Family-to-Family

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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:

  • About a quarter of households have an income of under $15,000
  • Only 5.6% of residents over 25 have a Bachelor’s degree
  • 37.8% of children under 18 live below the federal poverty line

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 2021West 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:

Data Sources: Population 

U.S. Census Bureau 2022

https://www.shadac.org/opioid-epidemic-united-states#:~:text=Across%20the%20decade%2C%20however%2C%20West,are%20unavailable%20for%20that%20state. 

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.

Data from the 2022 census:

  • The median income is $26,500
  • 28.4% of households have an income of under $15,000
  • 57.3% are unemployed

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: 2022 U.S. 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 2022 data, in Flint:

  • 39.6% of households have an income under $25,000
  • 52.5% of residents are unemployed
  • 69.4% of residents under 18 live in poverty

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 2022

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: