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 First Ever Hope Gallery

A Far Bigger Picture

Here’s a special note from our Community Listener Grace from Pasadena, California who attended Big Sunday’s Spooky Saturday event. You can find more stories from Spooky Saturday and Big Sunday here.

For a long time now, I’ve had a complicated relationship with hope. I think if most of us are honest, we will admit that we have days — sometimes weeks, months, even years — when hope seems to be nothing more than a Pollyanna stand-in for self-delusion. As we get older, we watch as the dreams we were taught to believe in turn to dust, leaving nothing behind but a shadow that chills us to the core. Stuff happens to us that wasn’t in the original plan; in spite of our best efforts, life refuses to follow our carefully crafted scripts.

The world is full of broken hearts. What’s the point of hope?

I’m not sure I have an answer. But I have a story.

(more…)

It Should Be Important

Rounding out our first round of student blogs, here are the final five stories from our Community Listener/Creative Writing crew from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles.

Take a look at how these incredible students have been changed by the simple act of listening to the people around them.

Irma’s Story

Irma's Personal Hope (Click to Enlarge)

Before my first interview, before I even started this amazing project, I never really took the time to wonder what the word “hope” meant to me or to anyone for that matter. It was merely a simple, useless word. Ha, was I wrong! Yes, I was completely wrong!

When I asked myself, what do you hope for? I debated on the answer for several minutes because I never thought about what I hope for in life. I never stopped to think about the millions of possibilities in the world that I could want. That I could have. So before I answered the question, I thought about the word hope, alone. I then asked my older sister, who I thought was wiser than me for some reason, but she did not know what it was either.

In the end, we were like “Oh, yeah, to hope is to want something you will never have! Or to want something that may be impossible to get.”

I did not like this answer, though. It was too harsh (haha), very untrue, and very simple. I debated on the answer for quite a while before I wrote it in my journal. “I hope for the truth.” There is obviously more to it, but this is what I long for. The word hope does not mean what I cannot have, but what I can give and what I would like to receive. For me, honesty is my biggest hope because a lot of people all around the world lie everyday. Sometimes unconsciously, but the lie is still there. I’ve had a great experience with my best friend. He did something horrible, which hurt me, but he was honest about it and he told me, which made me look up to him even more than I ever have. He knew his mistakes, and admitted it. If everyone was honest, the mistake would not be washed away, but instead razed and confronted.

While I interviewed people, they looked at me, when I ask them the question ‘What do you hope for?’, like if I was going to laugh at them at any time. At first, they were not sure of what to say. I was extremely content with this because they took their time to answer the question. It seemed like the really cared about the answer, and they did not want to say anything less important to them. I was excited to know that I was not the only person who debated on what their hope was. I was also surprised that some people hope for the simplest things, even if it’s just some guitar. These things are really important to them. Somehow, I felt it should be important to me too. Just because I know them.

Click below for more student stories… (more…)

“Already Eye-Opening”

Here’s our final round of personal stories from our newest Community Listeners from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles.

Take a moment and read how these incredible students have been changed by the simple act of listening to the people around them.

Yesenia's Personal Hope (Click to Enlarge)

When I first thought about the word “hope” I thought about the things I wanted to achieve but were a far off goal. I wanted material objects; I wanted something better for myself. The thing that kept me going was this “hope”.

As I started this project I realized the amazing responses from my fellow classmates. Many of them wanted peace in the world, others just wished happiness in others lives.  I realized how unselfish my classmates were, how I was the opposite. I’m not saying it is a bad thing to hope something better for yourself, I was just saying how I had expected my classmates to primarily want something for themselves, in their lives.

Later, when I read over my Hope Journal, I was really inspired by their hopes. “I hope for peace.” “I hope for equality.” “I hope for peoples’ happiness in life.” These were a few of the hopes that stuck with me, and I truly felt like I had learned a lot from the students in my school. This was only the beginning of The Hope Chronicles project, already eye-opening, and I can only imagine what is to come from our neighboring community.

[Read Yesenia's Hope Journal]

More stories after the jump…

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More Stories from Ánimo HS

Here are some more personal stories from our newest Community Listeners from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles.

Take a look at how these incredible students have been changed by the simple act of listening to the people around them.

Susana's Hope (Click to Enlarge)

I had this conversation with my sister who is 9 years old about what she hopes for.

I asked her, “What do you hope for?”

She said, “What do you mean?”

“Well, what do you want to accomplish in this life?”

She then thought about it and walked away. I thought that she didn’t understand what I was talking about. Then, she came back and looked at me if I said something wrong, and she said “What do you think?”

I didn’t say anything because, well, I didn’t know.

For a while we sat there and she said, “Well, I want to live a happy life where I could help animals and have a lot of money so mom and dad don’t have to work anymore.”

She then told me how hard she sees my parents work and when they come home they are too tired and don’t have time to play with her. If she works then she could give them money so they do not have to work anymore. This really stood out for me because she knows that my parents work, and she understands that they are too tired to play with her. This showed me that when my parents don’t work she tries to be with them as much as possible and helps them out in any way she can.

