The Devonshire church in Devonshire, Bermuda, donated $4,500 to the newly opened Transformational Living Centre (TLC), a center addressing the growing problem of homelessness in Bermuda among families with children. In 2019 and 2020, the church raised the money through its annual Christmas gift drive. Carlyle Simmons, the church pastor, presented the donation to Elaine Butterfield in November 2021 during the Sabbath morning preliminaries.
“We are so grateful to the Devonshire Seventh-day Adventist Church for your most generous donation,” exclaimed Butterfield, who is the former executive director of the Women’s Resource Centre, one of the charitable foundations behind TLC. “Please know that lives will be changed because of it!”
Located in Pembroke, TLC will provide a purpose-driven, safe, holistic, supportive, and therapeutic environment for homeless families while empowering them to become independent and self-sufficient. Families will receive a comprehensive range of services and opportunities, including but not limited to counseling, substance abuse rehabilitation, job readiness, academic and life skills training, and employability skills development. Butterfield emphasized that guests would receive high-quality, client-based, and strength-based services delivered with respect, dignity, empathy, and compassion.
TLC estimates that its center will accommodate up to ten families at a time. The families will live at TLC for 12 months and then move to a facilitated house-sharing opportunity for another 12 months. TLC will coordinate the transitional component of education and life skills training and collaborate with other services to ensure that any family transitioning through TLC will have every opportunity to change their trajectory from surviving to thriving. “Families will try out the skills they have learned and still have the chance to be near us to help them stand up should they stumble,” Butterfield explained. “At the end of 24 months, we expect them to fly stronger!”
Butterfield added, “Please keep us in prayer as we endeavor to transform lives that line up with what God intended for us all.”
Learn more about the Transformational Living Centre (TLC) by visiting their website at www.tlc.bm.
_________________
Theresa Millett, Devonshire church communication department
