Homeless, poverty-stricken families with children will soon have a daily address, thanks to an agreement between Family Promise of the Palouse and Gritman Medical Center.
Jesse Hart | Argonaut
Family Promise of the Palouse, a non-profit organization that helps homeless families, has been given a space in the Martin Wellness Center. It will be used as the administrative office and a daytime home for Family Promise participants.
Family Promise is a non-profit organization that aims to end homelessness on the Palouse one family at a time, said Bruce Pitman, University of Idaho dean of students and president of the Board of Directors for Family Promise.
“There are 12 to 14 families a week that ask for some form of assistance,” Pitman said. “On the Palouse, we have Sojourners’ Alliance and now Family Promise.”
Sojurners’ Alliance is another non-profit that offers long-term housing assistance to at-risk and homeless people in the area. It and Family Promise fill the gaps in each other’s services, said Steve Bonnar, executive director of Sojourners’ Alliance.
“Twenty-nine percent of people who reside in Moscow live in poverty,” Bonnar said. “Latah County is third in the state of Idaho for poverty ridden families.”
Partnered with 25 churches between Moscow and Pullman, Family Promise currently provides immediate shelter to homeless families. Now, the Day Center will give these families an address, a shower and a computer as they regain their financial footing, Pitman said.
The churches that host Family Promise guests are only able to house them between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily. The lease agreement with Gritman for the Wellness Center will give these families a place to spend their days until they have a more permanent option, Pitman said.
“Families who will participate in the program do have to go through an application process,” Pitman said. “It simply deals with a few basic questions. To qualify, you have to be an adult with a child.”
Though there is no income caste, the family must prove that they are homeless and demonstrate a willingness to work with a caseworker to address some issues that may have contributed to this homelessness, Pitman said.
Despite homelessness, many Family Promise guests are employed and go to work during the day, Pitman said. But this program allows them to have a safe place to sleep for seven to eight weeks — enough time to earn first and last month’s rent on a more stable home.
Family Promise is funded completely by grants, fundraisers and personal donations. Most importantly, the heart of the program is volunteers, Pitman said.
In fact, Family Promise would not be sustainable were it not for the volunteer work and generosity of citizens on the Palouse, Pitman said.
This generosity is exemplified by Gritman Medical Center and the churches who are participating. Gritman will only charge Family Promise $500 per month for the Wellness Center space, said Pitman, and he hopes to reach a two-year lease agreement.
“This model requires broad community support,” Pitman said. “We rely on volunteers.”
Those who wish to contribute to lasting independence for poverty ridden families are encouraged to sign up on the Family Promise website — familypromisepalouse.org — or are welcome to call Pitman directly. Pitman said he has talked to several students who express their interest in working on issues with local homelessness.
“This is both Moscow and Pullman,” Pitman said. “We’re all constantly seeking support from both campuses.”
Bonnar and Pitman both said they hope to help every person living in poverty on the Palouse – 1,446 children in Latah County have been identified as “food insecure,” which means that they do not get enough to eat every day, Bonnar said. Whitman County has a similar amount.
“That’s an incredible number,” Bonnar said. “These issues aren’t going away. They’re getting worse.”
Bonnar said he approached Mayor Cheney about the issue of poverty two and a half years ago, and thus began the Poverty Forum on the Palouse. Pitman and Bonnar are both community members who aim to rid the Palouse of poverty through their programs and this forum.
“There’s a medical clinic that will serve low-income families, our help for families who need a place to stay and employment job training,” Bonnar said. “We’re looking at how to make it easier to help people who need it the most.”
There are 180 Family Promise programs nationally. Bonnar has been helping Family Promise in any way it needs, especially by sharing his knowledge.
Bonnar said he hopes to get students aware of and active in these issues of poverty, hunger and homelessness.
“One of the things Bruce and I have talked about is mutual fundraising,” Bonnar said. “And how do we galvanize and stimulate blossoming social action in students?”
Alycia Rock can be reached at [email protected]