As we progress to the final quarter of 2021, we have accomplished a great deal so far this year. Even with the new surge of the COVID variant, we are serving more families than ever before with Glendora House fully operational. To date we have served 33 families already this year! That is more than we served in 2019, 25 families and 2020, 32 families. The key reason FP is able to do so much has always been, and remains to be, our volunteers and community partners. Think about it. COVID has changed nearly every aspect of our lives. One thing that did not change, and a global pandemic could not take out, is Family Promise. Our volunteers and community partners proved stronger than the virus and we pressed on to open Glendora House, now fully on-line and debt-free.
We now serve ten families experiencing homeless at a time versus four families prior to Glendora House. We continue to keep families together while helping them secure sustainable housing. This was, and is, the challenge that our Volunteers, Staff, Board and Community Partners never gave up on and remained focused on this mission. Because of you, the families we serve, and their children are forever grateful. I dare say you all were and are the vaccine they needed to survive and obtain sustainable futures.
Things have changed. Now, the challenge is how do we continue to serve our families. The rotation model with our Host Congregations has been on hold now for almost two years. In that time, some Hosts, because of the impact of COVID on their congregational missions, can no longer serve as Hosts. We will be looking closely at how, or if, we continue a rotation model, but the great news is with Glendora House in use, we are serving more families than before, and the volunteers have been extraordinary in making Glendora House work well.
We need to remember as we plan out the next several years of our strategic plan, that the volunteers and supporters of Family Promise are mission driven individuals. Individuals who come together collectively to make an impact, a positive impact for others, as an exercise and expression of their religious and spiritual needs. Simply put, FP cannot survive without our volunteers and community supporters. As we move forward and make plans to continue the mission, we will be working on two critical parallel tracks – how do we offer the best sustainable outcome for the families we serve and how do we make sure the volunteers and community partners remain fulfilled in the knowledge they are deeply needed and appreciated. If COVID could not take out FP volunteers, surely a new strategic plan does not stand a chance.