FEBRUARY 2018 40 | {charity spotlight} GIVING BACK SAVE THE FAMILY Three decades ago, Save the Family was founded in Mesa to address the issue of growing family homelessness in the Valley. “Four businessmen decided to fund four housing units in 1988. Today, we’re serving over 700 families a year,” said Save the Family’s chief development officer Tina Lopez. “We have housing units and scattered site housing throughout mainly the East Valley, where we’re able to house our families while they’re getting the services they need to become self-sufficient.” In 1991, Save the Family began offering educational programming for adults as well as children, who make up 60 percent of the organization’s client base. What began as a small housing program has expanded into a full-support agency for families struggling with homelessness — offering housing, career services, self-esteem coaching, budgeting workshops and more. THE STORY Jamie Killin | CONTRIBUTING WRITER THE CAUSE While family homelessness is a difficult problem to quantify, it’s a problem many struggle with, and struggle to overcome. “Family homelessness on paper doesn’t look like a problem. The reason why is you don’t see a mom with kids standing on the street corner with signs,” said Lopez. “Parents are afraid to let anyone know that they are homeless because they’re afraid their kids will be taken away from them. Unfortunately, in the state of Arizona that is a reality.” According to Lopez, the number-one reason Save the Family clients become homeless is domestic violence — but many have also faced job loss, eviction and changes in marital status.

FEBRUARY 2018 | 41 Save the Family provides clients with household items, clothing and more to help them on their path to self-sufficiency. To ensure their success, the organization offers career services, budgeting help, child care, transportation and self-development training. “In addition to the job piece, we also understand that often there are other underlying issues, like self-esteem. A lot of times there’s been an abusive situation, so we have classes around that such as parenting, how to raise a confident child, how to address your self-confidence, how to eat in a nutritious way, because all of that adds to the overall health of the family,” said Lopez. Save the Family also helps individuals overcome challenges such as high child- care costs, lack of career skills and a lack of affordable housing. “Arizona ranks 49 out of 50 for affordable housing availability,” said Lopez. “There’s a lot of housing available but it’s unattainable for many of our clients because they have to work two or three jobs just to be able to afford some of the rents that are out there. The rents that are affordable usually have waiting lists or are in such undesirable areas that you wouldn’t want your kid getting off the bus while you’re at work.” Fortunately, Save the Family has produced several success stories — including one client who had suffered from domestic abuse, went through Save the Family’s programming and ultimately secured a job with the organization.