On Monday, we will have another family move into their new home. We are grateful for the many folks who drove the van, cooked a meal, spent the night, provided hospitality, washed linens, and signed up volunteers for this family. A mom and her five kids are moving from experiencing homelessness to living in their own home all because of this and your financial support.

You are changing lives through making folks feel valued and connected and by giving a few hours out of your day to care for them.

The kids, this mom, and all of us are appreciative of YOU!

IHNA is fortunate to name Collisa Langford as the Interim Service Director. Collisa is a former guest who spoke at this year's La Table event. Collisa will start on Monday, April 2 and will work until we have hired a new Service Director. 

The Search Committee, which is composed of current and former board members and the Executive Director, is in the process of identifying candidates to interview and hopes to name a Service Director by the end of the April.

Marlo Wiggans from Holy Cross Lutheran Church let us know that on March 11,  60 M inutes reported a  segment on the implications of childhood  trauma and how communities can respond to support those with significant  trauma histories. 

This 13 minute clip is powerful and we encourage you to watch it: 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oprah-winfrey-treating-childhood-trauma/.

As the clip point out, homelessness generates trauma that has significant negative impacts on life. IHNA is working to lessen childhood trauma in our community.

Shihab Nye writes: "Before you know what kindness really is / you must lose things, / feel the future dissolve in a moment / like salt in a weakened broth. / What you held in your hand, / what you counted and carefully saved, / all this must go so you know / how desolate the landscape can be / between the regions of kindness. / How you ride and ride / thinking the bus will never stop, / the passengers eating maize and chicken / will stare out the window forever. // Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, / you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho / lies dead by the side of the road. / You must see how this could be you, / how he too was someone / who journeyed through the night with plans / and the simple breath that kept him alive. // Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, / you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. / You must wake up with sorrow. / You must speak to it till your voice / catches the thread of all sorrows / and you see the size of the cloth. / Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, / only kindness that ties your shoes / and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread, / only kindness that raises its head / from the crowd of the world to say / It is I you have been looking for, / and then goes with you everywhere / like a shadow or a friend."

Family Promise is partnering with Belk, a leading regional retailer, to help the families we serve across the South. From March 25-April 14, Belk department stores will be collecting donations to benefit Family Promise Affiliates (IHNA is a Family Promise Affiliate!) as well as their national office. Visit a Belk store near you to participate or go to  www.familypromise.org  to learn more.