Pulaski County nonprofit reopens shelter to combat child homelessness

PULASKI COUNTY (KATV) — A local nonprofit organization in Pulaski County is working to fight child homelessness by providing families with shelter.

The organization is called Family Promise and the shelter is specifically for families that have children at the ages of 18 and under that are experiencing homelessness.

Executive director for the organization, Cynthia Ramey, said families that stay at the shelter will get their own space with beds, three meals, and help with case services.

The shelter was closed for a year due to changes from COVID-19, but Ramey said Family Promise of Pulaski County announced in a social media post they were going to open their shelter once again.

That post went viral on Facebook, hitting thousands of people and Ramey said since they posted that information, nearly 100 families reached out to Family Promise for a place to stay at the shelter.

Ramey has been with the organization for over a decade and said over the years she has seen family and child homelessness in Pulaski County.

“The 13 years I have been with Family Promise I have always said that you can go and look at children playing on the school ground and you cannot tell the homeless children from any of the other children, but it exists," said Ramey. "We are having a higher number of people calling who are sleeping in their vehicle with their children. We just finished with our cold weather and a lot of people push through the wintertime sleeping in those type of arrangements.”

She said Family Promise has a goal for families that stay at the shelter.

“We want families to be stable when they leave Family Promise and hopefully with the keys to their own homes," said Ramey. "That is one of the goals with each of our families is obtaining to keys to their own home. By stable we mean we want them to have some money in their savings account, make sure that the family is healthy, and the children are enrolled and doing well in school.”

Ramey said they are always taking donations from the community and need feminine products as well as bed sheets and diapers for children.

For shelter assistance or to donate, call (501) 372-0733.