Maitland Pres is a new host site for Family Promise of Greater Orlando! Family Promise host sites provide lodging, meals and hospitality to families experiencing homelessness for one week at a time. For the families, each day begins with breakfast at a host site with volunteers, followed by a van ride to the Family Promise Resource Center, work or daycare. At 5:30 the guests return to the church, where volunteers provide dinner and spend some quality time. The evening hours are for homework, relaxing and family fun time. Each day ends with the family all together, under one roof.
Our congregation will be hosting up to four families the week of December 17 - 24, 2023. We need lots of volunteers and would love for you to partner with us! Volunteers are needed in the following areas:
Dinner: Cook or serve dinner for the families and spend time with the parents and children in the early evening hours. A meal plan will be provided to guide cooking teams in selecting a meal to prepare.
Food Pantry: A food pantry with extra items will be open for the families. Volunteers will check the pantry each day to organize the food and report items that need to be purchased.
Breakfast/Lunch: Breakfast and to-go lunches are provided every morning. Volunteers prepare and clean up these meals before families leave for the day.
Saturday Hosts: These volunteers host the families in the church during the day on Saturday and play games or offer help as needed.
Overnight Hosts: At least two adults (or an adult and teenager) from the church will stay in the building overnight to assist with emergencies or questions. Overnight hosts will sleep in the youth room.
Set up and Break Down: At the beginning and end of the week, all beds and supplies from Family Promise will be loaded into and out of the building. Each afternoon, the beds and rooms will be set up, then the beds will be broken down and stored each morning to accommodate the schools in our building during the day.
Post Program: After our host week, volunteers are needed to wash the bedding and towels and organize/restock our supplies.
Trailer Driver: At the end of our host week, a volunteer with a pick up truck will tow the trailer with beds and other Family Promise supplies to the next host church in Orlando.
In preparation for this new program, over the summer we will be collecting the following items:
Twin sheets and pillow cases, twin sized blankets, towels, small lamps (preferably battery operated), combination locks, adult sized flip flops, brown paper lunch bags, sandwich size zip lock bags, laundry detergent, board games, art supplies, plastic child sized plates, cups, forks and spoons, granola bars, individual chip bags, boxes of cereal, lemonade powder, coffee, disposable water bottles, individual toothbrushes and toothpaste, Costco-sized shampoo, conditioner and body wash, three in one shampoo/conditioner/soap for children, deodorant for men and women, maxi pads and tampons, shower caps, hair brushes and combs, washcloths, shaving cream and razors.
If you would like to be on our email list for more information about how to help, email mcollins@maitlandpres.org. We will have a Minute for Mission in May to share more about this program and how to sign up!
Volunteering Training Videos can be found here: