There was an air of anticipation tonight as about 40 people from 17 different Blount Co. churches turned out to here the invitation to join a new movement in Blount County called Family Promise.  Formally known as Interfaith Hospitality Network (IFHN), Family Promise seeks to alleviate homelessness amongst families by setting up local networks of churches that work together to provide shelter, compassion, food, and company to homeless families.  

According to Jeanna Stewart, the Director of Good Neighbors in Maryville, there are at least 8-10 cases of family homelessness a month that are reported through Good Neighbors.  However, this is definitely not the end of family homeslessness.  There are constant reports from the area schools and social workers of students without homes.   

Claas Ehlers, Director of development for the national IHN, explained the history and mission of Family Promise.  IHN began as a simple initiative of a community of churches trying to stop the rapid growth in foster-care cases due to homelessness.  Karen Olson discovered that the reason for the rising number of children being placed in the foster care system was due to the fact that their parents did not have a home.  Olson felt that this further traumatizing of the family while already in a state of crisis was not the answer and it is the church's obligation to step up and help the homeless and the would-be orphans in such cases.  So in 1986 the first network was born in Union County New Jersey.  

Claas reminded us that while there are huge problems in the world, and we can only do so much, our small acts of kindness and love done faithfully allow God to transform the world.  Or as Desmond Tutu said it, "Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."  And while there are church buildings with many empty rooms that lay uninhabited throughout the week, we have no excuse to dismiss this problem any longer.  

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