Felicia Derby and Jonathan Crocker lost their jobs and were living in a van with their four children. The family was spending all its money on food and on medication for Derby’s daughter. 

The family began sacrificing things they needed for other things they needed more.

Just when everything seemed hopeless, Derby heard about Family Promise, a shelter and interfaith hospitality network that provides lodging and meals to homeless Baldwin County families with children. After passing a drug test and a criminal background check, the family was accepted into the program.

“This is a place where we can sit and say, ‘OK, we have a roof, and we have something to feed the kids,” Derby said. “Now, what type of resources are out there?’”

For Derby, Crocker and their children, Family Promise has provided food, shelter and optimism about their futures. But without the dedication of 212 Baldwin County women, that help might not have been available.

Impact 100 is a women’s organization in Baldwin County that collects $1,000 per member and then awards grants to deserving nonprofit organizations like Family Promise each year.

The minimum goal is to have 100 members and a total of $100,000 to award to one organization per year.

However, most years there are many more members, and as many as three grants have been given at once.

In 2011, Family Promise was the recipient of a $106,000 grant that helped the organization build the Impact Day Center, a place where families can apply for jobs, learn about financial planning and utilize other resources. At night, families are fed and sheltered at host churches.

“Without the Impact 100 money, we wouldn’t have been able to build the day center,” said Mike Brokowsky, the executive director of Family Promise of Baldwin County. “We can’t do this alone.”

Irene Meehan founded Baldwin County’s Impact 100 in 2007 after reading about another city’s chapter.

“It’s wonderful because the women learn more about the county, and they have control and get to vote and participate in the decisions,” Meehan said. “For this year, for $1,000, you can have an impact through your vote and your work on how $212,000 is spent. It’s just phenomenal.”

Meehan, a retired Merrill Lynch financial adviser, said she and other women in the community would have no idea about the number of Baldwin County residents in need if it wasn’t for the organization.

“I think all of us are a little surprised at how many and how different the needs are of those near us that we don’t see,” Meehan said. “That’s part of the learning process for the women who becomes members.”

Family Promise struck a chord with Impact 100 members because it serves a group of people who Brokowsky calls “the invisible homeless” — families with children who are living in their cars, on people’s couches or even sleeping in sleeping bags on garage floors.

Last year, the Baldwin County Board of Education classified 642 children as homeless. Brokowsky said there is no way to know how many more displaced families are out there.

“The families we serve, you wouldn’t know they were homeless if you passed them in the grocery store,” he said. “They’re just like you or me — they’ve just hit upon hard times. People don’t realize how many homeless there are in Baldwin County, because they’re out of sight, out of mind.”

Whitney Juvenal, 21, entered the Family Promise program with her 4-year-old son.

Going from attending college classes to being homeless and having to ask for help was the hardest thing she’s ever done, she said.

“I’m usually the one who’s volunteering and giving my time to the community, so it was really hard for me the first night,” Juvenal said. “It was hard to stop for a second and take the time to learn how to receive something. It hit me hard the first night, and it was rough, but I know it’s all part of God’s plan.”

The goal of Family Promise is to help each family become self-sufficient, and most of them achieve the goals they set for themselves, Brokowsky said.

“Some of them have made wrong choices in life that have caused them to crash and burn, but those children haven’t done a single thing that puts them in the back seat of the car sleeping at night,” Brokowsky said. “These families are just looking for an opportunity to get back on their feet.”

Financial support is the biggest challenge that faces Family Promise, he said, and without the support of such organizations as Impact 100, the good intentions of volunteers would not be enough.

What Impact 100 is doing is changing lives in Baldwin County, Meehan said. 

“It’s a tribute to the women of Baldwin County,” Meehan said. “They really care about their county, and they believe that if women put their resources together, they can make an impact for the betterment of the communities in which they live. And then they see it happen.”