Who We Are
My Father’s House is a non-profit shelter ministry that opened to meet the needs of homeless families. The men, women and children in homeless families often sleep in their cars, crash on friends’ couches, or go from home to home just to survive. Many of these families have no idea of how to obtain or keep a job. Some need professional counseling. All of them need HOPE.
My Father’s House seeks to meet the needs of the whole person, including physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of our clients’ lives. Our desire is to address the underlying causes of homelessness and offer the help that each family needs. We offer recovery classes and support groups to help homeless families begin the process of health and wholeness. Many of the services include accountability counseling, life management, job search assistance, and linkage with churches and social service agencies.
Our Vision…
My Father’s House seeks to foster independence and restoration in homeless families by equipping them with the life skills necessary to become productive members of their community. This is why we have a strong accountability program. We will admit only families that agree to participate in a program designed to assist them in resolving their homeless situation. We will allow them to remain only so long as they continue to make steady progress toward that goal. To bring this about, we have brought together like-minded churches, individuals and businesses to provide support for My Father’s House.
Helping Families…
We strive to assist families by helping them learn life skills in order to cope physically, emotionally, and relationally. My Father’s House affords a safe environment where families can stay together and work toward independent living. Building strong family foundations is encouraged through individual, couple and family counseling and life issues classes which include: renter education training, parenting skills, substance abuse, anger management, sexual addiction, developing a balanced sense of self, and domestic violence. Since many of our residents are single mothers we address their unique needs as necessary.
Our Children…
More than half of our residents are dependent children, from newborns through high school age, with a variety of specialized needs. We have volunteers who provide child care. We require school age children to attend the local school and we work with schools and qualified volunteers to offer individualized tutorial assistance. We hope to expand our children’s program to include individual counseling and play therapy as appropriate in our new larger facility.
Programs that teach responsibility…
All of our programs stress responsible living and decision making. We never do anything for residents they are able to do for themselves, but we are available with assistance, support, and training. We use a case management approach, which includes weekly goal setting and progress assessment for each family. We offer assistance in job training, job search, and networking as well as individual assistance and classes in personal finance, grooming, and homemaking. Our goal is to help families become self-supporting and independent.
Community and Church Involvement…
We are a community shelter located in East Multnomah County, near the Gresham-Portland border. The involvement of churches, businesses, civic groups, and individual and family volunteers is essential to our success. We foster active participation through such activities as the adopt-a-room program, weekly family nights, an active volunteer program, and a variety of community outreach events such as auctions, picnics and dinners.
