THE FP FABULOUS FIVE: ABUNDANCE
- Joe Nettesheim
- 7 minutes ago
- 6 min read
NOVEMBER 28, 2025
The Family Promise Fabulous Five (FP Five) is a weekly newsletter whose purpose is to update, inform, and advocate for families who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
The mission of Family Promise of Waukesha County is to help low-income families and families experiencing homelessness achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response.
In this edition, you will find these stories:
The percentage of students who recently graduated high school in the United States who attend college is 62%. What is the percentage of children who experience homelessness that attend college?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Clockwise L-R: Cassidy and Kaitlin staffed our table at Project Homelessness Connect and saw Jodie, a Volunteer Coordinator from Waukesha UCC; Martha Merrill Bookstore collected food for Thanksgiving baskets for families; staff celebrated Joe's birthday; Joe and Tim attended the Oconomowoc Area Foundation Celebration. Thank you OAF for a generous gift.
01.JOE'S JOURNAL: ABUNDANCE
Joe Nettesheim shares his insights about family homelessness.
Advocacy
Episode 2 of Joe's Journal focuses on abundance and thankfulness. An attitude of abundance focuses on what we have and not what we are lacking. It is an attitude that recognizes that we have enough and that we are enough. It is a mindset that promotes generosity, grit, resilience and determination and invites and welcome those of all economic levels into our neighborhoods.
02. A HOME FOR EVERY STORY
Regardless of a families story, every family deserves a home.
Fund Development
The theme of our end of the year campaign is A Home for Every Story. Every family experiencing housing instability has their own story.
For some, poverty is a generational experience, others have had health issues, and many more are faced with the challenge of increased rent or mortgages that has outpaced wages. Regardless of what story brings them to Family Promise of Waukesha County, our focus is on helping them secure permanent housing.
This is Tanya's story:
A nurse who lost her job in January, Tanya found herself in a challenging situation. While her church, friends, and family could assist with bills and basic needs to a certain extent, she decided to search online for unemployment support. To her surprise, she discovered numerous community resources, including Family Promise of Waukesha County. She was provided crucial short-term financial assistance and assistance in setting goals to prevent falling behind again.
Tanya had dedicated eight years to improving her credit score and managing her bills responsibly, and she was determined not to slip back into hardship. As a single mother facing six months of unemployment, she encountered significant challenges, but Tanya remained steadfast in her pursuit of her goals. Family Promise of Waukesha County filled essential gaps by supplying cleaning items, toiletries, and other household necessities.
Today, Tanya is thriving as an in-home care nurse for individuals with special needs and takes great joy in giving back to her community. She is proud to be a part of this service space and encourages anyone facing a similar situation to reach out for help and not feel shy or embarrassed about seeking support from their community.
We invite you to become a chapter in the story these families are writing, by making an end of the year financial gift . Your generosity will transform the lives of families like Kalei.
Click below to learn more or to make a gift.
Giving Tuesday, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving has become the defacto start of the giving season. We want you to know that generosity is more than one day and that you can give anytime! 😁
There is even a movement that is called "Giving First" an idea that suggests giving should occur before Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday. Whenever you give please know that it will be received with appreciation and gratitude.
Curly's Waterfront Presents Give-Back Day.
You are invited to get dinner or a drink at Curly's Waterfront Sports Bar and Grill on Tuesday, December 2 from 11 am to midnight to support Family Promise of Waukesha County. 10% of all net proceeds will benefit Family Promise of Waukesha County.
Hope to see you there!
03. BORN POOR
This PBS documentary chronicles the stories of three children born into poverty over the span of 14 years.
