MISSOULA — The Meadowlark, temporary housing center for Missoula families in need marked the completion of its $8 million capital fundraising campaign in early November.
Latter-day Saint Charities joined two dozen Missoula-area faith communities to support the construction of the YWCA Missoula and Missoula Interfaith Collaborative-sponsored community initiative.
“Families are the strength of our community,” said Christopher Price, Missoula Stake President, an area leader of eight local congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “We are pleased to partner with YWCA and the Collaborative to provide a safe temporary home for families who lose housing or who need a safe place to live during a crisis. Joining with others to create a family-focused solution to a community need is what our Christian faith drives us to do.”
For several years, members of Missoula-area congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have joined with others in the community to serve local homeless families through Family Promise of Missoula.
Family Promise is a local affiliate administered by the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative that empowers families, keeps parents together with their children, offers hope and offers a temporary home.
“Seeing faith-based communities unite around a common cause brings me hope,” said Casey Dunning, Executive Director of the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative. “We've brought unique perspectives together to imagine and create safe, secure housing for families. The new Meadowlark housing center allows us to more than double the number of families we can help."
The donation from Latter-day Saint Charities will support Missoula’s Family Promise Meadowlark partnership with additional playground equipment, technology, kitchenware, and furniture for the new building.
The Missoula See Them Home campaign, a joint venture of the YWCA Missoula and Missoula Interfaith Collaborative, received the donation on November 6, 2020.
“The financial donation is important. But much more important is our personal commitment to reach out to Missoula-area families in need. We are grateful to partner with those who give of themselves to minister to their families, neighbors and others in the community. This is true discipleship,” said President Price.
Dunning said, "There is power in bringing people together to express their values, faith and commitment in creating the community we hope for. Faith-based groups help the community in ways that the government sometimes can't."
Latter-day Saint Charities is the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sponsoring relief and development projects in 197 countries and territories.
