A Happy New Year

Today was our first day open in 2012. A new year, new challenges, maybe a perfect time to say thank you:

Thank you to all those who donate items or money to Hope House or Assumption Financial Assistance. Without you, we quite simply would not have anything to give to those who come to us in need. God bless you each and every day.

Thank you to those who pray for us, talk about us to others, and say nice things to those of us who work here. Your support is crucial!

Thank you to our clients—for being so patient, so thankful and so friendly and helpful to each other. It is not easy to be poor—the endless hours of standing in line, the bus rides with tired, cranky children, the long walks when you don’t have a bus ticket or a car---we wish we could make more things in your life easier.

Most of all, thank you to the dedicated and caring volunteers who staff Hope House. We have over 50 active volunteers on our list, performing many of these duties with love and compassion:

1. Sorting clothing and hanging it up.

2. Keeping shelves stocked and clean.

3. Carrying heavy boxes of hygiene items in and out of the shed.

4. Packing food bags.

5. Making lunches for the Street Outreach.

6. Taking bags of non-usable donations to Goodwill.

7. Vacuuming and taking out the trash.

8. Breaking down our cardboard for recycling.

9. Making cookies for the Street Outreach lunches.

10. Decorating Hope House for the holidays.

11. Doing intake interviews with our clients.

12. Checking clients out and bagging their “purchases”.

13. Helping clients find just what they need.

14. Listening to the needs of those seeking financial assistance, and finding solutions.

15. Offering hugs and prayers to those who need them.

16. Keeping the chaos of Angel Tree gifts under control at Christmas.

Our volunteers come from all ages and walks of life. We have teenagers, young mothers, former clients and retired persons from both Assumption parish and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church working at Hope House. What they all have in common is the right mind set for this job—the firm conviction that we are serving the Body of Christ as He would have us serve them. This is not a casual volunteer job—it is a calling of sorts, and we are a little picky about who serves here.

We have been closed since right before Christmas, but each time I stopped by Hope House to drop something off or check on things, there was always at least one volunteer in there, working on some project during our closed time. Dedication with a capital D!

So, in this New Year, may we be needed less, but be more helpful; and may you all continue to support us in whatever way you can!