Community Counts

Bill is a frequent visitor to Hope House, although he seldom accesses the services. What he likes about being there is a sense of community, of someone to talk to, of being useful to someone. He likes to empty our garbage, break down our cardboard and help those dropping off donations carry them in.

Don, who I have written about before on this site, is now an official volunteer. He helps us get ready to open in the morning, setting out coffee and cookies, stocking the food shelves, and making sure there are bags and baskets ready for our clients to use.

Sally is not a client at Hope House, but she is a frequent visitor also. She drops off wonderful donations, big and small. Sometimes it is a bag of canned goods or socks, sometimes a winter coat she talked her neighbor out of! She is a proud supporter of all we do.

Everyone who comes to Hope House has a reason for being there. Some need our services, some need to feel useful, some need to feel they are living out their faith. Many are there for the sense of belonging; of comfort that someone knows their name, their story, and their needs. We are hoping, in our planning for a remodel, to increase the size of the waiting area to make it useful for activities after hours. Whether that is support groups, flu shot clinics, tax help, or parish meetings, it is all part of creating “community”. Hope House is a community of those who care about each other and their neighbors.

This last week, a gentleman came in for the first time—his daughter brought him, she is a client herself. For the first time in his life he had to ask for help and he was very upset about it. He literally would not look up at me. As I explained to him, we are a community, we are in this bad economic time together and we will make it through if we help each other.

Sharing, participation, and fellowship define a community. Come join the community at Hope House!

Fishing

I am often asked by people who don’t work at Hope House what we are doing to “teach our clients to fish”. I think this bothers me for several reasons:

• It infers our clients are too lazy and/or not trying to “fish”.
• It assumes everyone can “fish”.
• It also assumes there is a level playing field out there.

The truth is that we don’t attempt to “teach” our clients anything. That would indicate that they have something to learn. Since when is being broke/poor/young/mentally ill/physically challenged/elderly/alone or down on your luck a consequence of not knowing how to “fish”? What we DO at Hope House is attempt to make life a little easier for those who are struggling, no matter what the cause of their distress.

We do not assume that we have anything to teach them, nor that their lives are somehow “less-than” because they need help. I daresay you would find many of our clients feel their lives are perfectly normal and acceptable. How arrogant to assume we or anyone else knows better than them how to live!

As for that playing field, we don’t all start at the same place in life, with the support systems many of us take for granted. Many of our clients are undereducated as a result of less than stellar parenting and support, and a lack of resources to excel. Those who suffer from mental or physical disorders often find themselves out of luck in the job market. Many who are battling addiction find the road to sobriety to be long and twisting. The simple truth is we have clients who work hard at 2-3 jobs and still need some assistance to make it through the month. Language can be a barrier for those who are recently immigrated to our country, and youth alone can be a devastating strike against those young mothers trying to do the right thing by their children.

Many, if not most, of our clients know how to “fish”.

They just can’t get to the pond.

Small Things .......

All she wanted was for her shoes to stay on. Her shoelaces were broken, and she had no way of getting any, so while she was telling me her needs in intake, she mentioned the laces. Since we stash all kinds of odds and ends at Hope House (we are always sure someone will need it!), I told her I would check it out while she was shopping. Five minutes later, I found her in the house wares room and handed her a brand new package of laces. Her face broke out in such a smile! “You are awesome!”, she practically shouted. Such a small item to cause such great happiness, and yet, it is the small that we specialize in at Hope House:

• Depends for the mother of the special needs teenage son.
• Dental floss for a homeless man with poor dental health.
• A pair of warm gloves or socks on a cold day.
• A can of formula for a baby with a sensitive system.
• A candle for those living in the woods.
• A small knick knack of some kind to brighten a small apartment.
• Bath salts for a mother with no funds to spend on herself.
• “Chapter” books for young person just learning to love reading.
• A new teddy bear or other stuffed animal for a child with no toys.
• A package of cake mix for a birthday cake for a child.
• A can opener for someone living in their car or a motel.
• A smile and hug for those worried about loved ones who are ill.
• The promise of a prayer for the same.

Mother Theresa said “Do small things with great love.”

We love Mother Theresa.

Of God and Sleeping Bags

Jack was on his way to a job in Alaska on a fishing boat, but he was still in town gathering supplies he would need to have on hand for his job. He had patiently and industriously acquired everything he needed, and with his ferry ticket in hand; all he lacked was a sleeping bag. Try as we might, we could not find one in Hope House (sleeping bags and blankets are precious commodities!), but Jack was ok with that and resigned to having to get one somewhere else.

