| Meeting Families' Basic Needs
by Shan Clesceri
According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, people must have food and water (physiological needs), then housing and income (safety needs), before they can receive or give love, gain self-esteem, and eventually become self-actualized, self-sufficient, contributing members of society.
At Family Promise of Butler County, it is our mission to help families meet their most basic needs. While in shelter, families are provided with healthy food and a safe place to sleep at night, so that they can focus on becoming self-sufficient and eventually provide these things for themselves. Through our diversion programming, we are able to prevent families from losing these basic necessities and ending up in shelter.
When the basic needs of hunger and safety are met, children are able to concentrate better and excel at school, while parents can focus on ways to provide for their families and reach higher levels of success at their jobs. Here at Family Promise of Butler County, we get the pleasure of seeing families begin to climb out of the lower levels of Maslow's Hierarchy, realize their potential, and make strides toward achieving their goals and dreams.
Under normal circumstances, our model relies on the generosity and kind spirit of our communities of faith to provide housing and food for our families. As with so many other things, COVID has disrupted that model. While a small handful of host congregations have been able to resume hosting, we are often pressed to house our families in hotels, which of course, comes at a cost to us. In just the first quarter of this year, we spent $11,000 on hotels! To learn more about how you can get involved in our efforts, read on! |
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| What is Eco-Therapy?
For those of us who are involved in social services, we are always looking for the best ways to engage people and we love to do that by finding ways to help without using medications. Eco-therapy is relatively new, and is gaining momentum, especially with the recent Covid pandemic. So, what is eco-therapy? The actual definition is: an approach that rests on the idea that people have a deep connection to their environment and to the earth itself. Failing to nurture this connection can take a toll on your well-being, particularly your mental health. We are seeing many therapists using this idea to get their clients out into nature so that they can calm anxiety, reduce depression, and quite frankly get in-touch with themselves.
Here at Family Promise Butler County, we have a great way for you to be introduced to eco-therapy. Join us for our 3rd Annual Dot/Dash 5K. This event is being held on Saturday, June 12th here in downtown Hamilton. We will be following a course that begins at Marcum Park and will wander through parts of the downtown area. You can run or do like I am and walk at a leisurely pace. Enjoy the company of friends and family, get out and get some fresh air, nurture your connection to nature and assist us in our vision of every child in Butler County having a place to call home. After completing your 5K you can also engage in some retail therapy by visiting the Hamilton Flea, enjoy great food from the food trucks and visit some of our local breweries. This is by far the best day you will engage in.
We are looking forward to seeing you on 6/12!
Linda Smith, Executive Director
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| Day Center Needs
The following items are for graduated families to set up their new homes with and should be new:If you would like to provide any of these items, please drop them off at the Day Center at: 19 S. Front Street, Hamilton or contact Linda at 513-444-2033. |
| | | | Shopping on Amazon?
Would you please consider moving over to Amazon Smile and choosing Family Promise of Butler County as your designated charity? You get all the best of Amazon, including your Prime benefits, and FPBC gets a donation from each purchase you make! Everybody wins! :) |
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| | | by Bridget Rueter
We’re excited to announce that the Dot Dash 5K is back for 2021! As our Director Linda Smith mentioned last month, we have some big goals for the future of Family Promise of Butler County. A few of those include growing & strengthening our diversion programs, providing more referral services, and eventually being able to purchase our own day center. We’d love to have you join us on June 12th to help us raise funds to work towards meeting these goals!
We have both in-person & virtual options available this year. Runners & walkers can join us in-person at Marcum Park for a fun-filled event! After the race, you can enjoy some shopping at the Hamilton Flea, and stop by Municipal Brew Works for live music as they celebrate their 5th anniversary. Start your day with us, and then spend your afternoon supporting local artisans & Hamilton businesses. You can also join us virtually from anywhere to show your support for Family Promise of Butler County. All participants will receive a t-shirt and a medal. However you decide to participate, you’ll be helping us connect the dots for children and families right here in our communities who are experiencing homelessness.
We’re looking forward to seeing you on June 12th, and we hope that you’ll help us spread the word about the Dot Dash 5K to your friends & families. Get registered by May 20th to guarantee your spot!
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| | | A Challenge to All Host and Support Congregations
by Ali Boger & Shan Clesceri
We love this idea! Not only has Crestview Presbyterian Church generously committed to being a $500 "Banner Sponsor" for our Dot Dash 2021, but to encourage participation from their members, the missions’ team is also providing an additional 50% match of the entrance fee for any member who registers for this year's event. Crestview hopes to have at least 30 members participate so that they can donate another $500 to reach the "Community Partner" sponsorship level. We are so thankful for this wonderful show of support!
We would like to challenge all of our host and support congregations to follow the example Crestview has set up! Let's see how many of our churches we can get involved! |
| | | Thank You for Making Time for Change a Big Success! |
| | Sending out a big collective "THANK YOU!" for joining us with our first annual Time for Change initiative! Through your generous giving we surpassed our $5000 goal and raised over $9000, which allowed us to collect a matching grant of an additional $5000. With your help, we are able to affect change for even more children and families in Butler County! |
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