Safe Family Ministries Seeks Community Support After Turnover

Sept. 23--While studying recently for a doctorate degree in ministries, Shirley Cunningham chose to research places like Safe Family Ministries -- residential programs that help struggling people learn life skills and become independent and productive.

On Monday, she started her new job as the executive director of the nonprofit located along Jackson Highway south of Chehalis.

Cunningham sees that as no accident.

"God laid it on my heart to work with all of the broken-hearted people," she said. "God called me into the ministry and made that very clear to me. When I heard the need here, the need for the ministry to continue to thrive, continue to grow and understanding the background I had, I knew this was the place for me to come."

Safe Family Ministries has gone through some significant turnover in the past year and a half. In January 2016, ministry founders Donald and Gwen Moor retired and were replaced by Kevin and Diane Brown.

"It didn't go as well as it could have," said Summer Phillips, community and church relations strategist for Safe Family Ministries.

Phillips recently served as the facility's interim director before Cunningham came on board.

"Anytime there is a significant change in leadership when a mission has grown under one director, it's often challenging," she said. "I think it's part of growth. We've learned a lot from last year."

While she's optimistic for the future, Phillips said the turnover has resulted in a loss in donations that have put the ministry in a tough financial position.

"We are in need of immediate and significant funding," Phillips said.

Safe Family Ministries provides a one-year program for women and their children who are trying to regain their independence and sort out their lives after a variety of struggles, from drug abuse to domestic violence. The facility provides counseling and a kind of intensive life coaching, progressively pushing the residents toward independence.

Cunningham was a mental health professional and counselor for 26 years and has managed inpatient and outpatient therapy and crisis services. She has also been a chaplain since 2008 for Mason General Hospital in Shelton and the Griffin Fire Department near Steamboat Island.

She recently finished her doctorate degree in ministry and is preparing for her oral board interview to get her Ph.D.

She has also been heavily involved in ministries through her church in Olympia.

Cunningham started at Safe Family Ministries on Monday and spent the week getting to know the facility and the community.

"I'm absorbing the current procedures and looking at programs that are working really well here and programs that are not doing so well," she said.

She's also working with the non-profit Christian service ministry's board to develop one-, three-, and five-year plans for the organization.

Part of that, Cunningham said, is to broaden the focus of the group beyond what it can do for individuals to what it can accomplish for the entire community.

The residents currently do volunteer work each Friday. Cunningham said she'd like to expand their volunteer opportunities.

"It's important they're learning to give back," she said. "I'm looking forward to growing that aspect of the ministry."

Cunningham also plans to expand the program to also provide housing for an entire family, including fathers, with the goal of breaking the cycle of generational poverty and abuse.

Safe Family Ministries is located at 3149 Jackson Highway south of Chehalis.

Learn more about the organization at safefamilyministries.com.

___

(c)2017 The Chronicle (Centralia, Wash.)

Visit The Chronicle (Centralia, Wash.) at www.chronline.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.