Family Promise web

Why You Should Bring Your Kids
By George Lavigne

At Middletown United Methodist we once debated whether volunteers should bring their children along when hosting. Would guest children be embarrassed if others kids, maybe even their schoolmates, knew they had lost their homes? What if the host children felt awkward when meeting our guests?

We shouldn’t have worried. From the start it was obvious no one can make guest children feel more welcome than host children of the same age, especially when both guest and host children are under the age of 13. After that, peer pressure sometimes kicks in and makes the situation awkward. We’ve learned to ask our guest parents whether our host children should stay home.

But the benefits some of the younger volunteers bring to hosting far outweigh almost any downside. Take HayLee, for example.

HayLee will be a seventh grader this fall at Bolger Middle School and won a “Change My World Forever” scholarship from the People to People Ambassador program, so she could serve as a student ambassador representing her school and community. Her mother, Lori, is a volunteer from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County. HayLee and Lori were evening hosts last September when a new family was admitted to the program. The family included a mother and two teenagers who were thoroughly uncomfortable that first night. They weren’t talking to any adults and weren’t interested in dinner. The older teen, a daughter, wouldn’t look at me when I met her, and I could tell she was near tears.

Then HayLee showed up and was friendly without being pushy and chatty without trying to pry. I don’t know what she said to those kids or how she did it, but she was able to put both of them at ease and somehow turn them into friends within an hour and a half. I’m not saying the guest children were delighted to be staying with us or laughing like it was Christmas morning, but HayLee had helped them relax and accept their circumstances. She brought them out of despair.

God bless our children when they are accepting and non-judgmental. They are truly ambassadors for hope.

We welcome your stories and suggestions about how to make the hosting experience fun and easy for everyone! if you have a suggestion or personal experience to share, please email us at newsletter@familypromisemc. org. We will be happy to share your thoughts, even if you don’t want your name used.