Pembroke was the beginning. The community that inspired the founding of Family-to-Family in 2002 when it was featured in a front-page article in the New York Times, is:

• Located in Kankakee County, 70 miles south of Chicago.
• Populated by roughly 2200 residents, primarily African-American.
• Lacking a supermarket, police force, barbershop, gas station, bookstore and pharmacy and has no bus or train connections.

Many of Pembroke’s roads are unpaved, just sand or gravel, and many homes are trailers or crumbling shacks with dirt floors and no running water. Some have tires sitting on top to keep a damaged roof from flying off, and many households have no telephone service. Until a credit union opened in 2007, there were no banks or financial institutions of any kind.

According to 2016 data, in Pembroke:

• 82% of students In the Pembroke Consolidated School District are poor enough to qualify for free lunch.
• 43% of children under 18 live below the poverty level
• 42% of families have annual incomes below $25,000

Family-to-Family works with Wilhelmina Gibbs of the Pembroke school district to serve our sponsored families in the Pembroke/St. Anne/Momence area. We partner with Meijer Stores in Bradley to provide groceries for our sponsored families.

Community Contact
Wilhelmina Gibbs
Lorenzo R. Smith School
4120 S. Wheeler Road
Hopkins Park, IL 60944

To learn more:

• Here We Are, Chicago Magazine
• Pembroke Township: Mired in Poverty, Now Devastated by Tornadoes, No Help in Sight
• Invisible Lives
• Once Among the Poorest in the U.S., Hopkins Park Still Recovering after a Decade of Promises
• Poor Caught in the Middle

Data Sources: Population – U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2016; Poverty & Income — U.S.; U.S Census Bureau, American Fact Finder, Community Facts 2016; Poverty & Income; Credit Union System; “INDEPTH,” 4th Quarter 2008; Illinois State Board of Education; Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Data

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

A small city located in Genesee County, Burton is a suburb of the economically devastated city of Flint. The area is still reeling from extensive layoffs and plant closings caused by the decline of Michigan’s auto industry.

According to recent U.S. Census data, in Burton:

• Almost 34% of children under 18 live below the poverty level.
• A quarter of single mothers live below the poverty level.
• 29% of households have an annual income of less than $25,000.

Family-to-Family expanded its program to Burton ten years ago when we were contacted by a mother of six who was struggling, unable to provide for her family. Today, our partner in Burton is Atherton Middle School. School officials report that, “…daily, kids are coming into school announcing a parent’s job loss…It seems like the whole state is bleeding.” A school social worker recommends families in need to Family-to-Family for sponsorship.

We also work with Meijer Store in Burton; they provide monthly grocery gift cards for the sponsored families in our program.

Community Contact:
Colleen Kure
Atherton Middle School
3444 S. Genesee Rd.
Burton, Michigan 48519

*Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau: 2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

For residents of Mingo County, a mountainous, coal-rich rural area bordering eastern Kentucky, access to the outside world is limited. Many people don’t have reliable clean water or telephone service, and transportation to jobs is difficult for the large number of households that can’t afford to repair a car when it breaks down. Due to federal welfare constraints and unemployment from coal mine closures, poverty here is worsening.

According to 2017 Census Department data:

• 42% of children live below the poverty level, a nearly 20% increase since 2010.
• Just under a quarter of residents over 18 have an annual income of less than $15,000.
• 35.6% of adults over 25 did not graduate from high school.

Mingo County has the dubious distinction of ranking last of 55 West Virginia counties for adverse health behaviors, including smoking, obesity, binge drinking, teenage births and motor vehicle crash deaths. Opioid addiction is rampant — in 2017 West Virginia had the highest rate of death due to drug overdoses of all 50 states.

Christian Help Inc. in the tiny town of Kermit (population 406), is our on-site coordinating agency. It’s a non-denominational charity that runs a food pantry, provides furniture, clothing assistance and transportation services, among other aid. Warfield Shoprite in Warfield Kentucky provides groceries to Family-to-Family’s sponsored families, which are distributed by one of our community outreach partners, Marian Krom, at Christian Help Inc.

