EPC

STRONG COMMUNITIES

The vision of Strong Communities is for every child and every parent to be confident that someone will notice and someone will care whenever they ahve cause for joy, sorrow, or worry. You play a role in making this vision a reality in your community.

Several Upstate counties are involved in Building Dreams, an outreach effort to children who have an incarcerated parent. We always need more volunteers to serve as mentors to develop relationships with children and offer nurturing support through personal contact during the time the parents are away.

Maybe you are more comfortable addressing some of the other needs of families with an incarcerated parent. The remaining caregiver deals with the same practical challenges as other single parents and could really use help from someone to help share the burden of these increased responsibilities.

Some churches are involved in Safe Families, a faith-based alternative to the formal foster care system. Safe Families serve as partners to the biological famkly by offering supplementary rather than substitute care. Perhaps a parent is ill which affects the available care. Partner families are volunteers and they do not receive any reimbursement for their time or expenses.

Safe Families is a faithbased organization developed in Chicago. See safe families for more information.

If you would like to be involved in Strong Communities, contact Jill.