Foundation for the Homeless is Golfing for a "Mighty Fine" Cause
Foundation for the Homeless (FFH) is hosting its
10th Annual Golf Marathon at Lost Creek Country Club, on April 27th.
Big names like Mighty
Fine Burgers, Temple-Inland, Waterloo Ice House, Tito's Vodka and many others are
getting involved to support the cause. Mighty Fine accepted the role of title
host after donating $29,000 to FFH in
January. This year the honorary chair for the
marathon is Austin Statesman's, sports writer, Kirk Bohls.
Thirty
or more volunteer teams are asking for sponsorships and donation pledges from family,
friends and businesses, to each raise a minimum of $2500. Teams consist of 1 to 4 players who play 100
holes of golf. All money raised will be used to support
homeless families and individuals in the Austin
area.
The Golf Marathon is FFH's largest source of general
funding. Executive Director, Sharon
Lowe, says that the goal for this year is to raise $140,000, nearly one
third of the total funds needed to support programs. "Foundation for the Homeless' work is only
partially funded by government resources... we depend on individual and
congregational donations to make up the difference needed to address suffering
from hunger, homelessness and poverty."
FFH staff
coordinates programs utilizing networks of more than 3,000 volunteers from more
than 70 congregations and community groups.
Programs include Family Promise/Interfaith Hospitality
Network, Passages case management and the longest running program, Feed My
People, which serves hot
breakfasts and services to 300-400
chronically homeless and working poor adults twice each week.
FFH is the only
organization in the Austin
area that routinely provides temporary housing and case management services to two-parent
homeless families with children under the age of 18. FFH's Family Promise/IHN
program utilizes congregational facilities as shelter and allows all the
members of a family to stay together.
According to latest homeless count conducted by ECHO in January
2009, 4600 individuals are homeless in Austin-Travis County.
It is estimated that 50% are members of families with children and 30% are
children. This figure does not include families in doubled-up arrangements.
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 The Secret of Life
The secret of life, though,
is to fall seven times
and to get up eight times.
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
All
I needed to know about resilience could have been learned by working
with the homeless families and individuals I've met through Foundation
for the Homeless. Every day, I watch mothers and fathers turning
themselves inside-out to give their children a chance for a better
life. I see them coming to grips with the traumas and injustices that
have been inflicted upon them and the poor choices or mistakes they may
have made in the past. Somehow, they find the courage and faith to move
through the pain and move forward with life. I, along with the staff
and volunteers for our Family Promise/Interfaith Hospitality Network
and Passages programs all benefit from witnessing the courage and faith
of these families and are grateful for it.
At
the Feed My People breakfast program which serves 300-400 homeless
adults twice each week, I see volunteers with gentle faces talking with
the guests, and beatific smiles on the faces of the food servers.
The guests too, seem warmed by the friendships made there.
Recently, one of the guests, a Katrina survivor, got his own apartment
and volunteers donated the furniture while we arranged for it to be
delivered together with food from CAFB. For staff, it was a
chance to witness the kind of happy outcome for a chronically homeless
individual that we routinely witness for the families with children in
our Family Promise/Interfaith Hospitality Network and Passages
programs. During 2008, 91% of IHN families exited into safe, stable
housing, 76% improved their income and 25% of all IHN families were
able to break through the 100% Median Family Income for Austin by exit.
A
study released recently by Martin Seligman, the father of positive
psychology, suggested that one of the secrets of happiness is to find a
place where one can give of self for something larger than self.
I suspect that those who donate their time, talent and treasures to our
programs already know this.
I further suspect that our donors
and volunteers, including, former clients, benefit from practicing
"reverence" whether or not they would call it that. We practice
reverence when we recognize and treat others, including strangers, as
sacred-as "thou," rather than "it". By practicing reverence, we hallow
God and others and open our hearts to increased wholeness. This allows
us to be more present to self and to others. Reverence is a gift that
keeps on giving. Albert Einstein put it this way:
From
the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know:
that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon
whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and
also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected
by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer
and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men [and
women], both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert
myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.
The
programs of Foundation for the Homeless: Family Promise/IHN Shelter,
Passages Supportive Services, the new Rapid Re-Housing Demonstration
Project and the Feed My People Breakfast Program offer each of us a
chance to be part of changing lives for the better--our own and
others. I invite you to join me in this experience by donating or
volunteering.
Sharon Lowe
Executive Director
Foundation for the Homeless
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Message 
So far this quarter 11 of our families have moved into housing.
April 29th, a large group from
South Austin Cares remodeled the Day Resource Center's backyard.
They created an area of peace and tranquility, which is suitable for
both the adults and kids.
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Having
a safe place to lay your head at night is something most of us take for
granted. Unfortunately, there are many families in Austin that
cannot do that. We hope you will join us in creating
new possibilities for these families. 