“Is it ok if I just sit and have some coffee?” he asked quietly. Since we are all about community at Hope House and since Jack is a very nice man and a favorite of ours, we said of course he could. As we went about our duties, helping others, checking families in and out, distributing hygiene items and diapers, food and socks, Jack sat in the center of it all, contemplating where to go next.

As I handed another family a bag of food from the kitchen, I heard a quiet knock on the back door, where all our donations come through. When I opened it, a parishioner stood there with a sleeping bag in each hand! “God bless you!” I practically yelled at the startled woman, who replied that she had noticed our needs board and brought them in for us. I’m sure she thought I was crazy because I was so excited.

Thanking her, I turned to the front of the house, called Jack’s name and held up the sleeping bags. I wish you could have seen his face! It had to have been reflecting the excitement and joy in mine, I am sure.

This is not an isolated occurrence at Hope House—oh no, this happens regularly. We call them “Godshots” –direct, divine intervention in the lives of those that we serve. It has been happening since we opened 10 years ago:

• A mother with newborn twins needing diapers we didn’t have—someone walks in the front door with a Costco size box.
• A disabled teen who needs adult diapers—someone donated 6 cases!
• We need food—it pours through the back door.

I could go on and on—seriously, it happens so frequently that one time as I stood in front of the bookcase with children’s books in it, and mused that we needed more books; one of the volunteers standing next to me moved quickly away several feet from me. I asked her what she was doing and she replied “any day now He is just going to start throwing them down to you!”

The sign in our intake room reads:

“I am of the opinion that if you are doing God’s work, it is God’s job to take care of you.”

That’s my motto and I’m sticking to it!

Cars and Cookies

“Maybe you should have a car wash to raise some money,” he said, looking excited at his idea. John and his wife were waiting for their intake interview and chatting with other clients and volunteers while they waited. He was responding to my concern about our low inventory of food. We have recently partnered with the Bellingham Food Bank and are receiving food from their stock, but the need seems to be increasing in leaps.

“You could have all of us help—hang up a sign-up sheet and we can help. Or you could have a bake sale—my wife is a real good baker!” Responding to his enthusiasm, I suggested we combine the bake sale with the car wash—double our profit and give people something to eat while their car is being washed. Several clients waiting chimed in with affirmations of their interest in the project.

Our clients are increasingly sharing their meager resources with each other by donating to Hope House when they can. Everyone who comes to Hope House comes for a reason; volunteers come to find an outlet for their need to give, clients come in need of assistance or just for human contact, and those who donate do so for many reasons, depending on where they are in their lives. The reasons are as varied as the many, many people who pass through Hope House in a given month.

So, with summer coming, a big parking lot behind us and some willing clients and volunteers—we may be having a car wash/bake sale this summer—stay tuned!

Coffee and Conversation

Don’s ride is an electric wheelchair, moving quietly through neighborhood streets on his way to Hope House. He makes his entrance through our back door via the ramp, greeting the volunteers as he passes them. Don is a large man and he often has trouble finding clothing his size and that is easy to put on from a wheelchair—he is usually looking for sweatpants, size XXL. He also often “shops” for his wife, who is working when he visits us.

The other day, Don arrived with a bag of books hanging from his wheelchair—a donation to share with us. We’ve noticed an increase in Don’s visits lately, and when he’s done shopping, he often sits and drinks coffee and watches the people coming in and out. I told him that day that he is always welcome to come by just for a cup of coffee and a cookie—he doesn’t need to be “shopping” to be here. That got a smile and some conversation from him.

Don is just one example of a growing trend at Hope house, the social interaction and the human contact element of what we do. Many more of our clients are choosing to “sit awhile” and visit with us and with each other. In this way, Hope House has become an important and vibrant part of the neighborhood community, a place to connect with others, socialize, and just feel human again. Imagine living your life with little to no contact with others on a daily basis; no one speaking your name or asking how you’re doing. How lonely a life is that?

We are ALL part of the Body of Christ, are we not? Thanks to our donors and supporters, we are able to “feed” our clients in many important ways. I invite all to come share life at Hope House!

Happy Birthday, Maddy!

“You don’t have very many kids’ shoes, do you?” she says in a matter of fact voice. While she speaks, she is busy organizing and straightening our children’s’ shoe shelf, which is quite amazing considering that she is 5 years old! Madeline (Maddy) is the youngest of our volunteers, working at Hope House on the last Saturday of the month with her mom. She specializes in organizing all items that have to do with children, particularly books and toys, but today her mind is on the children without shoes, and the unfairness of that.

