Our Hope Tree’s New Home!

In just about two weeks, our Eagle Rock Hope Tree will have a new home in the courtyard of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (2109 Chickasaw Avenue) in Eagle Rock, California! Join us on Sunday, August 14th at 9 AM when the tree will be unveiled to the public. Our Hope Tree will feature more than 400 raw, unedited hopes that we have personally listened to in the Eagle Rock community from neighbors of all ages and backgrounds. Anyone and everyone is be invited to add their own hope to the tree and, of course, read through all of the hopes of their community so they can learn and grow.

Also at 9 AM, you’ll also get a chance to hear from Sam Lundquist, the Founder of The Hope Chronicles, who will be sharing his vision and some wonderful stories from the past year of the project.

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Our Hope Tree Recap!

Thank you to everyone who came to our first Hope Tree event in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles!

This project really began a year ago when dozens of humble and curious Community Listeners set foot onto the sidewalks of their own neighborhood to ask friends, family, and strangers one question: What do you hope for?

Conversation after conversation taught them new things about their neighbors. Listening changed them. The heart of their community was opened up.

Just 12 months later… what an marvelous sight to see those 300 raw, honest, REAL hopes from REAL neighbors in Eagle Rock playfully fluttering in the breeze of one of the community’s most beautiful parks.

This was absolutely breathtaking.

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A Hope Tree

Join us Friday, June 17th from 4 PM – Sunset at Yosemite Park for our humble Hope Tree, a collection of more than 200 hopes from our neighbors in Eagle Rock, California.

The Story

In May 2010, fifty Community Listeners spent an afternoon in Eagle Rock, California asking their neighbors about their hopes, their hearts, and their lives.

We talked to more than 200 people from every walk of life. Small children. Grandparents. A few friends. More strangers. Folks just passing by. Lifelong residents.

This was a chance to for a community to come together to listen, learn, change, and grow. Each and every conversation was important, and they all started with one simple question: “What do you hope for?”

For three hours, we listened and wrote down our neighbors’ responses. We heard simple hopes: that more people would sing and share music, that people would respect one another, that children could succeed at school. We heard deep hopes: that a nephew would be returned to a family, that a man could get off the street, that a struggling neighborhood would see things turn around. Beautifully simple and yet tremendously deep, for three hours our ears were tuned to nothing but hope. And we walked away amazed at how listening to our neighbors’ words transformed us.

The Tree

On June 17th, we are excited to share with you the 200 hopes from these Eagle Rock neighbors with our first ever Hope Tree so that you too can be transformed. Hanging from our Hope Tree will be hundreds of leaves, each a window into the hopeful heart of one of the people we spoke with. Plus, you’ll get a chance to hang your own hope on the tree.

After the event, this entire collection of hopes will be compiled and distributed to every school, non-profit, civic organization, and house of worship in Eagle Rock with the invitation to reflect, absorb, and learn from what their neighbors are saying. This will be the first time this community has received a collective picture of what their neighborhood is hoping for.

Join us for this event and a chance to watch a small community to share their biggest hopes.

— The Hope Chronicles Team

A Foundation for Hope

Thank you to Jared from Rockford, Illinois who shared this “hope” with us last Friday.

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A Foundation for Hope

Last night I dreamed with silly hope
That you would just with me elope
To somewhere warm with breezy air
To a world without a single care.

But then I guess what fun would that be?
No challenges for you or either for me,
With nothing to challenge our beautiful minds,
What would we do just the pass the time?

I’m sure you’d look great in your low rider jeans,
On the beach with a sunset in a beautiful scene,
Crooning some Jack Johnson to the wind,
The wind whipping your hair, the Sun tanning your skin.

But what would a little magic accomplish,
If at the end of the day you didn’t feel fulfilled,
There’s nothing wrong with fairy tales,
But you strive for something much more real.

Last night I dreamed and I’m sure I’ll do it again,
I doubt dreaming is at the top of the list of the sins,
As long as it’s a silly not a slippery slope,
I think dreams can build a foundation for hope.

— JC 2011

Host a Community Listening Event!

This year, we have already gotten off to an incredible start with our most recent event at APB Charter High in Los Angeles… and we would love nothing more than to make that happen again and again. If you’re a club, organization, business, school group, or house of worship, we would love to partner with you and put together a Community Listening event perfectly tailored to your community.

Click here to find out how you can listen, learn, change, and grow—all because of one simple question.

Our Hope Gallery Recap!

Hello Friends of The Hope Chronicles!

More than two weeks later, I still can’t stop smiling.

On March 5 and 6—a sunshiny South Los Angeles weekend—more than 250 neighbors gathered to listen to the heart of their community. A heart we discovered and shared through one very simple question: What do you hope for?

This was our first ever Hope Gallery—the culmination of six months of working with the incredible Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School in Los Angeles and chance for one community to be immersed in hopes that they all share. I so wish you ALL could have been there, but for those of you who couldn’t make it to the event (or even for those of you who did), I’m excited to share a little taste of what we experienced during that amazing weekend.

First, here’s a quick video slideshow that will walk you through the experience: from our wonderful gallery of Hope Journals to our “forest” of hopes from neighbors all over South LA.

Then, take a look at the personal responses of our student Community Listeners. Stories of individual transformation just because of one simple question.

Also, our rockstar photographer Madison Garcia put together a beautiful set of images she captured during the event.

The Hope Gallery also featured a “Hope Graffiti” wall that HUNDREDS of people signed. I’ve put together a little photo gallery of my favorites.

Finally, everything that you see here today…we want to take that one step further. So, I’m excited to invite EVERYONE to host an event like this one with their school, club, organization, or house of worship. Please visit our new “Host An Event” section to sign up for more information and plan a project for your group.

The weekend was full of moments etched into my memory. Students walking their families through the Hope Journals. Kids and adults—together—writing their hopes on our wall. Visitors spending minutes, sometimes hours quietly reflecting on the stories of their neighbors. Two students curled up together in an armchair reading a Hope Journal aloud—laughing, crying, smiling, and always listening.

This was nothing more than unforgettable.

But one silent moment hovers above it all.

I was cleaning up on Saturday night after everyone had gone home and snapping pictures of all everything for my own records. I was walking past the Hope Graffiti wall when I caught a glimpse of the picture on your left.

I stared at it for a second, grabbed a red marker, and wrote that big “AMEN.”

What Lynnette wrote perfectly captured everything that we do at The Hope Chronicles—a deep desire to never stop understanding our neighbors, no matter who they are or where they come from. A challenge that can only be met through listening.

So, thank you Lynnette, whoever you are, for your words.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers who helped build the gallery. Thank you to the incredible staff at APB who believed in this project. And most of all, thank you to the Ánimo Pat Brown students, who took a risk, started listening to their neighbors, and taught me so much in the process .

To everyone who supports the work we do: much love, many blessings, and be well.

Sam Lundquist
Founder and Community Listener
sam@thehopechronicles.org

Photos from the Gallery!

Didn’t get a chance to make it to the Gallery? Our marvelously talented photographer, Madison Garcia, captured some wonderful moments from the event. Check ‘em out below and see more at her Flickr page!