I see my sister differently because she does have like real dreams of her own, and they are not the hopes of a girl who just wants to own something. She does not think of being selfish. I now see that she is a person that wants to help out instead of just having things for herself.

[Read Susanna's Journal]

Read more stories below…

(more…)

Blogs from Ánimo HS

All this week, we’ve been featuring the Hope Journals from our newest Community Listeners from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles. To complement those journals, we’ve asked the students to share a bit about their experience. At The Hope Chronicles, we seek to share two very interconnected stories: the honest hopes of the people around us and the stories of how our Community Listeners personally change after hearing these hopes. Here’s an eye-opening look at what’s going on in the minds of these students.

Kimberley’s Story:

I believe the Hope Chronicles have helped me become more aware of society. This project has help me understand how even the strongest looking people have selfless hopes and dreams. I have also come to realize that society has good intentions, and people are actually crying out for help. The Hope Chronicles have made me have a better understanding of hope. I used to feel that looking out for yourself was important, but looking out for your community is also essential. In order to prosper, you must have a bright environment, and The Hope Chronicles is a way to give my community a voice in order to someday acquire change.

[Read Kimberley's Journal]

Read more stories after the jump.
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An Orange Blast

From our Community Listener Sam Lundquist:

For the first time since this project began, I lost a Hope Journal.

A week ago, I flew from LA to Nashville. As I’ve done for months now, I readied my journal. Prepped and primed with stickers, business cards, and my seat number, I passed it to the person next to me, and it made its grand voyage toward the back of the plane. I know it made it back there because I had coworkers planted throughout to make sure it would get passed along.

The flight ended… And no journal. I dug through seat back pockets, crawled on dirty airplane carpet, and searched in the sticky, peanut-crumb crevices between seats. Nothing. The journal was nowhere to be found.

So, for my flight back home to Los Angeles, I had nothing. No magic book to pass to my fellow passengers. No easy conversation starters.

Thankfully, I met Dan.

Dan had taken Seat 14E, a middle seat on the right half of the plane. I had the window seat because, for whatever reason, I have to lean to the right. I slept for the first hour and a half of the four hour flight, and awoke only after the Southwest flight attendants had come through the aisle with their grab bag of snack food. Shucks, I just missed it!

I pulled out my iPhone ready to kick back and listen to some music when Dan spotted it.

“Is that the iPhone 4?” he said.

It was. Thank you, Apple, for making products that are cool enough to bring people together. What would we do without you?

I handed it to him, and he pulled out his old iPhone with its industrial strength rubber case. That thing could have taken heavy fire and still survived. I learned later that it probably had.

(more…)

More Than The Weather

I met Sam, the Hope Chronicles founder, at my coworker’s bachelor party.

We talked about hope.

Sam shared with me a bit about his project, The Hope Chronicles, and I was instantly intrigued with the idea. Later that night, I went home and checked out all of the videos posted. It was inspiring and entertaining.  Honestly, I cringed a few times too.

It hit me that these were real people. They weren’t actors. They were like people at work, in the store, or in my group of friends who had bigger cares than their favorite sports team, the weather forecast, or rehashing last night’s episode of the Jersey Shore.  It bothered me that because of my self-centeredness I didn’t know the hopes of even my close friends.

That night I wrote, “I hope to place others needs above my comfort, prosperity, and security.”

I want to care more about people than to talk about the weather.

With that, I brought a Flip Camera with me on an already scheduled trip to Washington, DC to collect some hopes. Walking up to total strangers and asking them what they hoped was pretty scary in itself.  My introduction kind of evolved into the first sentence out of my mouth being, “No, I’m not asking you to buy anything.”

My trip being three or four months ago I still remember those folks I talked to, and I think about them often.  I remember sitting with a man on a bench talking about his community. Another bench of tourists, and I talked about Christ for a while. I ate overpriced hot dogs with two elderly ladies on the mall. I latched on a family on a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. By the way, that’s a lame DC tour.  Skip it.  I don’t think they’ve changed it since 1970. Some people I asked if they would go on camera. Others I just hung out with for a bit. By listening, our responses, prayers, and concerns for that individual are informed.

It was a pretty interesting day, and it was a trip that was different than waiting in line at the Smithsonian to look at some old stuff.

What stuck with me after that trip was the last “hope” that I collected outside of the Jefferson Memorial. She said something along the lines of your hope not having to be something huge like you yourself curing cancer. It can be something small like a smile that might encourage someone who is curing cancer.

I took from her statement that even during the routine and mundane seasons of our life, we still live purposefully. I believe that comes from something serving something way bigger than ourselves.

I want to care more about people than to talk about the weather.

- From our Community Listener Eric Dunlap

Surprises and Shamelessness

Hello world!

I love to hear what people hope for. I think if we listened more and talked less (almost an impossible task for me and my big mouth) that the world really would be a better place. Cliché or not, it really has to be true. I even think we would be shocked to find out what even our closest friends and family hope for.

Click here to read Bethany's hope.

