The holiday season is here.

While this busy time of year may be joyous and bright for many, there are people every day, no matter the season, who are experiencing homelessness, struggling with food insecurity, or navigating substance use disorder. Each holiday season, we are grateful for you and the unwavering commitment of our staff, donors, volunteers, and community members, so let's take a moment to celebrate some great moments and people as we continue on our mission to prevent and break the cycle of homelessness.  

"That's a lot of keys!" Successful exits from our Adult Emergency Shelter in November

The picture above is the Case Management Board that hangs on the wall in the dining room of our Adult Emergency Shelter. This board provides helpful information and community resources for people staying in our shelter. Most importantly, it is a source of inspiration. The keys represent all the people who were placed in positive housing each month, and the ribbons represent the people who have entered treatment for substance use disorder. November was a successful and encouraging month, with 13 people being placed in safe and secure housing.  

We are looking forward to sharing more data points from the entire year in the near future. In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more about our housing-first approach, please visit our website.  

'Tis the season for giving thanks and celebrating community

Last month, we celebrated our 30th Annual Breakfast and were humbled by the turnout of over 530 community members. For the last 30 years, the New Hampshire business community has come together to help us raise funds to support the work we do every day. This year was no different. We are honored to have raised over $269,000 to support our mission of preventing and breaking the cycle of homelessness. 

We would like to take this opportunity to recognize our major event sponsors, Cogswell Benevolent Trust, Autofair, Spectrum Marketing Companies, Comcast, and Photiades Wealth Management, for their continued partnership and generous contributions to our event this year. We would also like to thank our Keynote Speaker, Mark Horvath of Invisible People, for helping ring in 30 years of the Annual Breakfast and furthering our conversations on homelessness in our community. 

If you were unable to attend the Breakfast this year, be sure to check out the event photos or watch the recording of Mark's Keynote here.  

Meet the Families in Transition team! 

Meet Lauren Berman-Lefebvre, or as we like to call her "LBL," the Director of Family Shelters & Coordinated Entry, who oversees our Family Shelters, Housing Intake, and Supportive Housing Programs. Lauren's career in non-profit management and human services spans nearly 15 years.

Before joining Families in Transition, Lauren was the Director of programs for Strafford County Community Action Partnership (CAPSC). She managed over 40 programs, including Fuel and Electric Assistance, Senior Transportation, Homeless and Housing Programs, Weatherization, Workforce, and Job training programs, and three food pantries throughout Strafford County. Before her work at CAPSC, she was the Welfare Officer for the City of Somersworth and a founding partner of Good Works Employment Services in York County. Lauren is a graduate of Ithaca College in New York.  

To meet more of the faces behind the scenes at Families in Transition, visit our leadership page.

Ways to get involved