Alongside Families

Eileen Miles has volunteered and worked for Alongside Families for almost four years, helping find temporary and safe placement for children in crisis situations. Families have been rescued from the trauma of separation and foster care because of Christ-centered and loving intervention by this ministry.

As a volunteer and employee, Eileen fields many calls from mothers in circumstances of abuse, medical emergencies, homelessness, and financial ruin. These mothers are desperate for help and love their children, but just need temporary help while they sort out their problems.

Eileen summarizes her experience by saying that she has grown the most in her compassion for those in poverty, appreciation of community, and the realization that serving God and others may be inconvenient for us.

A 20-year-old mom with a one-month-old was completely out of money and could not keep staying in the motel where she was. She called Alongside Families and the Miles family ended up bringing her and the baby to stay with them. They asked her where she’d like to sleep and she responded that she would be fine outside with the baby, as it was where she felt safe. This was heartbreaking to hear and she was given a home with the Miles family for almost three months. This young family is in a safe and more permanent situation, praise the Lord!

Eileen comments that it was not as hard as she thought it would be and was a tremendous blessing to their whole family, making a huge impact on her kids. She states that serving God isn’t convenient, it doesn’t fit into the soccer schedule, it sometimes isn’t 3 hours on a Saturday, but it’s what we are called to do sometimes.

Another mother had some medical issues that were urgent and had to take her 3 kids to the ER with her. She had absolutely no one to call to come keep the kids. If she was admitted to the hospital with no child care, DSS was ready to come and place the kids in foster care. Even if her stay was brief, Eileen says that in the welfare system it could be up to 9 months before she would have her children back with her. They were in the ER for 3 days straight. Volunteers from Alongside Families ministered to this lady by keeping her kids until she was well and they avoided DSS. A home was found for this family and StoneBridge members showed up on a rainy Saturday to move her in.

Eileen states that she has never appreciated or respected the community of StoneBridge more than she does now. We take it for granted that if we were in a crisis, we have a long list of friends and family we could call. Many have not one person that is dependable. It’s hard for us to imagine being in such dire straits, but situations like this are all around us. 

Alongside Families fills such a need for so many moms doing the best they can, but need assistance. Praise God for their ministry and being placed for a purpose to share the love of Christ to a hurting city.

Appreciate your community, grow in compassion for those in poverty, and realize and embrace that serving God may not conveniently fit into your schedule. We have much to be grateful for and I’m so grateful for Eileen and many others who serve together in this ministry.