NATCHEZ &045; After three meetings, each with 40 to 50 potential volunteers attending, Family Promise continues to have a strong Natchez pulse.

For Sharon Bradford, local spokeswoman for the program, the commitment to help homeless families turn around their lives grows each week.

&uot;United Way has identified 115 homeless families in our area,&uot; Bradford said. &uot;The Natchez Housing Authority said their waiting list for low-income housing is one and a half to two years long. Their emergency assistance is for one week.&uot;

And the 115 homeless families identified could be only a part of the picture, Bradford said. &uot;Go into some of the neighborhoods and ask how many adults are living in each home. You will be surprised.&uot;

Bradford is a member of New Hope Baptist Church, where the pastor, Bishop Stanley Searcy began the push to found a Natchez affiliate of the national organization.

&uot;I have committed New Hope as a host congregation,&uot; Searcy said at a Thursday meeting of the group. He emphasized that the purpose of Family Promise is to help homeless families, not to make them members of any particular church.

Bradford said when her pastor first suggested starting a program, she was interested immediately, both as a registered nurse and as one who had some experience in similar programs.

&uot;Initially, I thought it was something we could do. Now it has become more personal to me. The more we talk about it, the more passionate I become about it,&uot; she said.

Family Promise is a national nonprofit organization that helps religious and community organizations to develop a local network.

The goal is to provide shelter, meals and assistance for homeless families &045; mothers with children, fathers with children, two parents with children, for example.

The program is not for single homeless men or women and has guidelines for screening applicants for substance abuse, violence or crime.

The network requires eight to 13 host congregations who rotate providing overnight accommodations for the families, usually four to six families at a time, sometimes fewer.

Churches provide evening and morning meals and places for families to sleep. The network includes a day center staffed by a social worker who assists adults with job and housing searches and children with school registration and transportation.

Aaron Patten, also a member of New Hope, has been committed to Family Promise since he learned about the program.

Recently, however, the program became more personal, when young relatives called from another city to describe living in a car because they had no home.

The same kind of homelessness occurs in Natchez, he said. &uot;I sense there is a great need in Natchez, and it’s going to take a lot of dedication and volunteering. And it will definitely take people who have a heart for ministry outside their church.&uot;

The next step is to find more congregations who will commit to be hosts or to assist host churches.

Families are referred to the network through public assistance offices, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. The recommended stay in the program is 30 days maximum. However, when families are working to find housing but not successful, a stay of 60 days is acceptable.

The New Jersey-based Family Promise provides guidelines and guidance every step of the way, Bradford said.

&uot;They will come to train us and to help us write grants for funding we need. They will be here when we need them,&uot; she said.