Maddy has already spent an hour or so putting away some books and toys that came in—some that she herself brought from her own collection. She is picky about the condition of the toys, and books, rejecting those that are dirty, broken or written in. She carefully checks a miniature Etch a Sketch several times, verifying with her mom that it really does still work before she will put it on the shelf. As I sit doing paperwork, she tests little cars and windup toys on the desk to make sure all is well with them. She chats about who will get the toys, whether they will like the color or the character.

But back to the shoes…..Maddy is somewhat distressed about them, so when she has her 6th birthday party in July, she is going to ask her friends to bring shoes for kids instead of gifts for her. At the ripe old age of 5, Maddy already has a wonderful working knowledge of the importance of helping the less fortunate. Thanks to her mom, it is now a given in her life to help others, and I guarantee you, she will always remember Saturdays at Hope House with her mother.

Madeline has already learned the value of a gift given and a gift received. Happy Birthday Madeline!

Angels among us.

A few days ago, one of our long-time clients came in with a huge problem. His belongings were in a storage locker and he owed over $900 to the storage facility. At this point, they were in the process of getting ready to sell his stuff out from under him, and he was frantically trying to find financial help to keep them. He came in knowing Hope House does not offer financial assistance, but hoping that we might call the storage facility and put in a good word for him. Since I have known this client for several years, I called the manager of the facility to see if anything could be done about putting the whole sale on hold. She assured me she had worked with him as far as she could, and that day was his last chance to pay. Vincent thanked us for our efforts and left.

So today, who should walk in the door with a smile on his face but Vincent! He said good came out of that bad day last week, and he would share it with me in the intake interview. When it was his turn to be interviewed, he proceeded to tell the wonder that was his reality last week. The day the storage crisis was happening, when he left Hope House, he boarded a bus for home. While on the bus, he was telling an acquaintance about his troubles, thinking he had lost his belongings. However, a gentleman on the bus asked him to get off at the next stop with him. This gentleman proceeded to take him to the bank and write him a check for $500 to give the storage facility. The unknown angel’s reasoning? He and his late wife always felt that since you can’t take it with you, you should use it for the greater good.

Never doubt that angels walk among us!

Listening......

As most people know, receiving from others can be difficult, particularly for men. The younger they are, the harder it is! So one rainy morning, as I looked across my desk at a young man who was obviously uncomfortable and slightly humiliated at being here asking for help, I tried to remember just how much this meant to him. His clothing was worn, his shoes looked almost gone, and, to be frank, he just looked disheveled and messy. His attitude wasn’t much better. He spoke softly, looking down for the most part, only raising his head once in awhile to give me a defiant look, as if he was daring me to pass judgment.

His story was not unfamiliar to me; I actually hear it all the time. He was recently out of rehab and living in a clean and sober house, trying to get his life back on track. Clean, fitting clothing and personal hygiene items go a long way in helping people feel like they have a chance at a fresh start, so I am always particularly thrilled to offer those just out of rehab or even just out of jail or prison the chance to take a breath and feel better about themselves.

So I didn’t take it personally when he was short with his answers to my questions. What made his story so much more interesting was the small question he asked quietly at the end of his interview—“I have my little boy with me some weekends, can I get something for him as well?” he asked. Of course, my answer was sure and the addition of his son to his intake form—after all, he was his family, right? This response provided me with a direct look bordering on friendly. At this point, that still, small voice in my head—yes, it is the Holy Spirit!—nudged my brain into action.

“Do you see your son every weekend?” I asked him, and he replied that it was every other weekend. At that point I asked him if he would like a brand new toy to take and give to his son on their next visit. Now, this is the reason the Holy Spirit talks to me (besides the fact that I try to listen!)—this somber and somewhat sullen young man suddenly let loose with a smile that lit up the room, followed by tears that someone would think to offer this chance to him.

At Hope House, we often have leftover brand new toys after Christmas, and this year, Toys for Tots was kind enough to donate many of their leftover new toys to us. During the year, we use these new toys for our clients to give to their children when they have a birthday coming up and the parents have no money for gifts. Another example of the generosity of our donors touching the lives of our clients. Giving and receiving are two points on the same continuum—and sometimes they are closer than you think!

