The Warren County Quilt Guild makes and donates comfort quilts to various organizations within Warren County. One organization is Family Promise of Warren County and this is an information post about its history.
Family Promise of Warren County opened our doors on September 1, 1998 after several years of planning by a small but passionate group of people who strongly believed that children should never be without a home. This group was lead by PastorBill Cain of the Lebanon Presbyterian Church. Pastor Cain had reached out to several groups about how to create an organization that could address family homelessness.Upon happenstance, some would even say divine intervention, Pastor Cain reached out to Karen Olson, who happened to be in Cincinnati visiting from New Jersey.
Karen Olson was the founder of the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Karen believed that churches had space and volunteers that would not only address family homelessness but do it well. Her model was to have a day center where families could gather during the day, meet with a professional case manager and follow a case plan that would concentrate on housing, employment, and education. In the evenings, the families would take a van to the “church of the week” where volunteers would transform SundaySchool rooms to bedrooms for families in the crisis of homelessness. These volunteers would provide meals, fellowship, and overnight assistance. Pastor Cain and his team agreed that this was a good model to follow, and the Interfaith Hospitality Network ofWarren County was born.
This worked well here in Warren County until COVID. With the threat of the spread of the virus, families were moved from the church model to a local hotel to adhere to social distance recommendations. At this time, we were encouraged to follow the national recommendation and changed our name to Family Promise of Warren County.
Realizing that the COVID model was not a long-term solution, the Board of Directors located the Shaker Inn, Lebanon and went out on faith to purchase it in March 2022.After much needed renovations, many made by volunteers, the staff moved into our new building in December 2023, and the families moved in April 21, 2024.
Volunteers continue to be the backbone of Family Promise of WC providing meals, fellowship and overnight assistance not to mention help with our other ministries such as the Heaven and Hearth furniture ministry, Coats for a Cause, Christmas in July,Christmas sponsorship, landscaping, cleaning, to name a few opportunities.
At year-end 2024, through all programs, Family Promise Warren County served in all programs a total of 258 families consisting of 618 individuals – 348 being children under the age of 18.
In May 2025, Family Promise of Warren County participated in the annual review by Family Promise National. We are proud to share that FPWC is the number one affiliate in the State of Ohio (out of a total of nine) and number 17 in the Country out of a total of187 Family Promise affiliates.
This cannot be done without the support of our many volunteers and donors. Without YOU, families in Warren County would not have this special place to go while in the crisis of homelessness. We are so grateful for all that you do.
Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to tour our facility. We would love to show you around.
Linda Rabolt, Executive Director
Family Promise of Warren County