A lack of basic resources can often be what moves a struggling family to become a family in crisis. Tangible items such as a crib or coat, or services from a dentist or mechanic may be the hand of help a family needs to keep themselves from losing touch with hope.

Safe Refuge for Children and Families “Resource Friends” are a collection of resource rich individuals who have the ability to share their skills or material goods with families that are on the edge. Guided by our Family Friends, distribution of these gifts are connected directly to urgent, pressing needs of families.

Resources Friends include:

– Counselors
– Dentists
– Doctors
– Educators
– Lawyers
– Mechanics
– Those able to share material goods

By becoming a Resource Friend you fill an essential role in the Safe Refuge for Children and Families program. No one can provide exactly what you can share with a family in crisis. Thank you for your support.

Safe Refuge for Children and Families is committed to supporting parents and bringing love and healing into families that are often isolated and alone. By becoming a Family Friend, your mentoring relationship becomes the cornerstone of healthy living and healing as your family supports and strengthens another family so that they may thrive. The theology regarding God’s promise that he puts the lonely in a family is manifested in this primary relationship between your two families.

Responsibilities of a Family Friend may include, but are not limited to:

– Providing friendship
– Listening when a parent wants to talk
– Providing encouragement when a parent needs a little extra support
– Sharing helpful information about parenting and life in general
– Connecting needy parents to a vast resource network of services and items available
– Supporting parents with children placed with Host Families
– Advocating with for families seeking the proper academic setting, mental and physical health opportunities and other resources for their children.

Family Friends are trained volunteers that are supported by a network of resources that includes: community development organizations, schools, clinics, counseling and churches.

If your church is interested in becoming a vital and vibrant contributor in your community, becoming a Safe Refuge Church is easy. Follow these simple steps and get started today:

1. Contact our office and fill out the church profile form including a staff contact that will represent the volunteer ministry.

2. Meet with local Safe Refuge for Children and Families agency to select ministry launch date and your plan to share Safe Refuge with your congregation. (All churches).

3. Work with local agency as they initially handle administrative duties and case management as you create or implement Safe Refuge within your existing church ministries or start a new one. (Only churches that select this level of involvement).

4. Once you identify volunteer leadership, your local agency will help to train and support them as they begin to tackle their new roles. (Only churches that select this level of involvement).