The Multiplication of Corn and Tuna

When volunteers showed up at Hope House on Good Friday, the first thing they noticed was that the food shelf was almost empty. When they went out to the shed to bring in some supplies to refill the shelf, they found that the food stores in the shed were almost gone, too.

Hope House provides food on days when the Bellingham Food Bank is not open, or when a client does not have a Bellingham address (because non-Bellingham addresses cannot be served at the food bank). Friday evenings are big food days because it's the last chance many clients have to get food until Monday. Fridays can always expect a heavy draw on the food shelf. With the food stores as low as they were, volunteers wondered how much food would be left for next week.

Volunteers started the coffee and got ready to open. Hope House opens at 4 pm on Fridays and at 4:08 a woman in a mini-van drove up and started unloading bags of food. She had just started when another community-member parked her truck behind Hope House and started bringing in boxes of food. These donations more than filled the food shelves.

As the evening went on, many clients requested food, and the food flew off the shelves, but more donations continued to arrive. By closing time, not only were the food shelves abundantly full, volunteers were taking food out to the shed for storage.

This sort of thing seems to happen a lot at Hope House. While cans of creamed corn and tuna aren't exactly loaves and fishes, the rules still seem to be the same: give what you have and trust God to make it enough. God provides abundance; Hope House operates by trusting in God's abundance.

The Red Door Is Green

The cookies at Hope House today were provided by Rayna. She's been a client at Hope House for a year or so, and often enjoys coffee and cookies while she waits. So today she decided that she was going to bring the cookies. She brought gingersnaps. They were very good.

Rayna's gift of cookies highlights a larger trend at Hope House: many of our clients are also donors, sometimes our donors are also clients.

There are two red doors at Hope House. The front door, where the clients enter and the back door where volunteers and donations come in. Sometimes people get confused and bring donations through the front door and find themselves in the midst of a packed waiting room. Sometimes clients come through the back door and hesitantly ask, "Is this Hope House?" Sometimes the people coming through the back door to drop off donations are the same as those coming to the front door through shop for clothes. Hope House is not a one-way street.

Rayna brings cookies; a client named Mattie donated a telephone that she didn't need; Curtis brings boxes of Bibles; Tina comes to Hope House for children's books and brings them back after a month or so; Julissa donates all the clothes that her children grow out of. All of these people are Hope House clients, and all of them are Hope House donors.

Hope House recycles. We take in donations of clothing and housewares that would otherwise be thrown out or just take up space in the back of a closet. We turn these around, sort them, and put them out for clients. Instead of clients purchasing new clothes, they find often almost brand-new clothes at Hope House and save their budgets and the environment. It's called community.

Hope House Now Open Wednesdays

As of January 20th, Hope House is now open five days a week. We've added hours on Wednesday afternoon to better accommodate our clients. Previously Hope House's only afternoon hours were on Fridays. Fridays tend to get swamped with clients.

Each day Hope House is open has its own character. We feel a little bit like parents baptizing a new child with our new day. What's it going to be like?

Wednesdays will be staffed by a dedicated mix of St. Paul's and Assumption volunteers who are already forming a top notch team.

Help spread the word that Hope House is now open five days a week!

Young Faces

Monday A young couple comes in through Hope House's red front door. "Hi, we're just here to see what you guys have."

He's got reddish hair and a scruffy look, wears a baggy black sweatshirt and a trucker hat. She's in a sweatshirt, too, the pregnancy is just beginning to show.

As the volunteer explains the general services available at Hope House, the young man is nervously checking out the window. "Hey, do you have a place to put our bikes?"

The couple have no car, nor a home as it turns out. They're worried someone will take their bikes parked outside, so the volunteer tells them they can bring them inside while they shop.

Their names are Danny and Sara. He's 18, she's 17, the baby is due in six months. They're not going to find out if it's a boy or a girl because they want a surprise.

Wednesday A young man came in through the red door. He stands in the waiting area and looked around quietly.

"What can we do for you?" asks the volunteer.

"I just need some diapers for my daughter," he says. His name is Mitch, thin face, thin build, thin dark beard. He's twenty-three and living at his mom's, with his 8 month old baby girl.

Friday Tristan comes through the red door wearing a fuzzy fur hat: broad cheeks and brown eyes beneath the fringe of black hair. There's a large red mark on his cheek.

"I'm camping out in Everson, and I could really use a chair." The volunteer got to talking with Tristan and pretty soon it came out that he could also really use a pot or, well, anything to cook with, and some utensils wouldn't be bad (he's been using a sharp stick), and he wouldn't mind a sleeping mat or something, but he already has a sleeping bag.

