Family Promise of Escambia County helps fight homelessness one family at a time

If you see the homeless of our community as a sad monolith - the weathered, bummed and often desperate person holding a sign at the intersection asking for help, or the person sleeping on a park bench or alleyway - you're just seeing a small bit of a much more extensive picture.

Because more often, the homeless in our area are people like Jennifer Hendrieth, a 37-year-old single mother of three, a former victim of domestic abuse who works fulltime and still faces financial difficulties and stress-inducing challenges that sometimes would overwhelm her.

Hendrieth and her children are homeless. She and her two daughters, 15 and 11 years old, live with Hendrieth's mother, the mother's fiancé and a sister in a Pensacola two-bedroom apartment. Hendrieth's son, 18, is now staying at another sister's house in Louisiana. Before he graduated from high school this year, Hendrieth's son was living at the Pensacola apartment with his sister, while Hendrieth was in her sister's home in Louisiana.

When he graduated, they switched places.

"I had to leave my kids here while I went over (to Louisiana),'' she said. "Having to leave my kids was stressful. I would get really bad nose bleeds. It's just overwhelming sometimes. I work, pay my bills, I have a car note, my kids are on my insurance. I'm trying to do what's right, but sometimes it just feels like too much. I just thank God for Donna and Family Promise."

Donna is Donna Pruett. She is the community advocate for Family Promise of Escambia County, a chapter of the national Family Promise organization, which is a interfaith organization whose mission is to help families achieve housing stabilization through a community-based response, one family at a time.

In January, the group plans to expand its local mission with a downtown day center and the launching of its interfaith church partnership that lets families stay in church facilities overnight. During the day, the family members could stay at the downtown day center which would provide showers, laundry facilities, internet access and more.

A 2020 report by the United Way of Florida indicated that about 46% of Escambia County residents earn less than the area's basic cost of living.

Hendrieth started writing different organizations asking for help and assistance.

"Either I didn't hear back or they always told me they couldn't help," she said. "But then Donna reached out. Thank God for her. I have hope now. Without her, I wouldn't have that. I'd still be crying trying to figure out what I'm going to do."

What Pruett and Family Promise did was hook Hendrieth up with a real estate agent working with the organization who is readying a home for Hendrieth and her children, a home that will be ready for them to move into sometime in December. Family Promise is paying first-month's rent and deposit, and the real estate agent, Charles Stallion, is working with Hendrieth to keep her costs as low as possible.

Family Promise of Escambia County began in 2020 after a year of informational meetings with various local groups and receiving approval from the national organization. Family Promise has more than 200 affiliates across 42 states and has served more than 700,000 individuals, the majority of whom are children.

The local affiliate has been working with local nonprofits such as United Way, United Ministries of Pensacola and the Children's Home Society to connect families such as Hendrieth's with rental assistance, utility assistance and other forms of support.

In January, Family Promise of Escambia County will open up a day center in downtown Pensacola, though the organization has not yet released the location. It will also launch its interfaith partnership, which Family Promise affiliate leaders have worked to broaden since its inception.

Are you willing to go a night without a bed? Homeless advocates want you to try.

The way the program works is that churches provide space for families to sleep overnight, and Family Promise provides beds and bedding. Trained volunteers from the church or the community spend evenings with the families: preparing and serving meals, helping with children with homework and making sure guests are comfortable and safe. Participating churches would host families - no more than four families - for a week. Another church would pick up the next week.

Families are never in the church alone (some of the volunteers stay overnight) and they leave early in the morning to go to work or to a Family Promise day center where they receive case management, job training, showers, laundry facilities, life skills training and other support. Family Promise of Escambia County currently has partnership commitments from eight area churches, but hopes to get to 13 local churches willing to assist families with temporary shelter.

The Escambia affiliate recently hired a new executive director, Jennifer Lusher, to lead the organization as it grows and its mission expands. Lusher was previously an official with United Ministries of Pensacola.

"I'm excited because (Lusher) has brought us so far in such a short time," Pruett said. "We have a lot to do, but we're definitely going in the right direction."

Lusher said that 88% of Family Promise families nationwide secure housing within nine weeks.

According to Family Promise of Escambia County, there are more than 1,800 homeless school-age children in Escambia County. Many of these children - and their parents - don't show up on typical homeless counts such as the annual "Point in Time" homeless survey.

"Some families won't self-identity because there's still this stigma about homelessness," Lusher said. "Most aren't the folks standing outside at the intersection. They're couch surfing. There are families staying in car but stay hidden because of the fear of their kids being taken away."

Hendrieth said she and her children were evicted from their apartment after experiencing major financial problems and she moved with her sister to Slidell, Louisiana, in September of 2022, while her children went to stay with her mom.

"I'm grateful I have great kids,'' she said. "They know what's going on and I know it affects them, but they make good grades and don't hang out. It was tough being separated. I know it's tough on my mom as well. It's still tough on her. She's having to put up with so much. I know it drives her nuts all the stuff we have around."

She is hopeful that the new year, and a new home, will bring better times.

Family Promise building support network for homeless Escambia children and families

"I want them to be comfortable and stable and have a good life," Hendrieth said. "I'm doing everything I can now - I'm there for them from sun-up to sundown and feel so stressed right now. But it's going to get better. I know the only way I could get back on top was to be separated for a while, but it was hard."

Gadsden Street United Methodist Church is one of the area churches that has partnered with Family Promise of Escambia County, and which will be hosting families. The church already has various family rooms and children's areas complete with toys, furniture, books and more. Pruett is a longtime member of the church.

"I think our church has the desire to help in our community and somewhere between not being able to do anything and just giving people a handout is a systematic response that helps keep families together. Churches have a lot of space, and sometimes that space is not being used. This is new to Escambia County, but not the United States. There are congregations across the country addressing homelessness this way. I think it's a really great way to address it."

For more information on Family Promise of Escambia County, including ways to donate, volunteer or provide shelter, go to Family Promise of Escambia County | Support.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Family Promise of Escambia County fights homelessness