July Program Update

Our Emergency Shelter Program continues to remain suspended at this time, as all 14 of our host congregations in our congregational rotation are still unable to host families due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are continuously monitoring all State and County regulations, but we do not have an anticipated date of return for the Emergency Shelter Program at this time. All families in the program prior to the pandemic continue to be safely housed at our Short-Term Housing facilities.

Even in the middle of a global health crisis, we are happy to announce that we will have two of our families in Transitional Housing graduate to their own housing in the next few weeks! Amazingly, these families have found a way to not only survive, but thrive, during the pandemic. Family Promise has been honored to help them find their way home! Because of the space that will become available at our Short-Term Housing facilities, we are anticipating being able to accept up to three new families who qualify for our Short-Term Housing program!

We also continue to support on a weekly or bi-weekly basis ten of our graduate families with USDA produce donations, meat donations, and paper goods/household supplies. On July 15th, our program distributed 206 pounds of farm-raised pork to our families!

Our staff is also hard at work with the preparations for our Annual Gala, which has gone VIRTUAL this year! We are excited to share with you all the fun and surprises we have planned for our very first virtual gala event! We will be having a Silent Auction, which opens on August 17th, as well as the main live stream event on Saturday, August 22nd at 6:30 p.m. More information can be found on our Events page. Mark your calendars, and we hope to “see” you there!

Despite the many challenges our program has faced this year, we have been fortunate to have the amazing support from our community. Our host and support congregations have been so generous in making sure our program and our families are taken care of during this difficult time. Donors, volunteers, and friends have come together, and we have seen great kindness as we navigate the unique challenges this pandemic has presented. We look forward to our host congregations reopening their doors and once again being able to welcome families into their care. Until then, we hold steadfast in our commitment to helping the families in our program in any way we can!

For ways that you can help the families of Family Promise of Orange County during the pandemic, please see our Current Needs page.