"I was in a pretty bad bike accident down in Seattle last year. Lost my job because I was in the hospital for a long time. Lost my apartment because of the medical bills. But I've got a line on some work in Alaska. It'll start in a month and a half." Until then, Tristan is camping out.

These are just a few of the new faces at Hope House. While the increase in clients has seen people of all ages and manners come through the red door, many of the new faces are young faces. Some have been homeless for years, some are just going through an extra tough month, some have no idea how they got here or where they are going.

But whether they are sleeping under a bridge, in a tent, at their parent's, in a motel, or are just barely hanging on to their apartment, Hope House's young clients are hard hit by the tough times. ♥

46% Increase in Clients

Hope House volunteers have lots of explanations for busy days. It's the end of the month, people have run out of social security money, it's sunny out, it's Thursday, it's Friday, it's Monday, it's Tuesday...well, you get the idea. Lately, Hope House has seen busy days every day.

Whether it is Friday or Tuesday, lines are forming outside the red door more and more often. The waiting room is almost always full, and the coffee thermos almost always in need of a refill.

In 2009, Hope House saw a 46% increase in clients. Hope House served 3,125 families (13,1333 individuals) in 2008. In 2009 we served 5,743 families (15,015 individuals). With this dramatic increase in clients, Hope House saw increases in all services provided.

Hope House gave out more of everything last year, including a 31% increase in hygiene items, a 26% increase in diapers, and an 18% increase in pounds of food provided to clients. As these numbers show, Hope House is finding and filling a niche, particularly with hygiene items and diapers. These items cannot be purchased with food stamps, are costly, are rarely available at reduced prices or free and are necessities. We are becoming one of the main emergency suppliers of hygiene items and diapers to all of Whatcom County.

Some clients are familiar faces at Hope House, who have been struggling for a while, and who need an occasional boost at the end of the month when funds are stretched. Some clients are new, from out of town or out of work. Some clients received help five or six years ago and have not needed Hope House again until now. In-take volunteers are digging up old records more often.

Hope House Street Outreach has witnessed a similar rise in need. In 2008, Hope House Street Outreach delivered an average of 40 to 50 lunches a week. In 2009, the average jumped to 65 lunches a week. Street Outreach vans are running out of sandwiches more quickly these days.

With Whatcom County unemployment at 8.1%, and having been over 7% since January of 2009, it is understandable that more people are in need of help. According to US Census estimates, over 15% of Whatcom County Residents live below the poverty line.

The good news is that donations are rising to meet the demand; miraculously, Hope House shelves remain stocked thanks to the generosity of our community. Volunteers worked 16% more hours in 2009 than in 2008.

Supported by volunteers and donations, Hope House is expanding to meet the rising need. We are now open on Wednesdays from 2 - 4:30. Hope House continues to rely heavily on donor support, receiving a large portion of its operating budget from generous donors. ♥

New Camp Outreach

Walking along a muddy trail, you spot a bit of blue between the naked winter branches. Wade through a marshy field, crawl over two fallen trees, duck beneath a wall of low-hanging limbs and you can see it: a tarp strung between three trees and tied to the ground to make roof and walls; several wooden pallets with blankets arranged on top of them. A few spare bicycle pedals, an empty gallon jug, a bundle of rope neatly tied, a pair of jeans hanging from a hook, the remains of a fire: this is a homeless home.

In January, the Street Outreach team connected with Whatcom County homeless, visiting camps, participating in the Whatcom County Point in Time (PIT) count, as well as continuing the Thursday night sandwich deliveries.

Volunteers Bonnie, Christine, John, Kathy, Sharon, and Theresa spent many days hiking into both occupied and abandoned camps all over the Bellingham area, delivering Project Homeless Connect Fliers, warm-meal availability info, and a few much needed gloves and socks.

Human Food Chain

Steam engines, hydraulic presses, water-pressure, even gravity--all of these conjure up a sense of unrelenting force, but the Human Food Chain has given Hope House another definition: 397 Catholic students.

Students from Assumption Catholic School form a human chain from the church altar to the Hope House shed, passing the over 2,000 cans of food raised in their annual food drive from hand to hand into the shed.

Things were a little crazy for the volunteers in the shed. Once the students begin passing the cans along, there isn't any way to stop the flow. Onward come the cans. The first graders slowed down with the fruit cans because they had the most interesting pictures and the seventh graders tried to toss the boxes of macaroni, but the food kept coming: chili, soup, beans and pork, canned corn, canned green beans, mac and cheese, crackers, peanut butter, tomato sauce, black beans, tuna and chicken.

