Family Promise and Temple Beth El

For about two years, Temple Beth El members have been able to participate a few times a year in a program called Family Promise. Family Promise engages both the local community, as well as houses of faith, in the effort to combat family homelessness. Learn more at: www.familypromiseosb.org.

Temple Beth El and San Pedro United Methodist Church work together with many hands-on volunteers. Pastor Lisa of SPUMC coordinates the housing and accommodations while Temple Beth El provides meals and fellowship for up to four South Bay families. The families stay in private converted classrooms with beds and bathrooms. Our volunteers participate in several ways at the church. They may be part of the set-up of the dining room, provide dinner, or they can dine and socialize with the guests. There is time for entertaining the children with books and toys or provide homework help for older children. There are always one to two volunteers who spend the night in comfortable private quarters and are available in case of an emergency.

On November 3 and 4, we had a wonderful group of volunteers and the two evenings went very smoothly. Laurel Perry coordinates the volunteers. This time our volunteers were Dani Paquin, Sharyl Holtzman, Elliott Brunner, Renee Simon Gormley, Eliot and Gale Swartz, Tina Gross, Lori Ikari, Marla  Shwarts, Ben Pogorelsky, Neli and Emil Yevdayev and Cathy Howard from the Las Candalistas charity.

We hope you can join us in the spring when we volunteer again.