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Family Alliance of Paulding
Hearts, Hands, and Help for Families
Sarah, age 2 and Sabrina, age 4 run up and hug their mommy’s legs. They haven’t seen her for a week because they were put in foster care due to parental neglect. The girls then run to the dinosaur room to play with their mom during their weekly visitation. Joanie, a volunteer visitation supervisor, sits quietly outside the door observing the visit. Joanie is taking notes about the parent’s interaction with the children and the children’s response to the parent. Who is the volunteer? She is someone like you who has a heart for families and shares her gifts and time to help this family and many others reach reunification.
This is just one of the ways that the Family Alliance of Paulding serves families. The Family Alliance of Paulding, a grassroots collaboration of individuals, agencies and organizations, came together in 2006 to fight the methamphetamine epidemic sweeping the county and the state. Linda Verscharen and Dee Morris called a meeting of people concerned about methamphetamines in Paulding County and 60 people showed up. The Meth Alliance of Paulding was born out of this meeting. Initially, the Alliance used its time and talents to educate community leaders, school teachers, medical personnel, law enforcement and other interested individuals about the realities and dangers of methamphetamine.
During the first 18 months of existence, it became apparent to Alliance leadership that there was more than just education needed to fight the methamphetamine battle. Linda Verscharen, now executive director of the Alliance, said, “If people are using methamphetamines or any other substance illegally, there has to be an underlying cause.”
The Alliance began examining where there were gaps in services in Paulding County and realized that even though there are a lot of churches and agencies providing services, there is not a single point of access to these services. Many agencies and organizations were coming to Alliance leadership and asking for support for projects aimed at Paulding County families. Alliance leadership felt “called” to something bigger and expanded the scope of the organization, now known as the Family Alliance of Paulding to include activities that enrich the lives and address the needs, issues, and concerns of families by providing community leadership, advocacy, education, vital social services, and opportunities for individual development.
Thanks to tremendous support from the City of Hiram and Mayor Carmen Rollins, the Family Alliance has two buildings at its disposal. The Welcome Home Center, a small house refurbished by volunteer labor, is utilized for supervised visitations. “This is the place where families come to reestablish connections and bonds, and learn to interact with one another in a positive way,” shares Larri Bass, supervised visitation coordinator for the Alliance.
Further, the Family Alliance is blessed to have a much larger facility to share with the community. The Alliance hosts English as a Second Language, Girl Scouts, Substance Use Prevention Education Resource (SUPER), STAMP, the Crystal Meth Anonymous group and many others.
Further, thanks to a flood and some divine intervention, the Family Alliance Center is being completely remodeled in hopes that funding will be found for an after school program for at risk teenagers and many other programs that Paulding County greatly needs.
What the Family Alliance needs most is you! If you have a heart for families, hands for work, time to share, or money to give, you are a perfect fit. Sarah and Sabrina need you! To learn more, contact Linda Verscharen 678-202-5777 or visit www.familyallianceofpaulding.org.