There are few needs the FamilyCare program can’t help.
It gives away food, utility assistance and clothes, as well as helps people get identity cards and assists victims of domestic abuse in finding temporary shelter.
FamilyCare has helped newly released convicts and immigrants. “We don’t question about anyone’s legality in this country. Seventy percent of our clients are Hispanic, and half of them don’t speak English,” said Chris Hill, assistant executive director.
“My biggest heartbreak is families who’ve been evicted and are living in a car,” she said.
Donations help buy vouchers for motels until housing can be located.
The organization also offers clients “life coaching,” a term group leaders prefer to “counseling,” to help with job hunting.
“These people are so beaten down. They need some building up and some self-esteem,” said Hill.
The organization has gone the extra step of letting families choose the food they want, rather than giving each family the same pre-packed bag.
“We think it restores some dignity for the people to choose what they want and what they like,” she said.
Most of the FamilyCare clients are people in some kind of subsidized housing and living below the poverty level. Many are single-parent families.
A third of the FamilyCare building, 5045 W. First Ave., is a thrift store. It doesn’t have furniture but does have clothing and many household items.
FamilyCare is one of three agencies under the Seventh- day Adventist Church agency ASC-LIFT – Adventist Community Services, Life Intervention for Families in Transition.
The other two divisions are medical care and disaster relief. The agency has applied for funding from the Post-News Season to Share campaign.
The Denver branch of FamilyCare, which has been operating for several decades, is the fourth-largest of several hundred branches in the country, serving 25,000 people last year. The entire ASC program in Colorado served 39,302 people last year.
Several Adventist churches are the core support for FamilyCare, but others give as well.
And many of the 120 volunteers for the three-part agency aren’t Adventists. Those volunteering for the medical assistance branch include doctors, medical students and nursing students.
They give free medical care for the uninsured, working in a van that goes downtown at nights.
When ASC is called on for disaster relief, it can round up 500 volunteers. Some of those helped refugees from Hurricane Katrina who had resettled in the state.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
How to donate
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave more than $1.73 million to 56 agencies last year serving children, and people who are hungry, homeless or in need of medical care. Donations are matched 50 cents to the dollar, and 100 percent of the donations go to the charitable agencies. To contribute, please see the coupon on Page 3B, call 888-683-4483 or go to seasontoshare.com.
