IN OUR COMMUNITY
Tackling Homelessness,
One Family at a Time
Kathy Stine, Denise Glassman and Roxanne Kam
help run Interfaith Hospitality Network
16
IHN for thirteen years and through
two different synagogues. She is currently a member of Congregation B’nai
Israel in Millburn, one of 29 IHN host
congregations. At a host congregation,
IHN client families stay overnight for
up to a week before moving to the next
host congregation. The families generally sleep in the church or synagogue’s
religious school classrooms, on IHNprovided air mattresses. Members of
the congregation stay overnight along
with the families, to ensure that the
curfew is observed and that a hot
breakfast is served in the morning.
Eleven other churches and synagogues are support congregations,
which do not host families overnight
but provide critical assistance such as
companionship, hot meals and transportation to a nearby laundromat.
As crucial as having a place to
sleep is, it is never the only issue
facing a newly-homeless family.
Justice points out that “Homelessness
has a terrible effect on the mental
and even physical health of children.
They withdraw socially and emotionally; their schoolwork suffers.”
IHN provides afterschool tutoring
in Montclair for kindergarteners
through high school seniors in the
program who live in Montclair and
the Oranges, as well as a host of other
services for their parents. It is this
holistic approach that board president
Kathy Stine cites as key to its success.
Stine, a Short Hills resident,
says, “I love IHN’s comprehensive
approach to mentoring the whole
family toward stability. We offer emergency rental assistance, afterschool
programs, job training, legal aid,
MILLBURN • SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2016
financial literacy, even nutrition seminars, thanks to the social workers,
teachers and a