Carrie Krepps knows things will work out for the Helena-based nonprofit she works for just by looking at its history. The Florence Crittenton Home has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, major disease outbreaks — including COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu.
“When you consider what’s happened in Montana during the last 120 years, we’ve survived through it all and managed to stay open, continually serving those families in the most critical need,” says Krepps, Executive Director of Florence Crittenton. “And our longevity and success in the work we do is the direct result of our community’s involvement in this organization. Time and time again, our community has served as the launch pad for our viability.”
Florence Crittenton is a trauma responsive, relationship-based organization that provides family support during critical times and offers a continuum of services and programs that include mental health support, substance use recovery, parenting education, childcare and preschool, and access to community amenities.
With services currently divided between two locations, Harris and Cooney, the organization has launched Project Sunshine, a $4-7.5 million fundraising campaign to unite services into one facility. Florence Crittenton has already raised $2.6 million thus far to pay for the acquisition, and with the money raised from Project Sunshine to fund the renovation and expansion of the Cooney site, the new facility will allow clients in the residential, community and early childhood programs to transition seamlessly from one service to the next.
Depending on the timeline of funding and contractors, the building is expected to be completed in late 2023. The new facility will allow FC the ability to serve an additional 90 families per year across all programs, easing access for them between the various treatment and service options. Childcare rooms will double in number to correspond with a doubling of enrollment. The new transitional living program will also become available for up to 3 parents transitioning from residential treatment.
“Project Sunshine will help serve Montana’s families for the next century,” Krepps says. “Obviously, trying to capture the what-ifs of the next hundred years can be overwhelming, but looking back at our own history, including the past two pandemic-filled years, helps us chart our path. The world we live in is filled with uncertainty and challenges and any decisions we make for this organization’s future, depends on our resiliency to overcome them long after we are gone.”
One of the biggest challenges facing FC, as with much of the country, is workforce development and the ability to hire and retain staff.
“I think the pandemic has made the community even more aware of the fact that our work here affects every one of us, whether we are receiving services or not,” says Krepps. “A community is only as healthy as the person who is struggling the most. Parents who have adequate childcare services, for example, are able to continue to work with fewer schedule disruptions. Children who receive quality early care here in various capacities are able to be more productive in school. The bottom line is, we are all very much connected in a community and the need to support each other is huge.”
To donate to Project Sunshine, please visit florencecrittenton.org. Donors may also purchase one of 1,000 bricks for $1,000 that will be laid on the positive path FC families will take, literally and figuratively. Donors may have messages engraved on their brick. Corporate sponsorship and naming-rights packages, as well as in-kind donations and volunteering opportunities, are also available.
