New Beginnings

Every new year offers an opportunity for change: new endeavors, renewed commitments, and fresh optimism for what the months ahead will bring. We feel this energy deeply here at Family Promise Metrowest. A new year brings a host of opportunities to support families in need, deepen our community connections, and open our arms to whatever change may lie ahead.

In this spirit, we are excited to begin this year with the launch of our revitalized quarterly newsletter: The Mulligan Street Minutes. As the golfers among you will surely know, a “mulligan” is a chance to take another swing when perhaps your first shot didn’t go as planned. So the fact that our Day Center sits here on Mulligan Street is a poetic coincidence, for this is exactly how we help our families. We offer families a second chance, a “do-over” when things have gone off course. Although we provide all forms of help in this endeavor, it’s up to our families to take the shot themselves—they must do the hard work to get back on track.

The Minutes will offer all of you a chance to stay abreast of our most important news and events, and to hear about the impact of your support. This new format will also allow us to share more photos and provide easy access to the resources on our website (and stay tuned for upcoming changes there too!).

Thank you, as always, for your steady support of our organization and the families we serve. You are what makes Family Promise Metrowest such an extraordinary organization

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Why We Walk: Bacon Street

As we dive into our 11^th walkathon season, with registrations pouring in and vendors lining up to participate, we want to make sure our supporters understand why this is such an important day for our organization and the families we serve. Amidst all the fun and games, this event really matters. It’s one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, bringing in over 25% of our annual program budget and significantly impacting the lives of the families we serve.

For example, we are thrilled to announce one of the most inspirational milestones we’ve reached as an organization. At the very end of 2019, two families settled into our Bacon Street home, built in partnership with the Natick Affordable Housing Trust, Keefe Regional Technical School, and a generous donation from Wellesley Village Church. This new duplex, a true labor of love, provides an affordable home for up to three years for families who have graduated from our shelter program and have an adult currently pursuing higher education. Both single mothers who moved in with their children are enrolled in college—one is pursuing an associate degree in business, the other is finishing her master’s degree in public administration. Both families have achieved these milestones through their persistence and hard work, but also with the support of the Steps to Success and SAIL programs. Proceeds from our walkathon feed directly into these programs, providing educational, childcare, and transportation subsidies and ongoing case management to help families stay on track and tackle any new challenges that may arise.

Every single participant in our walkathon is helping us create change like this. For every dollar you raise individually, a family moves one step closer to a future filled with stability and hope. As a community walking together, we are building awareness about the issue of family homelessness and the very real impact we can all have on the lives of our fellow neighbors. Your participation, your fundraising, and your belief in change matters. Please join us on Sunday, April 5^th as we make a difference together.

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Celebrations & Acknowledgments

When we started our very first Capital Campaign for our Day Center in 2017 with a goal of $1.2 million, to be completely honest, we had no idea how long this project might take. Our consultants warned us that it could be up to five years before we reached our goal since we had no track record for an undertaking of this size.

Yet we all underestimated the passion of our community and their understanding of the need for a new home for our families. Over the years, we’ve trained over 3,500 volunteers who have prepared meals, played with our children, tutored a parent, or perhaps worked at the Day Center. In the process, they came to know our families and learned about the challenges they faced. So when our capital campaign began, many of them supported us, offering contributions ranging from $25 to over $150,000. And it was not just these individuals, but businesses, congregations, and foundations that also wanted to play a part in creating this new home for our families.

We are thrilled to formally announce that in December 2019, a little over two years after launch, we exceeded our goal and drew the campaign to a close. We paid off the mortgage and placed the remaining money in a building maintenance fund to ensure the viability of our home well into the future. This spring at our Annual Meeting, we will celebrate this achievement and acknowledge the generous community members who made this dream come true. Stay tuned for more details!

We also want to begin the year by welcoming new staff who have joined us over the past few months. Paula Brown was recently hired as our Outreach and Network Coordinator, responsible for supporting our congregations and other community partners. She’ll work closely with Kathy Rodman, who came on board last summer as our Volunteer Program Assistant, managing our Day Center volunteers and trainings. Together they will work to enhance the volunteer experience for all. We were also excited to welcome Tamara Nevens as our Administrative Assistant, Sam Gloyd as our new morning van driver, and Melissa Webber as our bookkeeper in 2019. This incredible operational staff keeps our organization running smoothly for everyone!

As we celebrate our new staff, we would also like to thank others who moved on in 2019 after years of tireless, dedicated service. To Gerry Precious, our van driver for ten years, we thank you for your incredible dedication and commitment to our families. To Judy Mongiardo, one of our founders, past Board member, and Network Coordinator for several years, we thank you for your passion, warmth, and dedication to our families. Your influence will be felt in this organization for many years to come.