Here’s a statistic that will nearly stop your heart: The average age of a homeless person in Palm Beach County is 9.

Nine!

And about 1,200 children in the Palm Beach County School District are homeless. Families are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population.

The only family homeless shelter in our area is run by Family Promise of  South Palm Beach County. It has helped 100 adults and 150 children in the three years since it started. Nationally, Family Promise has helped tens of thousands of people, mostly children, in 20 years. The need has risen greatly in the past few years.

“We believe every child deserves a home,” said Linda Prior, the local organization’s secretary, who has volunteered for three years.

Up to four families at a time use the Family Promise day center at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach as their home base. They have lockers, laundry facilities, a shower, an address and phone number so they can look for jobs and a place to live.

In the evening, they have dinner and spend the night at host congregations in the area. Each congregation hosts the families for a week at a time. In the morning, they have breakfast, then a Family Promise van takes them back to the day center, where they get ready for the day. The children take the bus or are driven to their school; they usually don’t have to change schools.

Family Promise clients are not the chronically homeless people you see on the streets. They are everyday families hit with bad circumstances: A mom – used to $1,200 purses and $300 haircuts – whose husband died unexpectedly, leaving her alone with a young child. A grandmother raising a grandchild. A family of four who lost their business in the real-estate bust.

Family Promise gives them support for getting back on their feet. They must pass a background check and a drug test. They must be able to work and have worked in the past couple of years. Case managers help them progress. The cities of Boca Raton and Delray Beach may help with subsidized housing.

A family’s average stay is about three months – time to get stabilized, find a job and save up money to “graduate” into their own homes again. After they leave, they still get mentoring from the program.

“We just don’t drop them after three months,” Prior said.

Family Promise has 1,100 volunteers at 10 congregations from Boynton Beach to Boca.

Can you help?

Family Promise needs donations:

• Money
• Baby supplies
• Medicine for children
• Toiletries
• Gift cards
• Get a complete list of needs at the Family Promise website.

The organization needs volunteers to:

• Help with grant writing and communications
• Staff the day center on weekends
• Drive the van
• To register as a volunteer, click here.

UPCOMING FUND-RAISER

“What’s it worth?” This antique appraisal fair will help raise money for Family Promise. 2 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 12, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Bring your antiques to be appraised by professionals from Bristol Trading Company. $10 per item.

TO LEARN MORE

Visit Family Promise of South Palm Beach County online or call 561-265-3370, ext. 103.

- CHARLENE PACENTI

Need some new-mom friends?

Maybe you’re a first-time mom, the first in your circle of friends to have a baby. Maybe you’re new to Boca Raton. Maybe you just want to meet some new people with kids the same age as yours. Where to find play groups – or mom groups – is one of the most frequently asked questions at BocaParent. So we’ve put together some good answers.

There are plenty of opportunities around. You just have to know where to look. Here are some places to start:

Meetup.com

There are several local moms groups on Meetup.com, each with its own vibe. Go to the site, type in your Zip code and search tor terms like “parenting” or “play groups.” When you find one you like, you can apply to join. Here are just a few of the many groups:

• Cosmopolitan Moms of Palm Beach County. They are into moms night out events, among other outings.

• Boca Babies and Toddlers. For stay-at-home moms; they are looking for new members with toddlers age 2 1/2 to 4.

• The Boca Raton Parents Meetup Group. Focuses on fun, educational activities.

• Families with Special Needs. This group of parents meets monthly to learn about parenting kids with special needs.

Mommy & Me classes

There are several great ones in Boca Raton. One of our BocaParent “gurus,” Karen Deerwester, is the Mommy & Me director at B’Nai Torah Congregation. Her classes start as young as 4 months. Register at the B’Nai Torah website. Also:

• The city of Boca Raton offers several excellent classes, starting with infants. Miss Lili’s Kangaroo Kids class at the James A.Rutherford Community Center is a longtime favorite. You can also find parent-child classes in music and dance at all the community centers. For complete listings, see The Recreator or BocaParent’s Things to Do calendar.

• Houses of worship and some Jewish community centers also have parent-child programs. Spanish River Church, for example, has a  River Tots program for ages 1 to 3 1/2.  Check with the churches and temples in your neighborhood.

• Both local hospitals offer classes for moms and babies. West Boca Medical Center hosts one of the few Saturday morning classes that is great for moms who work during the week. It’s offered every other Saturday, starting again on Oct. 1. Get more information and register at the hospital website. (Choose Maternity Services in the event search menu). Boca Raton Regional Hospital has a mommy & me yoga class, as well as an educational class for moms and babies who are sitting and crawling. Check the calendar on its website.

