NORFOLK
Mayor Paul Fraim's Faith Partnership initiative to reduce homelessness gained traction Tuesday as 28 faith-based groups registered interest in donating money and volunteers.
Nearly 70 faith groups attended a lunch meeting at Freemason Street Baptist Church where Fraim asked congregations each to provide $1,000 annually and volunteers to mentor homeless families.
Personal relationships between homeless families and volunteers would be a key supplement to practical aid such as rental assistance, Fraim said.
"The faith community is uniquely positioned to provide these relationships for families without strong social support," he said.
The partnership was an easy sell among churches such as Freemason, where the Rev. Stephen Jolly said the venture fit the congregation's religious mandate.
"We are to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves," he said. "We're going to do whatever we can together to end the pain of the homelessness situation."
Fraim said the partnership would be cost-effective as well as morally sound.
"It's what our faith requires of us," said Fraim, who is Catholic. "As my faith guides me, the ultimate measure of our society is found in how we treat the least among us."
Fraim conceded that the city historically had left the task of helping homeless families to Norfolk's faith-based groups. "Years ago, the city's policy was to have no policy" on homelessness, he said.
Neil Walsh, justice and peace coordinator of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, said he hoped to generate interest, money and volunteers for the partnership.
"I am very pleased," he said. "We've been after the mayor for many years for the city to play a role" in reducing homelessness.
Katie Kitchin, who directs the city's Office to End Homelessness, said churches plan to provide two to six volunteers to be mentors. Volunteers would be trained this fall in how to help homeless families in areas such as managing personal finances and parenting.
The mentors would work with their assigned family at least seven times over half a year and report to the city on the family's progress, Kitchin said.
The $1,000 annual contribution would go through The Planning Council, a nonprofit organization, to help cover families' short-term housing rental costs.
Despite the faith-based dimension, the program would bar volunteer mentors from proselytizing homeless people.
"It's important to make sure they don't feel their participation in the program is a quid pro quo for attending religious activities," Kitchin said of homeless families.
She said Norfolk tallied about 3,000 homeless people a year, part of the 11,000 homeless seen across South Hampton Roads' communities.
Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
