Cynthia Wood sees the faces of homelessness every day. She knows who they are. They are men and women and children.

That's why they called her at Family Promise, a network that teams with churches to provide shelter, meals and resources for homeless families with children. She wants to get those families back on their own - with jobs, with a house to call home.

That's why she loves being executive director of the nonprofit housed in the basement of St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

"Just being able to advocate for people, it's exciting to see a single mom who has never gotten a job being able to walk into a job interview with confidence and get the job," Wood said.

Family Promise works with a staff of three - Wood, who is full time, and a case manager and office manager, both part time.

With an annual budget of about $110,000, it is funded by donations and grants.

"If we had funding for 40 hours of case management we could possibly double the number of families we serve," she said.

Here's a little about Family Promise:

• The average length of stay in its 90-day program is 46 days.

• 73 percent of the guests who come to Family Promise with no job, leave with employment.

• 80 percent of its guest children are age 5 and younger.

• 61 percent of its guests are two parent households, as opposed to single parent households.

Wood, who grew up with three older brothers on a dairy farm in Caldwell, doesn't want people to fear the homeless. She wants to help them.

"Sometimes people have preconceived ideas, They're scared of the unknown," she said. "This is one way to break down barriers in the community."

How many families are you helping?

We can host up to three families, up to 14 people at a time. What that translates into is between 20-25 families a year. The first year we were open it was nine families. The next year 13, and we're now better known in the community. This year, we're helping 21 families, 70 people. We have case management staff, and that's really helped families move into sustainable housing that much quicker. That's the goal, to get them not just into housing, but sustainable housing.

How is your funding these days?

Well, these days, it is tough.

So how do you get by?

This program exists because of the compassionate volunteers that do the hosting, the overnights, the food, the laundry, the coordinating of it all, the van driving, and the prayers and encouragement to our guests - we have 500-plus volunteers in the congregations job watching for our guests.

How do the host congregations help families?

They're actually staying at the church building. Usually, it's a Sunday school classroom that they're in. To qualify to be a host congregation, you have to have three rooms, one for each guest family, that has four walls and a door. They need to be able to have privacy. Eighty-five percent of the children we shelter are age 5 and under. They need to be able to have those rooms available one week at a time up to four or five weeks out of a year. There is almost no congregation out there that would be a natural fit for it. Everybody makes some sacrifice. We have a Christian school, they moved their math class into the cafeteria that week so we could have that room. We have 15 congregations involved, 11 as hosts and four as support.

Why do you believe in Family Promise?

Who doesn't want to help the homeless? It puts a face to homelessness. I love what it does for churches. It is a preset ministry, it's intense the weeks they're hosting. The rest of the year it's something they can anticipate and prepare for, so it's a little less labor intensive.

What have you learned about homelessness since you became involved with Family Promise?

It's been a real eye-opener. Now that my children are in school, it can be anybody. It can be your neighbors. They don't look different. That's what I love about it. I work with people every day that are in dire straights. I love being able to help people.

Are they easy to help?

When people come to our program, they have been told no so many times that they just expect us not to take them in. They don't expect anything. They're at the bottom. To be able to say, 'Oh yeah, we're excited to have you. We're excited to be able to help you. Here are the things we can offer you.' It's that life skill of being able to represent yourself with confidence.

What does Family Promise spend money on?

We're not paying for the housing. We're not paying for the food. We don't have funds we can give them to help them out. But we can help them with where to go. It's basically for the human resources that we have.

Are we making progress in helping the homeless?

There is a lot of struggling going on, but there is so much going on in Kootenai County that is so exciting and encouraging. We're part of the 10-year plan to end homelessness. United Way really has put forth some great efforts to be a leader and helping with homelessness. St. Vincent de Paul's HELP Center has been a leader on what we all ought to be doing.

Is this a difficult job emotionally?

It can be, especially when you see a family come in that has great potential but they don't see it in themselves. That's probably the hardest thing to see that they have what it takes but there's so much that has kind of defeated them. It's really hard to help them get through it. We get a lot of calls. We can't help everybody. The people that we help, we can help well.

How many calls do you get a month from people needing help?

We get 20-25 calls a month for help. We can only really help three a month. The No. 1 question we get when people call us, 'Do I have to have a job?'

No, you're probably in this situation because you don't have a job. That is the No. 1 reason we get calls.

Have you always had a heart to help others?

I've always had compassion for the downtrodden. Even at school, the kid eating lunch alone. I'd go and sit with him or her. The new kid, I would want to try and befriend them. When I was in college, I joined a campus ministry team, part of our training was inner-city ministry, and we also went to Haiti twice. Just seeing the effects of poverty.

In Haiti, the thing that struck me, here was a whole country of poverty and you'd be driving by and you'd see people who had smiles on their face. They weren't working. They didn't know where their next meal was coming from, but they were braiding their daughter's hair and singing a tune. Contentment, I just want to be able to help people.

What's next for Family Promise?

I'd like to see a northern and southern network. We have two churches in Spirit Lake. We just got done with our hosting period there. It takes a good half-hour to get there and back. I'd love to see a northern network.

How can people help Family Promise?

Volunteer, donate. We also have a perfect match sponsoring program. If you do a monthly or quarterly sponsor, it's matched up to $1,500 maximum. This is something Panhandle State Bank is doing for us. It's awesome.

How is Family Promise different from other programs?

One of the unique things about this program, it keeps families together. We are not a duplication of services in the community. If you have a couple, they can stay together in our program. It's not men and women separated.

If you're a single mom and you've got a teenage son, he can stay with you. It's all about keeping families together in a time that's scary. It's a big time crisis and everybody needs to be able to pull together.

Date of birth: March 22, 1973

Education: University of Idaho, classical studies; Pepperdine University, master's of science and ministry.

Family: Husband Mike, two children.

Number of hours on average you work in a week: 55

Number of hours on average you sleep in a night: 7

Hobbies: Hiking, reading to my kids, dating my husband.

Favorite movie: "Les Miserables"

Favorite author: Mark Twain

Favorite type of music: Classical Christian

One thing you consider your greatest accomplishment: My family

Quality you admire most in a person: Integrity

Best advice you ever received: Keep moving forward.

Person who most influenced your life: Howard Jones, my campus minister at Boise State. He had great words of wisdom at a pivotal time in my life.