Meet The Family: Kellie Stallings

Kellie’s background is in youth and family services. She initially provided counseling and supervised programs for youth that required more care due to the trauma of childhood abuse. In 1995, she accepted a position at Connections Individual and Family Services as a youth and family services director and eventually served as Executive Director at Connections for over 23 years. With a Master's degree in social work, she also provides supervision for professionals who are working toward an advanced license in clinical social work.

As for her connection to Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels, Kellie served on the candidate review committee for the two previous Executive Directors. Through Connections, she has partnered with FPGNB many times on the homeless coalition. Her husband is the Family Promise coordinator for their church and Kellie volunteers her time when Family Promise guests are staying there.

Kellie appreciates the model that FPGNB follows, which engages churches and church members to invest in the lives of the vulnerable members of our community. This way of serving brings more awareness to the struggles that members of our community actually face and exposes all of us to what is sometimes hidden. In terms of the future, she would like to see FPGNB be more invested in long term solutions and expand aftercare services. This way, Family Provide could continue providing excellent support for families in need and continue to provide support and guidance beyond their initial housing crisis.

Thank you, Kellie Stallings, for all you do for the community and for Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels.

Meet the Family: Santa Claus

Santa Claus has been involved with Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels since its inception. Once a year he brings gifts to all the children in the program. Occasionally - if they are good (he says with a wink) - Santa will also put a little something under the tree for the grown-ups too.

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply “Santa” is a right jolly old elf who has been working for centuries to bring toys and joy to children all over the world each Christmas Eve.

When Santa Claus first heard about the Family Promise program, he knew right away he wanted to be involved. He keeps a close eye on the families who go through the program as well as those who contribute in some way. When it comes time to make his List, those involved with Family Promise get an extra check in the “Nice” column.

The thing that Santa loves most about this program is the spirit of giving that it conjures up in the donors and the volunteers throughout the whole year and not just at Christmas time. Behind his snow white beard, he boasts a big smile when he thinks of FPGNB. He wishes more people could be as selfless in their giving as those who support Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels.

Mr. Claus also loves to see the joy spread in the families who go through the program as they achieve their independence. Santa has a unique vantage point with the children in particular. You may or may not know, but he has top secret ways of measuring and tracking happiness in children. Santa can actually see how happy the kids who go through the FPGNB program become as their family finds a stable home, secure income, and a sustainable plan for the future.

Nothing makes Santa happier than seeing children thrive. Well - almost nothing. Cookies and milk make him extremely happy too.

Thank you, Santa Claus, for the work you do with all the children and thank you for supporting Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels.

Gift Ideas for FPGNB: Real Help for Real Families

We are always grateful to the people who step forward during the holidays and offer help, support, and donations to Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels. If you are looking for ways to help the families in our program as well as graduate families, we have a few ideas.

EMPOWERING PARENTS

Many of us have taken part in a toy drive of some kind. While it is fun to buy toys or games and wrap them up for kids in need, we have a slightly different approach at Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels.

One of the main objectives of our program is to support families as they achieve their independence. We have come up with a way to support this goal during the holiday.

Instead of giving random, pre wrapped presents to the children, we prefer to offer gift cards to parents so that they can pick out the gifts for their children. Let us explain why this is an extra meaningful way to help.

First of all, it gives parents a sense of independence and pride and - frankly - joy to choose the gifts for their kids. We all know the feeling of picking just the right gift, wrapping it up, and waiting with excited anticipation for it to be given and received. This the feeling we want to help facilitate for parents.

Another reason we like to help the parents choose the gifts is that the kids get exactly what they want. A happy kid who has just opened a gift that was personally selected for them and is exactly what they were wishing for creates just the kind of happy moments that we want for everyone during the holidays.

It also gives families a sense of control over their lives. The circumstances that bring families into our program vary widely. There are some common themes, though. Many of the families report feeling a loss of control over their lives. We want to create situations that change that sensation and get them back in control.

To support this project and help our parents give their children a wonderful holiday, CLICK HERE and in the comment section on the donation page, please make a notation that your donation is for FAMILY CELEBRATIONS.

ORGANIZATIONAL PLANNERS FOR GRADUATES

Family Promise of Greater New Braunfels maintains a wishlist on Amazon.com throughout the year. One of the items we’ve recently added to the list is a planner/organizer for our graduate families.

As you probably know, once a family graduates our program, they receive support for at least a year. We help them with planning, budgeting, saving, and organizing.

Our social worker found these planners and is using them with the graduate families in order to help keep them on track in all of these areas. The families that have been utilizing them so far have found them to be very helpful. This would be a wonderful gift and an awesome way to support those who are working so hard to keep it all together.

CLICK HERE For a link to the amazon wish list.

AMAZON SMILE PROGRAM

If you don’t already know about the Amazon smile program, it is super easy to use. This is something that all Amazon users can do.

If you make your purchases through Smile.Amazon.com (which is identical to Amazon.com) they will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to the charity of your choice. There is no extra cost to you and it is a big help to us! CLICK HERE to find out how to sign up.

We are always grateful for all the ways that you help support Family Promise throughout the year. We hope you and your loved ones are healthy, happy, and warm this Christmas.