Green County Director, Bryce Riemer

Family Promise of Green County, WI, along the Illinois/Wisconsin border, is the 6th Affiliate in the Badger State. It all began with a community meeting in March and culminated with the acceptance of a family into the program on November 7th. That’s 239 days; about 7 weeks less than it takes to gestate a baby. On a definitely related note, it also had one of the largest turnouts for a community meeting, with more than 130 people coming to Monroe UMC on a cold March evening.

With virtually no services for families in this rural county of 50,000 residents, there was unanimity toward pursuing the development of an affiliate. Several pastors had had experience in neighboring Beloit or Madison and all the agencies were desperate for a local solution. The need? 134 households in October of 2010 were identified as “homeless or near homeless.”

The affiliate not just gestated quickly, it scored beautifully on its Apgar test! Thirteen hosts, more than $50,000 in the bank from diverse sources, a strong full board, a day center at a house owned by Grace Lutheran Church and a terrific director, Bryce Riemer whose background includes school counseling and other social service.

Family Promise of Carteret County, NC is the 12th Affiliate in the Tar Heel State. Carteret County is on the North Carolina coast midway between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. The county has a population of 66,000, with fifteen percent of the population under the age of 18 living in poverty. With a service-based, seasonal industry that has been hit hard by the recession, clearly the need for shelter is great.

Charles Royal, a Baptist minister, knew the program from Wilmington and other NC Affiliates, and suggested they look at Family Promise. Their first community meeting was a huge success, with more than 60 attendees. Board President Joan Cantor, who had years of experience running outreach programs, threw herself into the project and stated she’d expect to be up and running before summer! She was not too far off the mark, with the first families being accepted into the program on September 25th, making it, along with Green County, one of our fastest-forming networks ever.

They open with a full slate of 13 host and 29 support congregations (First Baptist Church was the first host), a day center at a former dentist’s office and tremendous community connections—they already have partnerships for financial counseling, nutrition and fitness and an office supply company. Joan stepped down from the Board President role and was selected to be the network director.

Welcome to these dynamic new networks.