Family Promise of Grtr DSM Van Fund

Family Promise of Greater Des Moines provides shelter to homeless families through a network of 14 church congregations in the Des Moines area.  Each church provides a hot meal and overnight accommodations for one week every quarter for three homeless families.  During the day, the families stay at our Day Center where they have access to case management services and a private place to keep their belongings.

We use a 15-passenger van to transport the families to the host church at 5pm each afternoon and to transport them back to the Day Center at 7am each morning.  On the morning of November 21st, a volunteer was driving the van to her church to pick up the families when she ran out of gas.  Upon further investigation, it was determined that the night before, someone had drilled a hole into the van's gas tank siphoning out all of the gas.

News coverage of gas theft

While Drake Garage has generously offered to pay the costs associated with parts and labor to replace the gas tank, we've had to rent a van to transport the families at a rate of $105 per day.  The total rental cost has exceeded $1,100.  Generous contributions to date have reduced our out of pocket expense to $600.  This is money that we could otherwise use to assist our guests with gas cards or bus passes to locate and get to work, or look for housing as well as clothing for job interviews or a uniform to start a job.  The funds donated will be used to pay the rental costs. Thank you for your interest in helping us!