Each congregation hosts our families 2 – 4 times a year, for a week at a time. In most of these congregations, each family has a private sleeping room. Everything that each family needs for the week is provided by the volunteers from the congregation: food, beds, and fellowship. During the day the families in our program make our Day Center their home base, going to and from school or jobs, looking for employment and housing, caring for preschoolers.

The Day Center has facilities for bathing, doing laundry, cooking and eating, playing, reading, watching TV and doing homework. Family Promise of Anoka County staff is always available to provide case management services to assist families in regaining their independence. We are also unique because of the way we think about the families we serve. Our congregational volunteers generally think of their place of worship as an extension of their home and their fellow volunteers as an extension of their family. This is why the families we serve are called our “guests” and why our staff and volunteers work very hard to make our shelter program as “homelike” as possible.   

Another unique aspect of our shelter program is the way our services are paid for. Most other shelter programs in the metro area are funded by counties and by fees paid by homeless families. Family Promise of Anoka County is different — all of our services are supported by donations from individuals, families, congregations, corporations and foundations. We also have some government support, in the form of grants for specific expenses or programs.

Family Promise of Anoka County provides emergency shelter services for 4 families or 14 individuals at a time.