• Stroller Strides has a class  in which you exercise with your baby in the stroller  at Town Center Mall on Saturdays and Mondays. More info at its website.

Indoor playgrounds

If you’re looking for something less structured, head to one of the many indoor playgrounds that have opened around town in the past couple of years. BocaParent has visited them all in the blog: Boca Play Station, Playtown Cafe and Monkey Joe’s. A couple of them are now offering classes, too.

Library programs

Drop in for story times at the local libraries. Information in The Recreator.

Parks and playgrounds

There’s one in almost every neighborhood. The big hangouts for little kids: Patch Reef (on Military Trail just south of Palmetto Park Road) and Sugar Sand (on Yamato Road just west  of Military Trail).

Online

A Miami Beach mom started a website called PlayGroupConnect.com that lets moms fill out a compatibility profile to find other like-minded moms. It does have some Boca area members.

Feel free to use BocaParent’s Facebook page to post queries to other members about play groups and any other questions you might have. Or, if you’re shy, just email us! We love to hear from you.

Find lots more kid-friendly classes and activities in Things to Do.

Share your favorite classes and hangouts in the comments.

- CHARLENE PACENTI

The Miami City Ballet is offering a deal on tickets to The Nutcracker at The Kravis Center in West Palm Beach this weekend.

Two hours prior to the performances, you can get tickets for $25 if you go in person to the Kravis Center box office.

Shows are 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4; and 2 p.m. Dec. 5.

Miami City Ballet’s production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker features company dancers and a cast of child dancers from Palm Beach County – including Broadway star Tommy Batchelor, who played the lead role in the original New York City and Chicago stage productions of the musical Billy Elliot.

The Kravis Center is at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. Some restrictions apply. Call 561-832-7469.

For more Nutcracker performances and other highlights of the season, visit our Holiday Event Guide.

Artist Wyland painting with kids.

If living greener is on your to-do list, don’t miss the huge Wyland Living Green Fair coming to Mizner Park in a couple of weeks.

Besides dozens of vendors pitching all kinds of goods, services, food and ideas for a greener lifestyle, the kids can also meet some Disney stars and maybe even paint with Wyland, the famous marine mural artist.

School kids from all over South Florida are already submitting their own murals with a save-the-planet theme in a contest for the event. You can view the submissions so far at the fair’s website.

The class with the winning mural will be brought to the festival for a painting lesson with Wyland, whose works depict the ocean, sea life, endangered wildlife and whales. A portion of the proceeds from some fair events will benefit Wyland’s foundation, which uses art to engage children
and families in waterway conservation.

Wyland also designed another of the fair’s big attractions: a giant interactive maze in which you are transformed into a drop of water. The maze takes you on a journey through different watershed habitats, including lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, bays, and oceans. Along the way, you must navigate pollutants. The point is to teach how to make cleaner choices that result in a healthy ocean.

Kids will also have the opportunity to meet some Disney Channel and Radio Disney stars and attend a “Rock the Planet” concert at the Mizner Park Amphitheater.

Anna Margaret (Starstruck), Jasmine Sagginario (the Disney Channel’s Next Big Thing 2009 winner) and Ryan Newman (Zeke and Luther) will do a free autograph-signing session.  Ryan will host a free eco-friendly fashion show. Jasmine will open the “Rock the Planet” concert starring Anna.

There will be other games and activities for the kids, too.

Vendors at the event will include hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles, the latest wind, water and solar technologies, tips on organic gardening and much more.

And a Wyland exhibit is on display through Nov. 7 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

IF YOU GO

The Wyland Living Green Fair runs 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Nov. 6-7 at Mizner Park. Admission is free.

Autograph session with Disney stars is at 1 p.m. Nov. 6. Free.

Ryan Newman will host an eco-friendly fashion show at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 6. Free.

“Rock the Planet” concert with Anna Margaret and Jasmine Sagginario is at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 6. Tickets are $12; $20 for VIP section. Purchase in advance here. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Wyland Foundation.

Read more about the festival.

New York Ice Cream Cafe owner Maxime Shasha, left, presents the prize pony to raffle winner Ana Ruiz.

Congrats to Ana Ruiz, who won the giant pony raffle at BocaParent’s recent Scoop Night event.

The raffle, held during our event at New York Ice Cream Cafe, benefited ItsJust4Kids, a local charity that provides school supplies, uniforms, toiletries and shoes to kids in need all year long.  The cafe is at Palmetto Park Road and Interstate 95.

See photos from the event in a previous post.