family promise \ Open house planned

Who: Family Promise of Mahoning Valley Inc. is a 501 C3 nonprofit organization. Members are Howland Community Church, Howland United Methodist Church, Niles First Christian Church, First United Methodist Church of Niles, Girard First United Methodist Church, Poland United Methodist Church; and in Warren, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Central Christian Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church and First United Methodist Church of Warren. Representatives of the churches serve on the board of directors.

What: An open house is planned from noon to 3 p.m. May 16 at Family Promise’s day center in Girard United Methodist Church, 22 N. Market St. At the day center, families in crisis will work with a case manager to find jobs, housing and other services. The open house is open to everyone, and there is no charge.

Other details: In addition to the open house, there will be a fundraiser, a soup cook-off. Admission to the cook-off and for all the soup you can eat is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Proceeds will benefit Family Promise. Competition will be in three categories — professional, nonprofessional and clergy. Restaurants competing in professional are Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Max and Erma’s and IHOP, all of Niles, and Salvatore and O’Donold’s, Austintown. Winners will be named by judges including Miss Ohio Natasha Vivoda, Stan Boney, Mandy Hackman and Bill Castrovince of WYTV and Jeff Kelly and Carol King of the WBBG morning show. A People’s Choice award will be given.

Contact information: Web site is www.familypromisemv.org, and a cook-off registration form is available, or call Patty DiGiacobbe at (330) 219-3511. For general information about Family Promise, call the Rev. Brian Byrne at Howland Community Church, (330) 856-3628.

Budget: The Rev. Dr. Byrne said the projected budget will be $95,000 the first year, from June of this year to June 2010. Family Promise has $25,000 and aims to have $40,000 when it opens. “The $95,000 comes from guidelines from the national organization,” he said. “Money will come from grants and other donations.”