Family Promise finds new home for Francis House at Sarasota's Pine Shores Presbyterian

Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·6 min read
Family Promise of Sarasota Manatee moved Francis House – a shelter designed for expectant mothers, or mothers of newborns who also have a 3-year-old child – to a house on the campus of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church at 6114 Crestwood Ave., Sarasota.
Family Promise of Sarasota Manatee moved Francis House – a shelter designed for expectant mothers, or mothers of newborns who also have a 3-year-old child – to a house on the campus of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church at 6114 Crestwood Ave., Sarasota.

Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee has moved Francis House, a shelter for single mothers with newborns and another child younger than age 3, to a larger home near Pine Shores Presbyterian Church. The three-bedroom home will allow the nonprofit to serve larger families in need.

“We put the word out to our partners that we are open and looking to interview,” Tara Maffei, executive director of Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee, said during a recent interview and tour of the new home at 6114 Crestwood Ave., Sarasota.

In October 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee was in the process of reestablishing itself after a reorganization and had enlisted churches to participate in the traditional model of National Family Promise. That model is to offer families temporary shelter, typically in churches, while working to find them permanent housing.

That morphed into the nonprofit’s Home For Good program, with volunteers offering assistance and counseling options and renegotiating rent payment schedules so families can remain in homes.

Doug Francis; Kevin McKenney, board chair for Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee; and Tara Maffei, executive director of Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee, sit around the dining table at the new Francis House, on the campus of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church. The nonprofit named the shelter after Francis as recognition of his efforts to resurrect the nonprofit, after it fell on hard times in late 2017 and early 2018.

“Since we’ve opened our doors in 2020, we’ve served our 317th family last week,” Maffei said.

Francis House, which launched a little more than a  year later, was designed to meet the need identified by the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness that between 20 and 30 expectant or recent single mothers with other children older than age 3 have nowhere else to go, other than emergency shelters.

That population was being under served by existing shelter options, such as Our Mother’s House in Venice and Solve Maternity Homes in Sarasota, where single mothers seeking shelter can have up to two children younger than age 3.

“The novelty of this program is that they can bring all of their custodial children with them; other programs they cannot,” Maffei said.

Francis House served two families at its previous site in Vamo, before closing last October; both moms are living in permanent homes now, one in Palmetto and one in Bradenton.

“Both moms were with us for about six months in total,” Maffei said. “We had two beautiful, healthy babies born.

This room is designed to be “mom’s bedroom” at Francis House. It includes a queen size bed, is adjacent to the laundry area and opens to a fenced-in backyard, where older children can play. Each new mom receives a new pack and play (foreground) for their baby that they take with them when they leave the program.
This room is designed to be “mom’s bedroom” at Francis House. It includes a queen size bed, is adjacent to the laundry area and opens to a fenced-in backyard, where older children can play. Each new mom receives a new pack and play (foreground) for their baby that they take with them when they leave the program.

“We learned a lot about dealing with high-risk mothers,” she added. “There were mothers dealing with preeclampsia and a lot of other chronic conditions from having been homeless during pregnancy.

“So we learned a lot about needing to bring in more partners that can support their journey, so we now have a volunteer who’s an RN who’s coordinating our health efforts and we have the Parish Nurses who come by once a week.”

‘Speed of light’ agreement

Maffei said the nonprofit had been looking for a new house to rent for Francis House when The Rev. Bill Sitterley, interim pastor at Pine Shores Presbyterian Church, reached out.

Sitterlly wanted to know what the church could do to help the non-denominational nonprofit.

“Speed of light, two weeks later, we were meeting with them and signing an agreement,” Maffei said.

The fenced back yard at Francis House, which is on the grounds of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, is a safe place for children to play, or for family gatherings. Children can also play at the church’s playground elsewhere on the church property.
The fenced back yard at Francis House, which is on the grounds of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, is a safe place for children to play, or for family gatherings. Children can also play at the church’s playground elsewhere on the church property.

