In just a few months, five guests of the Interfaith Sanctuary who were hired through a work program with Parks and Recreation have moved out of the emergency shelter and into their own living spaces.
"It's the most successful program that I've ever gotten to witness where the impact is measurable immediately," said Jodi Peterson, Co-director of the Interfaith Sanctuary.
It's success stories like these that make Interfaith Sanctuary as well as Boise Parks and Recreation proud of the program, but the program was set to end in October until next spring even though Parks and Recreating said they have plenty of work that can be done throughout winter.
"We were super concerned about what that four-month gap was going to look like," said Peterson. We felt like all the progress we had made with this group who had gotten used to going to work to have that time to not have a place to be would we have lost all that we had accomplished."
But their major obstacle in keeping the program through the colder months was finding funding.
"Then the J.A & Kathryn Albertsons Family Foundation contacted the city," said Director of Boise Parks and Recreation Doug Holloway. "They had seen and been reading about the program and were very interested in the program and basically asked how they could help out so they have agreed to fund the 9 member crew."
Interfaith sanctuary couldn't say enough about the support from the foundation and the city that fought for the program's success. While Parks and Recreation said they couldn't have done it without the support from the J.A. & Kathryn Albertsons Family Foundation, it's really the hard work the Interfaith Sanctuary guests put in that makes the program successful.
"We are getting a group of people that really do want to work and want to be gainfully employed and those are people we want to work with," said Holloway.
