FPGC August Newsletter 2019

Family Promise of Grayson County Newsletter | August 2019

Message from our Executive Director

With the soaring temperatures outside, it hardly seems possible that summer is winding down and another school year is about to begin. Family Promise of Grayson County has shared backpacks with area churches hosting school supply give-aways. On a daily basis, we also continue to address needs far greater than pencils. Thank you for your ongoing support and kindness! You are helping create a community in which no child is homeless.

May your day be blessed, today and every day!

Leigh

“Cause I Ain’t Got a Pencil”

by Joshua T. Dickerson

I woke myself up

Because we ain’t got an alarm clock

Dug in the dirty clothes basket,

Cause ain’t nobody washed my uniform

Brushed my hair and teeth in the dark,

Cause the lights ain’t on

Even got my baby sister ready,

Cause my mama wasn’t home.

Got us both to school on time,

To eat us a good breakfast.

Then when I got to class the teacher fussed

Cause I ain’t got a pencil.

Check Out Our New Website!

We are super excited to launch our new Family Promise of Grayson County website! Our first generation website served us well and as the organization has grown, so has the need for our next generation website.

DSBWorldwide built our site based on our team’s recommendations and feedback. We think you will agree the new site captures the spirit of our organization and provides the information visitors need to plug in to Family Promise of Grayson County – whether getting help, donating, volunteering, or otherwise getting involved.

We will most certainly be in adjustment mode as the site receives visitors – one adjustment will be to make it more mobile device friendly. So bear with us as we make those adjustments. And let us know what you think!

Thank you to Tony Dean and his team at DSBWorldwide! You all have great ideas and do great work.

https://www.familypromisegrayson.org/

3rd Annual Bed Race

The Family Promise Bed Race is an annual, fun-filled event in which competitors race decorated twin beds on wheels down a track! Last year we had ten beds in the race. In addition to having lots of fun, we heightened awareness of the issue of homelessness in Grayson County and raised about $16,000. This year’s goal is to raise at least $20,000 to help families with children attain stable housing.

Enter a Bed Race Team—one person rides and 4 people push! There are several levels of sponsorship available, including Team Owner Sponsor, which includes naming rights for the event! Entry forms and Sponsorship opportunities can be found at thebedrace.com or on our website at familypromisegrayson.org .

The Bed Race is held in conjunction with the Denison Fall Festival on Saturday, October 5th . Come on out, support Family Promise of Grayson County, and have some fun at the races! Special thanks to those who already have committed to sponsor this year’s Bed Race!

Upcoming Training

If you have not yet had the pleasure of attending training to be a volunteer with Family Promise, then this is your doubly lucky day! For your convenience, not one, but TWO training sessions are available in the very near future! Grab a friend and come see how easy and gratifying it is to be a Family Promise volunteer.

Options include:

Tuesday, August 6 ^th , 6:30 to 8:30 PM , at Georgetown Baptist Church in Pottsboro

Sunday, August 11 ^th , 4:30 to 6:30 PM , at Park Avenue Church of Christ in Denison

Hope to see you there!

First United Methodist Welcomes New Pastors

First United Methodist is pleased to welcome their new Senior Pastor Denise Peckham, and Associate Pastor, Aaron Logon, to First United Methodist Church. Denise comes from Christ UMC in Plano, and Aaron is from Aldersgate United Methodist in Carrollton. Read more . Both pastors started July 1, and the church hosted guests of Family Promise of Grayson County the week of July 7 ^th . Although both were familiar with the program, they picked up on it pretty quickly.

Denise was able to join guest families for dinner Friday July 12, a special night, because we invited Stephanie (a graduate from the program in April) and her three girls, to join our current guests, for a meal and tickets to ‘House on Pooh Corner’, the Theatricks play just a block from our church.

Denise offered to pray for all of us and bless our wonderful meal when suddenly Joy (6 years old) broke in and said she wanted to offer the prayer. The next week Denise included this in her message inside our weekly newsletter:

“I have been the first to say that the local church is the best hope for the world we live in. I am actually foolish enough to believe that. The church universal has often failed historically to be a witness to God’s love, but every now and then, we do begin to resemble Jesus. At First Methodist Sherman I have met people who are working to be a witness. I have heard from and seen the volunteers for the Family Promise ministry bring food to our guests and build relationships with these families, not simply because they are in our building, but because they too, are children of God. They are cherished by our Creator and called by Christ to be light and salt, no different than any of us. I witnessed the power of a young girl’s prayer before the meal and heard the joy in her voice as she praised God for the gifts she had already received. How humbling it is when we are reminded that our sophisticated prayers are no match for the joy of a child’s.”

The Family Promise coordinators at FUMC appreciate the hard work of their volunteers and the strong support of their pastors.

If you would like to include a story about the experience your church had while hosting guest families, please let us know.

Mark Your Calendar for North Texas Giving Day!

Family Promise of Grayson County | 903-271-1088 | Contact| Email| Website