Advocacy/Accompaniment
The PBS news show Frontline released a documentary in October 2025 titled "Born Poor." This documentary is the sequel to Poor Kids which explored child poverty in the United States using their own words. Now 14 years later Born Poor revisits those same children, Kaylie, Johnny and Brittany, now young adults, with their own children. This 90 minute documentary is a worthy investment of time, as it reminds us that children who are "Born Poor" or experiencing homelessness, have the same dreams, and hopes as any other child. We see them as both children and as young adults recognizing the oppressive nature of poverty and the obstacles that make it difficult to escape. "Born Poor" provides a real documenting of how the challenges of poverty impact nutrition, education, mental and physical health.
TRIVIA OF THE WEEK
Percentage of students who graduate high school who attend college is 62%. What is the percentage of children who experience homelessness that attend college?
0-10%
11-20%
21-30%
31-50%
04. A NEW CAR
Securing a dependable car can be an obstcle to overcome poverty.
Gratitude
It was an unexpected call, but a much helpful call. In early October when 800 Charity Cars reached out to Family Promise of Waukesha County to ask if we had a client who needed a car, we jumped at the chance! As it turns out the mission of 800 Charity Cars is to match car donors with car recipients. In this particular case they were reaching out on behalf of Project Spark, an initiative of Midas. This particular Midas franchise was located in Janesville and 800 Charity Cars wanted to work with a Family Promise affiliate. Since Kalei, a client in our transitional housing program had family who lived in Janesville, she was a natural fit. The best news is that the car Kalei received was a loaner car maintained by the maintenance team at Midas. It was the perfect situation. This car is another obstacle Kalei is overcoming on her path to permanent housing.
05. 205 UNIQUE FAMILIES SERVED
Our agency has passed the number of families served in 2024.
Program
As of October 31, 2025 Family Promise of Waukesha County has served 205 families. To provide context for that number, for all of 2024 we served 138 families. The increase in families served stems from greater need and an increased capacity to serve families. Increasing our capacity is due to organizational leadership flexible to respond to the ever changing needs of our community, a highly competent team and your generosity!
The program that serves the most families is Shelter Diversion. Started in May 2024, the goal of shelter diversion is to identify all families experiencing homelessness, ensure that families are not living on the street, a tent or their car and ultimately find an alternative to shelter for families experiencing homelessness. A five year, one million dollar grant from the Bezos Day 1 Fund through the Balance of State has made this program possible. While we must be clear that not all of the 106 families served in Diversion secured permanent housing what it does mean that each of them worked with a Family Advocate to seek a creative solution. Before this program started these families would have been referred elsewhere and most likely put on a hamster wheel of calling agency after agency seeking shelter in an already overwhelmed system.
While we are proud of being able to increase our capacity we are still only serving about 36% of the requests for service. As of October 31, 2025 we have had 346 shelter inquiries. There have been times that we have had to close our inquiry form or intake process to allow the Family Advocates to "catch up".
FIVE PLUS
Holiday Gift Giving!
There are 13 spots remaining for adults and families needing holiday gifts. Could your family sponsor an individual? Or could you work with your congregation, business or book club to close out our list? We are especially in need of gifts for older teens, moms and dads. Everyone should be able to celebrate this season of giving!
All gifts must be UNWRAPPED and delivered to the Day Center no later than December 5th, labeled with the identifying individual and family (Family 1, 5 year old male) you are buying for!
Address to send gifts to is
139 E North St, Waukesha WI 53188
Please reach out to Tasha with any questions or concerns tasha@familypromisewaukeshawi.org
Gifts will be distributed at a holiday party on December 13 from 11am-1:30pm hosted by Oakwood Church in Hartland. We invite you to join us for fun and service.
UPCOMING
Nov 28 Office Closed
Dec 2 Mayor's Breakfast
Dec 2 100 Women Who Care- Metro West
Dec 3 Staff Huddle
Dec 3 Family Meal
Dec 4 Development Meeting
Dec 5 Balance of State- Shelter Diversion Meeting
Dec 5 Holiday Gifts due at Day Center - UNWRAPPED + LABELED
Dec 13 Holiday Party hosted by Oakwood
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