- November 19, 2024
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Chuck Jones is no longer on the board at Family Promise of Flagler County, but he’s still helping out.
Jones, the store manager at Publix on State Road 100, delivered a check Feb. 21 for $1,000 from the Publix Super Markets Charities to Family Promise President Clem Lewis and Executive Director Jim Morelewicz.
“It means a lot to us because we depend on donations or grants,” Lewis said. “Publix has stepped up to the plate.”
Family Promise coordinates with area churches to house homeless families and help them to find jobs and permanent places to live.
Morelewicz said the donation will help the organization pay for gasoline and vehicle maintenance.
"There's a lot of gas that goes into a 15-passenger van," he said. "Families are moved to churches every night. They also get rides to work and back. We’re putting about 15,000 miles on it a year — closer to 20,000.”
Family Promise has about 300 volunteers but can always use more to help give last-minute rides to job interviews, Morelewicz said.
One family he is working with includes three teenage children. “The goal is get them jobs and have them be able to move into a place of their own,” Morelewicz said.
“The good thing is we keep the families together,” Lewis said. “They come in with pain, and they leave self-sufficient.”
Jones served on the Family Promise board in 2012-2013, but he had to resign because of the demands of his job. But he has continued to work closely with the organization and has hired two people in need, based on Morelewicz’s recommendations.
“I have a heart for it,” Jones said. “There is tremendous need in the community. I see it in people coming in looking for jobs. There are a lot of hopeless people out there. … We all have to pitch in and do our part.”
To volunteer or learn more, visit familypromiseflagler.org.
