Family Promise is a national organization that leverages local resources (faith communities/congregations and non profit organizations) to provide temporary housing to unhoused families as they transition to permanent housing. Family Promise North Shore is based in Evanston and works with approximately 30 congregations in the North Shore, including Am Yisrael and five other synagogues. We encourage you to read more about the work of Family Promise: https://www.familypromisechicagons.org/
Now is the perfect time to spread some light in our community as we again host Family Promise at Am Yisrael. We hope you will join us in welcoming our guests December 24 to December 31.
You and your family can choose a shift – either serving and eating dinner with our guests, or spending the night at the synagogue. You can also volunteer to donate food for lunches that our volunteers pack each day and send off with our guests in the morning. If you sign up to donate food, we will provide you with instructions on specific items to purchase, including appropriate kashrut information, specific brands, etc. All food donations will have to be store bought and provided in unopened packages. Click here to go to our secure website to sign up to volunteer.
For those of you who have volunteered before, we don’t expect much will change. For those who have not yet had the opportunity to volunteer, you can find more information about what to expect by visiting our secure website. Click here to learn more. The week before our guests arrive, we will send all volunteers an email confirming your availability and sharing information about the families we will be hosting.
As a Jewish community, we have spent the last weeks feeling a range of emotions, including the fear and isolation that comes from rising anti-Semitism and also the hope and promise of our collective actions in response to unsettling threats. We urge you to consider getting involved in Family Promise now as a way to get to know our neighbors in the North Shore and as a way to build rich, diverse networks of community support.
Headed up by Annette Doherty and Aleeza Strubel, we have a loyal and reliable pool of volunteers, but we are always looking to increase our numbers.