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Monthly Report 3/10/21
A Ministry Update from the Greater Milwaukee Area

Kids hosted this past month: 8, 24 nights of care in Feb.
Family Friendships this past month: 21, 3 of which were new in Feb.

Why We Seek To Be Invisible

Kaitlin & Laura share about how we want church communities to be the forefront support to parents, with Safe Families operating as the "invisible" support. They share three recent stories of how this works.

If you are a referral source and want to connect Safe Families with your organization, please email milwaukee@safefamilies.net for more information.

Safe Families Sunday:

Register your church for SF Sunday here.
RSVP for the Facebook Live event on April 25 at 6:30 central so you don't miss it!

Upcoming Virtual Trainings:

Safe Families Q&A's/ Introductions:
- Thursday, March 11th, 7:00-8:00pm
- Saturday, March 27th, 9:00-10:00am
Protective Factors (5-Part Series)
- Monday, March 8th , 5:00-7:00pm
  Monday, March 15th , 5:00-7:00pm
  Monday, March 22nd , 5:00-7:00pm
  Monday, March 29th , 5:00-7:00pm
  May 2021, 5:00-7:00pm
  May 2021, 5:00-7:00pm

Prayer:

PRAISE

For one mom in new housing!
For a change of heart in a professional who had previously been hostile to one of our SF Moms!
For God providing two new intake workers since our last newsletter! The newsletter was the sign from God that one woman needed to get started with intake!

PRAYER

For one mom whose husband just got home from 3 years in jail. Pray for her to be safe and to stay strong in the healthy living skills & spiritual growth that she's developed.
For all of our SF Churches to be wise about Covid yet also awake to the opportunities to serve their surrounding communities.
For one mom to find housing. Since she makes enough money working her 2 jobs, she doesn't qualify for any assistance to get housing.
For more parents to hear about Safe Families that need it.

Needs:

Special Events Extraordinaire – We are praying for one or more volunteers who are creative and innovative, have a keen eye for Details, good time management skills, passionate and enthusiastic, and possess superior organizational skills to join our team to pull off amazing events for our SFFC-MKE community. Contact Laura if interested.
Family Coaches from all churches! - Contact Kaitlin if interested.
Looking for connections to landlords. Contact Kaitlin if you know anyone.

New! Hostings Report

Jerod & Joanne W. - 1 yo girl (pictured) hosted for 6 weeks so that mom could get housing after a surprise forced move. Last week, mom moved in to a brand new, safe place! Little girl joined her shortly after. Thanks to other members of the team who have helped the mom find needed items for the new apartment! Hosting ended on 2/5/21.

Annie & Jeff H. - 2 day respite hosting of 2yo and 8 yo girls so that mom could work to save for a new apartment. They are in an ongoing Family Friendship with this family.

Jen and Dan K. - Hosting a 2 month old boy for 3 days. They had previously hosted the baby's mom in December and are now just supporting the mom as extended family would with respite, etc.
Cheryl & Mike. S. - 7 day hosting of two boys (8 & 4, pictured) started on 2/15/21 so their mom could get treatment.
Dyan & Kurt G. - 1 day hosting of two boys (15 & 12, pictured) so that their mom could rest and continue recovering from surgery. They are in an ongoing Family Friendship. The Jake and Laura L. Family is also Family Friends with the family.

New! Hosting & Family Friendship Church Team Report:

Brookfield Christian Reformed Church (Ministry Lead - Sharon)

Jasmine & Andrew M. - FF

Brookfield Lutheran Church (Ministry Lead - Denise)

Denise B. - Family Coaching

Crossway Church (Ministry Lead - L ynda)

Cheryl & Mike. S. - 4-7 day hosting (ended in Feb.)

Eastbrook Church (Ministry Lead - Anneke)

Annie & Jeff H. - FF plus respite hosting in Feb
Jen S. - FF
Jessica H. - FF (new in Feb.)
Jackie P. - Family Coaching

Elmbrook Church (Ministry Lead - Laura)

Jen K. - FF & Respite. PLUS hosted a newborn for 3 days in Feb.
Jake & Laura L. - FF
Lauren V. - FF (new in Feb)
Andrea D. - FF
Shannon O & Karen C. - FF
Jenni & Paco C. - FF
Sue M. - Family Coaching
Beth M. - Family Coaching
Jess K. - Family Coaching

Mercy Hill Church (Ministry Lead - none)

Meghan & Connor G + Sue H. - FF & Respite
Roxanne A. - Family Coaching
Jessica F. - Family Coaching

Parkway Church (Ministry Lead - J ulia)

Amy S. & Debra B. - FF (new in Feb)
Dyan G. - FF and respite hostings
Brian & Melissa H. & Tracey & Mike S. - FF (new in Feb)

Redemption Tosa (Ministry Lead - J ess)

Norah C. - FF
Michelle N + many helpers from the team - FF

RiverGlen Christian Church (Ministry Lead - A my (stand-in until we get another ML)

Jerod & Joanne W. - 1 yo girl hosting ended on 2/5/21
Jennifer E - FF
Teresa G & Laura J - FF
Janel O - FF
Betty Buckheit & Sam D. - FF

The Ridge Community Church (Ministry Lead - A lea)

Terri & Dave D. - FF
Janel L. - FF & Respite

Waukesha City Church (Ministry Lead - Amanda & Josh)

Amanda & Josh H. - FF

February Stories from Social Media

For Testimony Tuesday, we are happy to provide more evidence for what we at Safe Families claim: hostings become friendships become family. A one-month hosting of a baby from last year has turned into so much more. The mom, baby, and the host family are all one big family unit now. We heard from them that the mom needs to get medical attention next week, and the host family plans to care for the baby until she's recovered. Just like family. We hear stories like this so often, but it doesn't get represented in our data and stats because these relationships are no longer "Safe Families." They are just family.

