Our mission is intersecting faith and community to empower

Grayson County families to end child homelessness.

Dear friends,

What an amazing year it has been! The credit goes to you for all the ways, large and small, that you have given of yourselves through your prayers, your time and energy, and your resources. Thank you!

Together we have served seven families as guests in our rotation program, including 10 adults and 27 children. We currently are serving 273 families in our homelessness prevention program (up from 45 families this time last year). That includes nearly 1000 adults and children that will not have to go through the trauma of losing their home! We also have provided referrals to well over 1000 families and individuals, which is more than twice as many referrals as last year. You are making our community a better place!

Thanks, too, to the Board of Directors for strategically planning ways we can eliminate child homelessness in Grayson County. These folks bring much talent and passion for our mission. Special commendation to outgoing Board Chair Kelly Reed and incoming Chair Becky Frank for their countless hours of writing grant proposals, budgeting, organizing, and guidance. Watch for the "Get to Know" feature in future newsletters to learn more about our newest Board members, Steve Showalter and Larsha' Thomas.

You can be proud of all the ways you have made a positive difference this year. Together we are Family Promise! Thank you.  

Joy and peace,

Leigh

Thanksgiving Blessings

We are so thankful for our ongoing relationship with the Lone Star Seventh Sin Motorcycle Club! For several years they have helped us provide Thanksgiving meals and assistance to area families, and this year was no exception! Those who came to watch this wonderful group roar into the parking lot of the Day Center and present a generous check were thrilled by the sights and sounds! The children also were excited to sit on the huge bikes! One of the riders let it slip that Santa and Mrs. Claus will appear in a couple of weeks (via motorcycle, of course!) to present one of our guest families with Christmas gifts!

SSMC Lone Star is a non-profit organization comprised of law enforcement, veterans, and others that support social, educational and charitable programs such as Family Promise. THANK YOU, SSMC Lone Star!!

Money Matters

Thanks to all our partners at Cadence Bank for presenting a very informative class on Fraud Protection last month. Camilia Lopez, Federal Prosecutor with the Department of Justice, discussed topics ranging from cyber security to phone scams to charity fraud. Thanks, also, to Laurie Mealy at Habitat for Humanity for allowing us to meet with them at Grand Avenue Presbyterian church for this event!

Independent Financial will host our final budgeting class of the year on Tuesday, December 6th from 6-7 PM at the Family Promise Day Center (901 E. Houston in Sherman). The timely topic will be Holiday Spending! Classes are open to everyone, and child care and snacks are provided. If you have any questions, please call Leigh at 903-771-0322.

Stay tuned for the next edition of this newsletter to find out about the 2023 classes! (Insider's tip: Mark your calendar for Thursday, January 26, 6:30-8 PM!)

Great Day of Service -- Austin College style

Family Promise of Grayson County was one of over 40 sites in Sherman recently served by Austin College students. In just a couple of hours, Elijah Sisk, Grady Harper, Glen Kromann, Zack Czarnecky, Diego Sanchez, Joshua Magers, and Scott Hosmer transformed the Tabitha House (our transitional home in Sherman) by pulling weeds, planting flowers and shrubs, adding mulch, fixing interior trim, and making other repairs. We are so thankful for these guys! They were polite, personable, productive, and positively amazing! Go 'Roos!!

Meet our new Case Managers!

In order to keep up with the increasing need for services, two new part-time case managers have joined Leigh in the Family Promise office over the past couple of months!

Tara Hickerson came to Grayson County after being in the Air Force. She and her husband Brandon have two children whose sports and school activities keep the whole family busy! In her "spare" time, Tara enjoys beekeeping and gardening. She is the case manager for our Family HOPE program.

Kristi Shilling is a lifetime Shermanite. She and her husband John have three boys. Kristi also loves to garden, and she is the case manager for our Interfaith Hospitality Network (rotation program) guests. Welcome aboard!!

THANK YOU to our Host and Support Congregations!

As most of you probably know, the Interfaith Hospitality Network (rotation program) could not happen without our Host and Support congregations. What you may not know is that even on the weeks when there are no families in the program (like now), our congregations still are prepared to host guests with only a day or two of advance notice. Our congregations also help in many other ways.

For example, Kennie McClure at Park Avenue Church of Christ replaced the jack (which had been giving us some trouble) on our bed trailer while it was parked there. Thank you, Kennie!

The rest of the story: Worship and Outreach Minister Basil McClure confessed he broke off the jack handle, "because he is SO STRONG", rendering it "as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike" (per the church secretary), so they replaced it! We love our Host and Support congregations!

Thank you to our December hosts: Covenant Presbyterian Church in Sherman, Grace United Methodist Church in Sherman, and Grace Lutheran Church in Denison.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6