by Kate Swanson, SFFC Wisconsin Chapter Director
When you hear the phrase “it takes a village” who do you think of? Who is in your village
that has allowed you to be strong and supported? Who supported you while you chased
your dreams, took positive risks, made mistakes, gave you advice, prayed with and for you,
loved you? Who has taken the time to get to know you and walk alongside you in love and support? I
have been incredibly blessed with a strong village, and I know my life wouldn’t be the same
without them. I want to expand my village and bless someone else with some of the love
I’ve been blessed with, and I often wondered how I would do that– then I found Safe
Families.
Everyday I wonder how I got so blessed. How was I chosen to be this loved, this supported,
this chased? I have a village and a strong one at that. We were designed to be together in
community— God has called us to love our neighbors. For me, Safe Families is so much
more than my job, it’s enriching and fulfilling, challenging, it’s my passion, it’s my heart, it’s
my dream to create a supported and loving community and I want more people to walk
alongside me in this work. I thought people who said if you love your job you never work
were wrong and then I found this work— this work that is love.
It TRULY takes a VILLAGE, and not everyone in our community has a strong village
surrounding them. It is the job of the ENTIRE COMMUNITY to wrap families with care and
support. Here at SFFC we aim to create that village to keep families strong and supported
and we need more villagers to join us in the mission to keep children safe and families
supported. It’s time to work together to get to know each other. To walk alongside families in
our community in friendship and love. Who has taken the time to get to know you when you
needed to feel known?
Being known is invaluable to our ability to create and dream. “Our Western world has long
emphasized knowledge—factual information and proof—over the process of being known
by God and others. . . Yet it is only when we are known that we are positioned to become
conduits of love.” Curt Thompson, Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between
Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships.
Being known, truly known, makes people feel loved and safe which empowers them to
dream, love, take positive risks, and grow in ways they were not able to before. By getting
to know someone, and walking alongside them in relationships, both SFFC volunteers and
the families we serve have an ability to co-create and become generative in a whole new
way.
Become a part of the village, it is all of our job, together, to support our community.
Join us today, serve with your family, ANSWER God’s call to open your heart and your home to help keep children safe and families together!