I’d like for you to take a moment to consider the following statement from the NationalCenter on Family Homelessness and ask yourself what’s missing:

“Children who are homeless need the same things other children need to grow up healthy and happy:  a safe and stable home; access to quality schools; affordable and reliable health care; healthy meals every day; opportunities to play in safe neighborhoods; strong attachments with caregivers.”

What about parents?  While they may be implied in the phrases “a safe and stable home” or “strong attachments with caregivers,” they are never directly mentioned.  And yet, what is the single greatest need in a child’s life?  What is more essential than education, play places, healthcare, quality daycare or even food and shelter?   A parent who is present, loving and involved in his or her life.  Parents are essential.  They cannot be replaced by organizations or institutions – no matter how quality the latter may be.

            That’s why at the Union Gospel Mission, we believe that the very best thing we can do for children is to give them back their parents.  So, while we seek to meet their immediate needs for safety and stability, healthy meals, homework help, access to our medical clinics, safe places to play, we are thinking first and foremost of their long-term welfare.  When they leave our shelters, we want them to be in the care of a mom or dad who is addiction-free, healthy and whole, capable of protecting them and giving them the care they need.  We offer parenting classes, along with job training, counseling and life skills training, so that when our residents return to society as contributing members, they are also equipped to be good moms and dads.

Children who grow up with unhealthy parents often become unhealthy parents themselves, and the cycle continues.  God created the family as the original safe and healing environment -- a place to learn what it means to be a man or a woman, a place to make mistakes within clear boundaries, a place to belong where mercy and forgiveness abound.  Our recovery programs seek to re-create such grace-based environments in order to help men and women heal and stop the negative cycles of addiction, abuse and homelessness.

In closing, I’d like you to consider another statement, this one from a 9-year-old girl who was staying in our Crisis Shelter for Women and Children. She had recently been reunited with her mom:  “My birthday was coming up, and my dad was going to get my mom out of jail for my birthday, and that was going to be my big birthday present, but I said, no, that I wanted her to stay there so she could get clean.”  Even children recognize the value of healthy parents.

Friends, when you give to the ministries of the Union Gospel Mission, you are not only helping to provide food, shelter, clothing and other basic necessities to children in crisis, you are helping to give them the greatest gift possible – whole, healthy parents.  Thank you for partnering with us.