Family Promise of Jacksonville expands to offer lifesaving support to more homeless families

Tameika Walton was broken.

Her family, evicted from their Georgia home after a financial "rough patch," she said, had come to Florida in search of better opportunities. Her husband was in Fort Lauderdale looking for work. She and her three children and mother came to Jacksonville, where her uncle had offered housing.

But her husband had not found work. Her uncle did not answer his phone and they had no idea where he lived. Two weeks later, she, her children, and her mother were living in the family vehicle, stranded at a park on Jacksonville's Northside during oppressively hot weather, having run out of money, food and hope.

"It was so terrible. Devastating. We didn't have anywhere we could go," Walton said. "I was just sitting in the park, crying, praying, in a place I didn't know even anybody. I didn't know what to do."

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Eventually, she and her family landed at Family Promise of Jacksonville, which, through a network of 15 churches, provides temporary housing and other support to help homeless families get back on their feet and keep at-risk families in their homes. The nonprofit is also known for its annual Cardboard City fundraiser in which supporters spend the night outside in cardboard boxes or tents to get an inkling of being homeless.

To better serve its growing clientele, the 15-year-old agency recently relocated from its longtime home at First United Methodist Church downtown to a renovated and larger space at Arlington Congregational Church.

The nonprofit will have open houses Sunday and Wednesday.

Rent increases drive current demand

The new headquarters has private case management offices, a shelter family lounge, private respite rooms for families and a playground.

About 30% of the U.S. homeless population are families with children. When it was founded in 2006, Family Promise had two part-time staff members and now has three full-time and three part-time workers. Over the years they have helped 418 families with 1,373 family members, 93 families in 2021 alone, according to the agency.

Because of rising rents and the resulting evictions and lack of affordable housing, demand has never been higher, Executive Director Mark Landschoot said.

"The whole rent market is horrible. Families we had stabilized are not stable anymore," he said.

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Development Director Beth Mixson said 25% of rental property is owned by corporations that may not be aware of local conditions.

"It's not necessarily Joe and Mary who bought a couple of houses in the community, who invested in the community," she said. "These landlords are not even in the state."

Family Promise cites the Waltons, who first came to Jacksonville in 2010, as one of their brightest success stories. But the family's journey had many peaks and valleys, she said.

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On that hot day in the park, Walton and her children, ages 3, 9 and 15, and her mother finally received food from a woman having a birthday party nearby. And a rainstorm cooled the temperature.

"Lord, you've got a great sense of humor," Walton remembered saying to the heavens.

But more crises occurred.

Her husband was arrested in Fort Lauderdale — and later released — in a case of mistaken identity. That shook her to her core.

"I was broken," she said. "I gave up."

Her uncle finally called but did not provide space in his home. Instead, he put the family up for a week at a motel. A friend of his family took them to the Jacksonville Housing Authority and other agencies to apply for assistance.

But after the motel stay ended, the family spent the weekend split up among three local shelters: Walton and her children at one, her husband at another and her mother at still another.

Walton kept praying. "Lord, you work it out," she said.

Then they were connected with Family Promise, which provided housing together at one place and all the supplies they needed. They helped Walton's husband get a driver's license and a forklift operator's license and, soon after, a job.

"My face was wet with tears," she said. "I wanted to shout."

Family Promise churches house up to three families at a time, providing dinner and overnight shelter. Each day, families return to the nonprofit's Family Resource Center where they have access to computers, storage for belongings, laundry facilities and showers. Churches donate breakfast and lunch food that the families prepare for themselves.

The parents meet with case managers who develop individualized plans focused on housing, job readiness and employment, as well as medical, child care, clothing and furniture needs.

"If you went to Family Promise and you did not succeed, it's because you did not want to succeed," Walton said. "They give you the tools. They make sure you have what you need."

She got a job as a security guard, but her vehicle broke down. Landschoot had the vehicle towed to a dealership for repairs and, until it was fixed, took her to her night-shift job himself.

"I am in debt to Family Promise," Walton said. "They literally saved my life, my family's lives."

'You're always family'

Even after they were out of temporary housing and into their own apartment, during setbacks the nonprofit would continue to help. The Family Promise pantry was available for food or toiletries.

When Walton got sick after suffering a blood clot and could not work for five months, the churches pitched in with meals and other support. When her daughter later contracted a mysterious autoimmune disease that for a time robbed her of her ability to walk and see, Family Promise was there, supporting the family at UF Health Jacksonville, Wolfson Children's Hospital and as Mayo Clinic specialists were called in.

"You're always family," Walton said.

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Many factors can impact a family's finances and ability to find and pay for housing, such as illness and unemployment, Mixson said.

"Our ability to address family homelessness as a community has stayed fairly stagnant," she said. "If they're not working enough [for whatever reason], they don't have enough money to afford housing."

Despite the challenges, the Waltons have finally achieved stability.

Walton, now 42, is a security supervisor and her husband, now 51, works at Amazon. They are preparing to buy a house back in Georgia so they can move her 65-year-old mother, who has dementia, closer to her roots.

Their oldest son is working and married with children. Her daughter has recovered from her illness and is studying psychology at Florida State College at Jacksonville, while the youngest son is in 10th grade at Terry Parker High School.

Walton credits God and Family Promise for the family's resilience and endurance.

"I feel grateful. I am a true believer," she said. "God puts no more on you than you can handle."

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But God put Family Promise in her path to help.

"Without Family Promise, I wouldn't have made it, plain and simple," she said. "My family wouldn't have made it."

Not all families who enter the nonprofit's pipeline ultimately succeed, Landschoot said. Some are unwilling or unable to do the work necessary; others succeed for a time, then return, he said.

The Waltons "worked hard. They really had the desire to be independent," he said. "They've done really well. … They didn't have a lot going for them."

Watching them overcome so many obstacles, he said, "validates what we do. This is what we want for every family … to live the American dream. If you just work the program and do what you're supposed to do, you'll be successful."

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

FAMILY PROMISE OF JACKSONVILLE

To seek help, donate, volunteer or get more information, contact the nonprofit at P.O. Box 40363, Jacksonville, FL 32203; (904) 354-1818; info@familypromisejax.org; or go to familypromisejax.org.

Walk-ins are not accepted; appointments are required. But open houses will be 12:30 to 2 p.m. Sunday or 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. Wednesday at their offices at 432 University Blvd. N., Jacksonville, 32211.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Family Promise of Jacksonville expands to help homeless in crisis