Family Outreach
Our mission has always been to help strengthen the inner city families in such ways that will foster positive relationships, better parenting, improved decision making, hope for a better future and an increased faith in God.
We reach out to the parents in many ways:
Home Visits: We go to the homes and meet the families. If they are experiencing difficulties we try to see how we can help. If we do not have the resources to help we refer them to places where they can be helped. We pray with the families and offer support and encouragement.
Family Dinners:
We have monthly dinners which all of the parents and children are encouraged to attend. Sometimes these are simple dinners and sometimes we have a themed event like ourCaribbean Party night or a Mother's Day Dinner. This often includes entertainment (dancing or singing) by the children and a parent lesson with our director, Denise. It is a great way to encourage family connectedness. Often relatives come and join in on the free meals. Volunteers from churches, colleges and some of the moms in the program help us make and serve these meals.
Supportive Counseling: We are available to meet with the parents who would like to talk with someone about any issues. We have provided prayer counseling on some occasions to help them cope and find more freedom in their lives. If there is a greater need for more in-depth counseling, we refer them to people who can help.
Family Advocacy: Helping the Families with the Love of God in Difficult Times: We have often provided crises supportive counseling when families are experiencing difficult times. Some of the ways we have already been involved in supporting the families have been in such times as these: providing shelter at our houses for a few days for a family that does not have a place to stay, helping a parent get into a drug rehab center, taking a mother across the state to see her son in a detention center, attending family group meetings for a teen who had to go to a juvenile detention center, being with a family as their child was dying at Hershey Med Center and helping to find funeral arrangements, visiting a parent in the hospital, helping some teens get new clothes so they could start the school year, helping some families get household items and things they needed, and listening to a distraught parent when things were not going well. Once one of the staff even visited a father in prison and lead him in a prayer to receive Christ as Lord. We strive to act as Christ to those who are going through rough times, and support and encourage them throughout these times. 
Christmas Dinner and Presents for All: Each year we have the children write out a request for a Christmas present. We then find locations where people will choose their names and buy them the present. Sometimes, people or groups adopt whole families. For example, Harrisburg Christian School's fourth grade class each year adopts one or two of our most needy families and this family receives many gifts from the class. We have a big Christmas dinner and presents for all the families in our program. We also often have items for some of the teens in basketball who do not come to the after school program. (Gotee Records has been very generous to give us Christian CD's by rap artists and rock singers) We have been blessed by many people in the area joining in and helping us get presents for children whose parents do not have the means. For a few years, we have had enough money donated that all the parents received gift certificates to shop for their children.
Spiritual Programs: We share our faith with the parents and at our dinner meetings. We encourage our parents to find a church that they would like to go to. We also provide teachings and speakers at our various programs. We sometimes do small group Bible Studies with a few parents who are interested. At times, we have parent classes on various topics. We also invite the women to attend women's retreats at local churches.