First Baptist Church serves as a host congregation once every quarter for the local chapter of Family Promise, a national organization that assists homeless and low-income families.
The goal of Family Promise is to provide these families with housing, consistent meals, and assistance in finding jobs and permanent housing in order to help them achieve sustainable independence. By uniting the faith community in Knoxville, Family Promise is able to provide housing and meals for families in local churches with each church hosting families for a week at a time.
At least two church volunteers are on-site to help assist guests with any needs. Guests are provided with dinner, breakfast, and packed lunches for the day. During the day, guests can go to the Day Center called
Harley House where they have resources to assist them find jobs and housing as well as many other social service needs.
Nationally, Family Promise has an 80% success rate in helping families to secure permanent housing. For more information about the national organization go to www.familypromise.org or to www.familypromiseknoxville.org for information about Knoxville’s Family Promise network.
