crisis, getting them back on their feet again. We are forever grateful for the parents that volunteer their own home to those children in crisis, and building community with those vulnerability.
We need you now more than ever, as we continue to aid these families in crisis during these times. We want to encourage you to join us in supporting and celebrating those parents in your community this Sunday, in ways that you are able–whether by time or donation.
Every single gift to Safe Families is matched with up to $1000 through our partnership with Stand Together. With every donation, you allow us to make a greater impact for God’s Kingdom, helping those vulnerable families, and displaying the love of Christ to them.
To learn more about who we are and how to get involved visit: https://safe-families.org