We are so excited about this God Story for Testimony Tuesday. In May of 2019, our Engagement Coordinator, Laura, met with a representative from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Watertown. They had a fantastic meeting exploring the possibilities of a Church Partnership. Unfortunately, Good Shephered Lutheran Church is in Watertown of Jefferson County, which is technically outside of the bounds of the Milwaukee chapter. For many months, there was some confusion of how to engage Jefferson County, BUT GOD! God was working in hearts to open huge doors for Safe Families in Jefferson & Dodge Counties. So today we are thrilled to announce that there is a NEW Safe Families chapter in Jefferson & Dodge Counties. Furthermore, a MKE Host Family volunteer, Amanda Combs, is the newly commissioned Director for this new chapter. One of the first churches that Amanda got in contact with was Good Shepherd Lutheran in Watertown, and they are finally onboarding as a Partner Church! Sometimes something starts, and you don't know how it's going to end. In this case, we are so happy with the final results. Tag a friend or church below who resides in Jefferson & Dodge counties. Get started with Safe Families today!

For Family Friendship Friday, we want to highlight the friendship of Janel O. and Gabby (not her real name). Gabby is a young, expectant mom who has gone through a tough season and really wanted one-on-one mentoring support as she anticipates the arrival of her first baby this spring. Gabby's family attends a Safe Families partner church, so that's how she heard about Safe Families. In this situation, we were able to match Gabby with a volunteer from her own home church community! Since matching up in mid-January, Janel and Gabby have met weekly at the church, and we are so thankful for how Janel has extended warm and grace-filled love toward Gabby. In our minds, she is exhibiting true hospitality--treating Gabby like family even though she is not. We are also grateful for Gabby's courage to reach out for help--not only will she be stronger for it, but so will her baby! It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to raise a mother too!

It's Family Friendship Friday! Today, we will feature the story of Andrea D, a volunteer from our Elmbrook Church team, and Becka (not her real name). Becka reached out for social and emotional support from Safe Families, since she's going through a hard time trying to reunify with her children who are currently in out-of-home care. We matched Becka with Andrea D., a local mom of three, in October. They became fast friends, and we are so thankful for the creative ways Andrea has thought of to support Becka. She has figured out how to become a certified person whom Becka can have supervised visits with her children. She has sourced winter clothes for the kids, and she has gone trick-or-treating with Becka's family. She has helped Becka find housing, and she has helped Becka clean and move in to her apartment. And that's just the things we know of. We are sure there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. This is what we call Family Friendships--social and emotional support for parents so that they can achieve their parenting goals. Unconditional love & prayer. Seeing families strengthened. Praise God for divinely pairing Becka & Andrea together!

For Family Friendship Friday, we are happy to share about the Family Friendship that started (because it's Wisconsin) at Culver's. One of our @elmbrookchurch volunteers, Lauren, took time out of her Saturday last fall to help a Safe Families mom move. She ended up taking the kids to Culver's to give them a fun break from the chaos of a move. After that, she often thought of the family and hoped she'd have a chance to be with them again. Last week, she was dropping off supplies at our office when we informed her that the same mom is looking for a Family Friend in Milwaukee now that she's moved from Waukesha. We thought she would be the perfect match! Lauren eagerly agreed to be the Family Friend, and they are off to a great start. For her motivation for serving, Lauren said, "I hope to be able to offer any family some of my time and effort if it meant a brighter future as a family unit." Thank you for doing exactly as you said you would, Lauren! We appreciate you!

Family Friendship Friday is one of our favorite days because Family Friendships are so important to our ministry. We had a mom call us in December because she just had her seventh baby and was on bed rest while dealing with some additional health conditions plus several of her children in virtual school. We wondered, how best to support this awesome mom? We felt that matching her with just one random volunteer wouldn't be enough. Then the lightbulb went off: "Let's match her with an entire church!" What better church than the lovely, tight-knit community of @redemptiontosa ? We simply sent out an email to the entire Redemption team and asked, "Who can help?" Immediately, almost everyone offered their support. Now we have one primary Family Friend, Michelle N., plus a good group of additonal Family Friends visiting this family a few times a week. Support is being coordinated by Ministry Lead, Jess S. They are all helping mom with social and emotional support, loving on the kids, helping with virtual schooling, etc. In general, the team has expressed how much they love this family & it has been a joy to spend time with them. We can only imagine that a natural result of this family friendship has been a deeper community and friendships within the church as well. This is the Safe Families way.

Safe Families Video of the Month: "Spending Time Made a Huge Difference." This video is about Family Friendship in NYC, and it is one of our favorite SF Videos!

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Monthly Report 3/10/21 A Ministry Update from the Greater Milwaukee Area