WESTMINSTER, Md.–Every couple of months or so, Sheryl opens the door of her hillside home to a child whose mom or dad is struggling with homelessness, joblessness or some other personal crisis.
“I believe I’m doing God’s work,” she says.
Sheryl is a “host mom” with Safe Families for Children (SFFC)–a faith-based program that recruits and trains volunteers like her to temporarily house and care for a child while their parents try to find a job or a place to live, or deal with some other life challenge.
SFFC is part of Building Families for Children, a century-old non-profit headquartered in Columbia. Working in collaboration with churches as well as state and local government, it helps give children and their parents a new chance to escape poverty.
In the past two years, Sheryl has “hosted” 12 children, ages 3 months to 10 years, from seven moms.
“I do it because I have been a single mom, and understand what it is like to suddenly be hit with a situation that you have no control over,” Sheryl said. “My husband died 14 years ago. It’s only because of my family and the church that we were able to pull through. We all need a safety net.”
A single mom helped out by Sheryl said, “Without Safe Families, I think I would have lost my children. It gave me a chance to do what I needed to do and get myself together.”
More “host moms” like Sheryl are needed. Last school year, 182 school-aged children were identified as having been homeless in Carroll County, with another 552 in Howard County. Statewide, the estimated number topped 30,000 in the 2012-13 school year.