Cheryl Schuch beamed with satisfaction Tuesday as she watched a mother shower her two young children with love and affection inside a playroom at the newly opened Fulton Manor Emergency Family Shelter in Grand Rapids.

Schuch, executive director of Family Promise of Grand Rapids, the nonprofit that operates the shelter, said it wasn’t long ago that the mother and her children came face-to-face with one of life’s biggest challenges: homelessness.

But thanks to the new shelter, which has helped Family Promise serve families that were previously on a waiting list, the mother and her five children now have a safe place to call home while they work to get back on their feet.

“For us to be able to see families in a warm space, a great space like this with great staff, great volunteers and getting warm meals — that’s why we do the work we do,” said Schuch, who asked that the name of the mother using the shelter not be used.

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