The Human Food Chain is one of the several local food drives that provide Hope House with much needed food supplies. While Hope House is not a food bank, we are an emergency food supply for over 1,250 clients. Emergency food supplies are a one to two day supply of canned staples. Clients access emergency food supplies when other food resources are unavailable or when in a crisis situation.

Bigger by Leaps in Faith

"I'm always a little nervous the Sunday I talk to the parish about the Christmas Program. It's a lot to ask."

Every year, in early October, Hope House Director Cheri Woolsey tries to figure out how many families Hope House can sponsor.

"It's always a step in faith. We have to sign up families before we ask to the parishioners to sponsor them, so it's kind of like committing people to something without asking them."

In 2008, Hope House sponsored over 50 families through the Christmas Program, but in 2009, with the economy stumbling along and the headlines saying 'unemployment rising', Christmas looked grim.

"I knew it was going to be a hard year, it would be a challenge to get 50 families sponsored, but as I was praying about it, I just kept hearing a little voice asking, 'How big is your faith?'"

How big is Hope House faith? 60 families? Nope. 75 families? It's bigger than that. 90 families? Bigger still. In 2009, Hope House accepted 116 families through the Christmas Program.

So when Cheri got up to speak to the parish, she knew she was asking for a lot. She was asking parishioners to provide two gifts and a stocking per child and one gift for each parent as a minimum. You can understand that she was nervous.

Of course there was nothing to worry about. Assumption Parish sponsored almost all 116 families whole, which means individual families or groups in the parish took on the responsibility of giving Christmas to whole families in need. In addition, from tags put up on the Angel Tree in the gathering space during Advent, parishioners provided over 75 homeless with presents for Christmas.

However big Hope House faith is, it's clear that the faith of this community is even bigger. God is moving in the hearts of our community.

On behalf of the many families, the many little girls and boys, the many cold people for whom Christmas was going to look like just another rainy day, Hope House would like to thank all the generous donors who showed love to one another this Christmas. ♥

Project Homeless Connect: March 4, 2010

Hope House will have a booth at Bellingham's second annual Project Homeless Connect (PHC), held on March 4th this year.

PHC is an 8 hour event that provides free medical and vision screening, dental, mental health and DSHS services, Washington State ID cards, housing information, haircuts and pet care.

PHC is a national event which began in San Francisco in 2004. Currently there are more than 200 Project Homeless Connects in cities in the US, Canada, Australia, and the Dominican Republic.

Hope House was present at Bellingham's first Project Homeless Connect in 2009 where more than 575 people received services. At the first PHC, Hope House distributed individual-sized hygiene items donated by Haggen Food & Pharmacy.

We are looking for volunteers to help Hope House participate in this wonderful event. If you would like to volunteer please contact Phil Corrigan at 360.739.7217, or by email at philipc@ccsww.org.

Our New Storage Shed

If you've ever been inside Hope House, you know that there's not a lot of room. Hope House really is a house: clients shop for baby clothes in what was the family room, volunteers hand out hygiene and food items from the kitchen, Emergency Assistance helps clients problem solve financial issues from what could have been a child's room, just to describe a few.

Hope House doesn't have a whole lot of storage space—in fact, all incoming donations are stored in a utility closet until volunteers sort them and put them out for clients. We like it this way. We believe that our donations are for our clients and keeping them in storage rarely achieves anything more than making donations smell musty.

But there comes a time in every organization when physical growth is a necessity. Serving over 12,000 clients a year, Hope House was in dire need of more space to store such vital necessities as diapers, canned foods, and hygiene items purchased in bulk. The Medina Foundations gift of a new, top-of-the-line, sturdy storage shed, came as a true God-send.

Already the storage shed sees as much use as anyone could expect of it. In November of 2009, the Assumption School Human Food Chain filled it to the brim with canned foods, and Praise 106.5's much-needed donation of diapers took up even the highest level of shelving. Although Praise's diapers were all given out within a few weeks, and Assumption School's food supplies are going quick, Hope House could not have accommodated these expanded projects if it were not for the vital space the storage shed provides.

It is practical gifts like the storage shed that are helping Hope House reach more and more members of the community with emergency basic needs services when they are most needed.
The Hope House thanks the Medina Foundation for the gift of realized potential. ♥