Several parishioners have been active with Family Promise and talked with him about its mission.

“We talk about caring for our neighbor but we can’t leave that as an abstraction,” Sitterley said. “There has to be practical ways to work that out.

“Particularly because we had had a history with them and Family Promise, it seemed like a no-brainer for things to come together.”

That spirit is echoed by the volunteers who make up Family Promise, which became Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee in 2021 to avoid confusion with its sister nonprofit, Family Promise of South Sarasota County.

A larger facility

Maffei said many of the calls she gets in the Home For Good program tend to be for larger families.

That’s something that the new Francis House can accommodate, with three bedrooms and a fenced back yard. Because there is only one bathroom, Family Promise would house either one mother with multiple children or two single expectant mothers with children, or an expectant mother who doesn’t meet criteria for other programs.

This room at Francis House, which has a twin bed, a bunk bed and a chair that pulls out into a child’s bed, could accommodate as many as four children.
This room at Francis House, which has a twin bed, a bunk bed and a chair that pulls out into a child’s bed, could accommodate as many as four children.

Family Promise Board Chairman Kevin McKenney noted, “That’s the other side of the spectrum that we were serving, – other places usually don’t take a family until the birth of the child.”

The current house has one bedroom with two bunk beds, a twin bed and a chair that folds out into a child’s bed; a second bedroom with twin beds; and a third “mom’s bedroom” with a queen size bed donated by the congregation at Pine Shores, with space for a Pack and Play crib and access to the laundry room and the fenced-in backyard.

This room at Francis House, with two twin beds, could accommodate a mother and a child or two children
This room at Francis House, with two twin beds, could accommodate a mother and a child or two children

A welcoming neighborhood

In addition to being welcomed by Pine Shores, the concept of Francis House has been welcomed by immediate neighbors in the community of Pine Shores itself – which still consists primarily of ranch style homes occupied by friendly neighbors – like Sue Bridgeman.

Bridgeman walked across the street to say hello, saw that the home needed curtains and offered to pitch in.

“She wanted to do something and participate so she made the curtains,” Maffei said. “It’s so funny because little gifts like that are what turns this into  a home vs. just a program facility.

“Little touches like that make it feel warm.”

Sue Bridgeman welcomed Francis House to the neighborhood by making these living room curtains as well as other curtains in the three-bedroom house.
Sue Bridgeman welcomed Francis House to the neighborhood by making these living room curtains as well as other curtains in the three-bedroom house.

Maffei marvels at the neighborhood where the mothers seeking shelter at Francis House will share. In addition to the secure backyard play area, moms are welcome to use the playground at the church and Little Free Library book stands are in easy strolling distance.

“I feel like a mom staying here will get a lot out if it,” she said. “There’s a charm to this neighborhood.

“It’s tough to know that whoever comes here only stays a few months but I like to think that it’s something that stays with them.”

Francis house gets its name as a tribute to Doug Francis, a former board chair and COO and treasurer for the Sarasota Ministerial Association.

A tribune to tenacity

By 2017, the nonprofit had dwindled to two board members, no staff and had waning membeship.

He started meeting with pastors of area churches in an attempt to rekindle their interest.

“Long story short, over the next three years we put together 20 churches, 21 churches but we had enough host churches to actually start the program,” Francis said.

Doug Francis made this sign for Francis House – a shelter designed for expectant mothers, or mothers of newborns who also have a 3-year-old child – which is operated by Family Promise of Sarasota-Manatee. The shelter was named to honor Francis, who met with pastors at area churches to rekindle support for the nonprofit that had suffered from lack of support in late 2017, early 2018.

Maffei, who was signed on as the executive director, quickly added “You could see why we had to honor Doug with this house.

“If it wasn’t for his tenacity and commitment over those years, this organization would not be here.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Family Promise works with Sarasota church to relocate shelter