Family Promise of Hendricks County is so proud to assist, support and love our Plainfield community! We want to be a place where everyone feels they belong. Just this morning a family of five showed up on our doorsteps with nowhere to sleep tonight except their car with the gas gage on empty. Also this morning a mom, who has been staying in a local hotel with her five kids for the last year, came in asking for diapers. She had used the last of her money for the hotel. At the same time, a gentleman showed up to give us a check because he read about us on Facebook. He heard the mom ask for diapers and opened his wallet and handed her cash. She wept. He wept. I wept. Finally this morning, volunteers arrived bringing boxes of food for Thanksgiving for families in need so they could prepare their own meals for their families, giving them a little dignity.
Family Promise represents the best of humanity. Unfortunately, there is also another side of humanity and as a result, Family Promise has withdrawn our PUD petition to the Plainfield Plan Commission for Hope United Presbyterian Church. Hope will not become our new Family Promise Resource Center. Thank you to the many people who have supported us through this process – the letters, comments, calls, donations – it has all made a difference and is so appreciated. Please stay with us as we work together, even harder, to make Plainfield and all of Hendricks County a place where everyone feels they belong.
You are also welcome to call or email Julie Randall, Executive Director: 317-296-3742 or Julie@FamilyPromiseHendricksCounty.org
Letters of Support from Neighborhood
Letter from First Baptist Church Plainfield
Letter from Saint Susanna Catholic Church
Letter from Plainfield Friends Meeting/Church
Letter from Betty Esamann
Letter from Ashley Abbott
Letter from Kathy Parker
Letter from Brenda Jackson
Larry Rudy e-mail 11-5
Mary Ann Hamilton Comment 11-8
Linda Thompson Comment 11-9
Emma Lawrence Comment 11-9
Dustin Lawrence Comment 11-9
Letter from Hope United Presbyterian Church
Letter from Plainfield United Methodist Church, petition 11-14
Letter from Stephen Ministry Group
Alice M. Black Comment 11-14
Laurie and Raleigh Rolston, Comment 11-15
Laura Arnold, e-mail 11-15
Tim Dombrosky, AICP email 11-15
Pastor Johnathan Woodridge letter 11-16, comment 11-18
Letter from Cavalry United Methodist Church
Danville Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) comment 11-18
Paul and Susan Gabonay comment 11-18
Jodi Dickey letter 10-24
Gary and Tamera Brinkman letter 11-18
Debbie Zusan letter 10-29
Austin Inge, (Director of Harris Academy, Brownsburg Schools) letter 11-21
Donna Stout comment 11-21
Shirley Halterman comment 11-21
Kristen Clements-Effner comment 11-21
Key Points
- Zoning Change: Our only plan for this property is the Family Promise Resource Center. We have outgrown our current Plainfield facility. All of the work of Family Promise, could be done by any church in this location and not require a change of zoning. We are going through this zoning process because we are not a church. The change of zoning we are requesting is reflective of this and does NOT include any further development on the property. Therefore, no other development would be permissible. PUD application for zoning HERE. We want to be a good neighbor and intend to do all we can to be so. This webpage and info it contains, community meetings, letters, updates and open houses are not required of Family Promise, but instead represent our desire to be a good neighbor.
- Family Promise Activities: We have two Resource Centers. The Plainfield Center is located at 238 N. Vine St. The Brownsburg Center is located within Brownsburg Schools. These Centers are hubs for those struggling. All programming at the Vine St. location will be moved to the Hope facility. We provide emergency and permanent housing, homelessness prevention and stability services, such as a child care, transportation, jobs and most of all lots of love. We also have an overnight shelter, Almost Home, on the north side of Plainfield. The Resource Center is not a homeless shelter. No one will be in the building overnight, except our facilities’ manager. We will operate from 6AM to 6PM, 7-days a week. Sometimes there will be evening meetings, but operations will be only during the day. The Center will have showers, food and laundry facilities for our families. On most days there will be 4 families and 3 individuals utilizing these services. Overnight, these families are at our shelter, Almost Home, or local hotels. Sometimes we transport to shelters in other areas when our space is full or they do not meet our criteria. So far in 2022, we have ended homelessness for 107 families and prevented it for 585 families.
- Almost Home Shelter: We provide emergency shelter at Almost Home and in local hotels. 90% of the households we assist who are experiencing homelessness have children. Residents of Almost Home must have children. 90% of all we serve are NOT experiencing homelessness. Instead, they receive stability services to prevent homelessness.
- Typical Day: On a typical day, there will be 15 staff, 3 volunteers and around 30 clients, most with children, in and out. Donations from community members are also dropped off a couple of times per day. Somedays it will be very quiet, other days there will be more activity.
- Traffic: The Town of Plainfield has reported that a change in use from the currently approved zoning to the expected traffic volumes would not be sufficient to warrant any modifications to the existing public infrastructure.
- Public Safety: FP does not create crime, we prevent it by helping to make families stable. There have never been any arrests at FP, except someone turning themselves in on an out-of-county warrant. Police runs to FP: 2019 – 2 runs; 2020 – 20 runs; 2021 – 21 runs; 2022 – 11 runs. Report here. For a little perceptive, near the Hope neighborhood during this same time period, Plainfield United Methodist Church had 48 runs and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church had 31.
- The neighborhood is welcome to continue to utilize the green space, playground and building for meetings such as Boy Scouts, NA and AA, which are currently meeting.
- We believe that most understand the importance and value of this work and care for those who are struggling, but maybe feel there is a better location, just not a residential neighborhood. The reality is this is a church, which is the perfect place for this work. All of the work we do, could be done by any church in this location and not require a change of zoning . This building and grounds work very well for us and it is affordable for our organization.
- We will establishment of a Neighborhood Alliance to gather and address issues, if any. Neighborhood meetings held each quarter to address concerns lead by the Neighborhood Alliance.
- Hope United Presbyterian Church initiated this purchase in hopes that Family Promise will continue their work in our community and be their legacy. We are honored and look forward to extending the love and grace to those in need that this church exemplifies.
- NARCAN UPATE: Our relocated Resource Center at the Hope property will NOT have Narcan available outside. We currently have a distribution box on our front porch at 238 N. Vine St. We will NOT relocate this outdoor box to Hope. There has been enough concern that we have made this decision to ease the minds of the neighbors. Narcan is a non-narcotic antidote for opioid overdoses. If administered in a timely manner, naloxone can reverse the life-threatening respiratory failure caused by heroin and prescription medications such as OxyContin, Percocet, Methadone and Vicodin. It is a nasal spray and has NO effect on someone who hasn’t used opioids. (Source: HERE)
Documents
Original letter to the Hope neighborhood regarding community meeting to share our work and plans, along with listening to concerns. LETTER HERE
Second letter to the Hope neighborhood regarding community meeting with Plainfield Director of Public Safety Jared McKee. LETTER HERE
Third letter to the Hope neighborhood regarding change of Plan Commission Hearing – 11/21/22 at 6:30PM. LETTER HERE
Police Runs and Response at current facilities – HERE
Safety and Security Plan – HERE
Property Values – HERE
Traffic Impact – HERE
Family Promise Strategic Plan – HERE
2022 Services – HERE
Family Promise Board of Directors and Staff – HERE
Financials – We are happy to provide these at your request. Contact Julie Randall
Questions & Answers – HERE