BUFFALO, N.Y. — The emergency homeless shelter Family Promise of Western New York celebrated 25 years of helping people get back on their feet.
The shelter is one of two in the area that can take dads and teenage sons and keep them together; 70 percent of their families have kids. The shelter on Hickory Street is small in size and holds six families at a time, but has a lot of success.
"A lot of people have a lot of things stacked against them, and so our job is to just push in love and support and just start unraveling that alongside them," Family Promise executive director Luanne Firestone said.
"The families are who do the work, we are just supporting them and cutting through red tape to make things easier. But we have an over 90 percent success rate, so there are a lot of happy endings here at the shelter, where we're celebrating with our families, where we're moving in."
Family Promise moved two families this week into new apartments in Buffalo, furnished with monetary donations and items bought or donated by volunteers.