I imagine one of the things that comes to mind is “home cooking.”  Our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness also dream of home cooking.  When families leave the shelter for their own place, they need to supply all their furniture and household items.  In order to help these families get settled, the people of Promise Church collected Cuisinart pots and pans provided by Shaw’s Supermarkets.

Shaw’s offered one stamp for every $10 spent; we needed 100 – 120 stamps for the size cookware we wanted to collect, so we asked our friends for help.  People from UCC churches, churches of other denominations, local groups and individuals, all combined their stamps in the weeks before Christmas.  These stamps were redeemed and the result was 40 saucepans, fry pans and chef’s pans to give to families to use when they are in shelter and to take with them as they leave shelter for their own place.  Dorothy Newell, president of Friends of the Homeless said, “A new skillet for a family moving into our homeless shelters!  What could be more welcome!  And many thanks to Shaw’s stamps and all who collected them to make this Promise Church project possible.”

Helping the shelters run by the South Shore Friends of the Homeless has been an ongoing mission of Promise Church.  Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore is dedicated to helping homeless families by providing food, clothing, furniture, shelter, education, and advocacy.  They address a whole range of needs, from physical to emotional, from personal to social, and from psychological to spiritual.

Promise Church is a newly forming church in care of the Pilgrim Association of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.  We gather for worship and fellowship in homes around the South Shore area.  It is sometimes hard for such a small congregation to see that they are making a difference.  With the help of many friends, this pile of cookware is a visible expression of our care for others.

Friends of the Homeless is grateful to Promise Church for their commitment to helping home-ready families get the items they need to move in. If your church would like to participate in a similar way, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Dorothy Newell at info@friendsofhomeless.org