Family-to-Family

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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:

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:

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Families are available for sponsorship in these communities:These communities are currently fully sponsored:

Located an hour inland from the coastal resort of Bar Harbor, Washington County is a part of Maine few tourists ever see. In 2008 Washington County had the highest overall poverty rate and the highest child poverty rate among Maine’s counties.

According to the 2015 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census:

  • 33.5% of households have an annual income less than $25,000; more than half of which live on less than $15,000 per year
  • 24.7% of children live in poverty
  • More than one third of homes are vacant

Many county residents rely on seasonal jobs to get by, but those jobs are harder and harder to come by. Automation has cut blueberry picking jobs from 6-8 weeks in the summer down to four. Red tide has closed many clam flats, eliminating clamming jobs, and a weakened fishing industry means lobstermen are hiring fewer workers to help out on their boats.

During winter, many families are forced to make difficult choices between food and a warm house.

Family-to-Family’s partner in Washington County is the Weald Bethel office of the Maine Seacoast Mission, an outreach center and food pantry located in Cherryfield, Maine.

In Washington County, Family-to-Family partners with The Good Shepard Food Bank to provide groceries for our sponsored families.

Community Contact
Gena Norgaard
Weald Bethel – Maine Seacoast Mission
6 Weald Bethel Lane
Cherryfield, Maine 04622

Read more about Washington County:

In Maine, a losing battle for health – The Boston Globe

From gutting sardines to shipping pregnant cows, this Maine port wants your business – PRI

Sources: 2005-2007 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2003 U.S. Census update, “Poverty in Maine, 2010” – Maine Community Action Association.

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!