Community Contact
Marian Krom
Christian Help, Inc.
100 Lincoln St./PO Box 1257
Kermit, West Virginia 25674

Read more about Mingo County:

• Scrapping for a Living in Old Coal Country
• Mingo County – One of the Unhealthiest Counties in West Virginia, and the Nation
• Stirring the Waters – In Southern WV, Days Without Water are a Way of Life

Data Sources: Population – U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder, 2010 ; U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates; Poverty/Income – U.S. Census Bureau, 2005-2007 American Community Survey; Health – “County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health,” 2010, by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

A rural community at the base of Pine Mountain in Eastern Kentucky, Jenkins has one of highest poverty rates in the state. Letcher County, where Jenkins is located, was once a prominent coal mining area, providing over 24,000 jobs for the local population. Today, the number of coal-related jobs has dwindled to about 100. Jenkin’s population, currently just over 2,000, has steadily decreased and poverty is widespread. According to 2017 data, in Jenkins:

• 51% of families have an annual income under $25,000.
• Almost 40% of individuals live below the poverty line.
• More than 2/3 of children qualify for federal free or reduced lunches.

Family-to-Family’s Jenkins community partner is Angela Gibson, the Family Resource and Youth Service Center liaison for the Jenkins Independent School District. Angela identifies families in need for our program and distributes monthly groceries to the families. The Whitesburg Walmart provides groceries for our sponsored families.

Sponsored families in Jenkins and nearby McRoberts have also been recipients of Family-to-Family’s Victory Garden program. Since 2010, about 20 families have received donated gardening equipment and seeds for growing beds of vegetables and fruit, often along with egg-laying chickens. We also provided supplies for a large community vegetable garden on the Jenkins elementary school grounds, which is used both as a teaching opportunity (the kids learn to compost as well!) and to provide vegetables for the whole community.

Community Partner:
Angela Gibson
Jenkins Independent School
269 Highway 3086
Jenkins, Kentucky 41537

For more information about Jenkins:

• Blackey is richest, Jenkins is poorest, census survey says
• Moving Mountains, the battle for justice comes to the coal fields of Appalachia
• A View From Appalachia: Living Below the Poverty Line
• As Jobs Disappear in Coal Country, A Giant Prison is Pitched as the Solution

Data Source: 2017 US Census Community Survey

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Once a booming auto manufacturing center, Flint today is a dying industrial town with high poverty and unemployment. The water crisis that exploded in 2014 has added even more expense and stress for the population, with the burden falling mostly on the poor. Although the state determined the water quality to be safe in 2017, community organizations continue to warn that Flint’s water is undrinkable in many parts of the city.  

In 1970, General Motors employed 80,000 people in Flint; by 2015, that number was 6,000. More recently, with GM focusing on truck manufacturing, Flint has been spared some of the sweeping layoffs announced for facilities in other parts of Michigan. Nonetheless, the city has lost a significant portion of its more affluent population in recent years, even though Flint is home to four institutions of higher learning, including Kettering University, an engineering school that is the fastest growing university in Michigan. Vacant school buildings dot the city, as do acres of concrete surrounded by barbed wire, marking the remains of the factories where tens of thousands of people once worked.

According to 2017 data, in Flint:

• Just over 41% of the population lives below the poverty level
• Close to 25% of all families have an annual income below $15,000

Flint is located in Genesee County, a little over an hour northwest of Detroit. 54.9% of its population is African-American and 39.4% is white.

Family-to-Family’s partner in Flint is the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint, an organization that provides extensive afterschool programs for 1,500 area children ages 7 to 17, 70% of whom live at or below the poverty level. Programs include arts classes, literacy programs, sports, a homework center, computers, a video music production center and a game room. BGCGF serves 20,000 meals a year to area children as well.

Family-to-Family’s contacts at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint identify Flint families in need for F-to-F and distribute the monthly food to the families. Food for sponsored families comes from The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.

Community Partner:
Tauzzari Robinson
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint
3701 North Averill Avenue
Flint, MI 48506

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau: Population Estimates, retrieved 1/24/2011; U.S. Census Bureau: 2005-2009 American Community Survey, FBI Statistics Show Flint fourth most violent city in America, www.mlive.com, U.S. Census Bureau: QuickFacts, retrieved 4/21/2016.

Read more about Flint:

• The Flint Water Crisis: A Loss of Trust, June 17, 2018