Covenant Presbyterian has been an important part of our work at The Road Home since we first began working with families in 1999.
by Nan Schaefer
In the spring of 1999, Covenant Presbyterian joined the coalition of about 40 area churches and synagogues, working with Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), to begin providing temporary housing to families with children experiencing homelessness. In 2018, when (now re-named) The Road Home phased out shelter to focus on housing and support services, Covenant continued to help in ways suggested by The Road Home – helping provide meals for gatherings, doing some entertaining of kids while parents were in meetings, and providing food, snacks, etc. for other celebrations. These were all done on a rotating basis with other congregations.
In May 2019, when The Road Home and Madison Urban Ministries (now JustDane) opened Healing House, our volunteers began providing meals for families there about four times a year. When our week is announced, the volunteer spots are filled within days. People find this a rewarding way to help others, especially during this time of COVID-19. One personal favorite experience was one day last year when I was helping provide a dinner for two families at Healing House. One mom was trying to eat with her baby in her arms, so I took the baby and had such a nice time with baby snuggles. My grandchildren are past the baby stage now, so this was wonderful.
In addition, each year we participate in the Sharing the Holidays program, and in the past have taken on 3-4 families to provide gifts for. This year, however, as needs have increased and people are feeling the desire to help even more due to COVID-19 difficulties, we are providing $50 gift certificates and grocery gift cards to 9 families in The Road Home’s housing programs. Our members have been happy to help in this new way.