Being a community listener has been rewarding. I passed out the journals in the Red Cross classes that I teach, as well as to my family and friends. I enjoyed reading them and I hope you do too. I was surprised that people shamelessly put down a hope for world peace. It’s such a “beauty queen” (no offense here… since you beauty queens are awesome too), thing to write but they honestly really want it and to be completely true, I do too.

I challenge you to ask the people you care about what they hope for.

It’s going to be worth the listen.

- Bethany Cox

//

Read the hopes Bethany gathered from North Carolina:

August 2: Peace, Cures, Dreams

August 4: Heaven

August 5: Yin and Yang

Potato Chips.

From Community Listener Sam Lundquist on a flight from Los Angeles to Toronto:

I am writing this at 36,000 feet—flying high above the Rocky Mountains. Below me, I see a steady curtain of wispy clouds that are slowly dissipating as we move further and further east. I’m glad that I wrangled customer service into giving me a window seat. I can’t help but be entranced by this view.

But more than that, I’m finding it impossible to get over the joy in the eyes of the man sitting next to me on American Airlines Flight 1586 to Toronto.

He just can’t stop smiling.

And that inspires me.

I sat down, and we started making small talk. He very graciously agreed to help me start  circulating a Hope Journal on the plane (as of this writing, I have yet to actually read what he wrote). He told me a bit about the church he attended in Inglewood, which happened to be called Hope Church. He asked if I was affiliated with them; I said no. Once we were in the air, the snack and beverage cart rolled around, and he bought a bag of Sun Chips and offered me half the bag.

Frankly, I think that’s pretty great.

Not just because I got some chips out of the deal, but because it’s honest kindness.

Let’s try to do that, live that, be that more… Shall we?

Save Hope Gardens!

Our Community Listeners Brian and Starr joined us during our event at Urban Plunge 2010. They came back with this story:

Hi Friends —

A few weeks ago, we did a service project with an organization called Door of Hope. Door of Hope is a transitional housing program for homeless families. We did a service project there last year as well and it is an amazing place of refuge for homeless families with no place else to turn. Anyhow, after our time there we participated in something called a Hope Walk. A Hope Walk consists of going into the community (we were in Pasadena that afternoon), meeting people, and asking them what there hope is- for the day, for the year, or just in general. Then depending on how the encounter goes, this would open up conversation, a time of prayer, or just a friendly exchange before parting ways. Brian and I ventured out together on our Hope Walk and saw a couple about to cross the street. We decided that these would be the first people we would meet and talk to. After they crossed the street, Brian approached them and asked if we could borrow a moment of their time. He then noticed the jacket that the gentleman was wearing… it had a Union Rescue Mission logo on it.  Brian asked if he was affiliated with the mission, and it just so happened that he was Andy Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission. “Wow,” we thought, “what a coincidence.” We asked him what his hope was and he immediately answered that one of the URM facilities, ‘Hope Gardens’ was in jeopardy of being shut down and that they needed to raise $2.8 million by June 30th in order to keep it open. So that was his hope…that the money would be raised and Hope Gardens could stay open. We prayed for him and the fundraising efforts there on the corner, and the rest of the day we were amazed that out of all people we could’ve met, that we met someone whose entire life is centered around homelessness, fighting it, changing it, preventing it, and transforming the lives of people who experience it. By the way, Hope Gardens is a transitional housing program for homeless families. Just like the Door of Hope where we had spent the day.

So now you know what we know. Hope Gardens needs to raise $2.8 million by June 30th in order to stay open. To date, they have raised $1,715,875 which means that they still need another $1,084,125. That’s a lot of money. In a little amount of time. But God can do it. And he can do it through us, so Brian and I are doing what we can do…which is reach out to you and ask for help. We figure that if everyone we know donates $10 to the cause, and everyone YOU know, donates $10 to the cause, then before we know it, the money will be raised. Hope Gardens will be saved. And families will be kept from going back to the streets.

1) Click here: http://www.urm.org/ and donate $10. Donations are currently being matched by an anonymous donor.

Thank You!
Brian and Starr

You Should Become a Community Listener

From our Community Listener Sarah, who joined us for Big Sunday Weekend 2010 by collecting hopes at Inner-City Arts and 24th Street School in Los Angeles, California:

I parked my car in front of 24th Street School in Los Angeles. I held the paper in my hand and read it over, over, and over again. My script for the day:

*Ask them to say the following on camera:
“Hi my name is ___________.”
“On Big Sunday I did ___________.”
“An interesting thing that happened today was ___________.”

*Now, tell them a little about The Hope Chronicles.
Ask: “What is your hope?”

A child could have memorized it. I mean, “Hi, my name is_______” for Christ’s sake, but as I sat in my car, it was like trying to decipher binary code, or as if I was asked to memorize the Declaration of Independence. I only mention this now to explain what I was up against, sitting in my car–me against my brain; it is a tricky thing. I, for one, never know who will in fact win.

Luckily for everyone involved, I got out of the car and met Tanya Russell first; a mother, a volunteer, at the 24th Street School ‘Welcome’ table. I explained, awkwardly, that I wanted to interview some community leaders. Her eyes widened, she smiled like a puffy white cloud against a deep blue sky. In one moment, my introversion faded. She led me through the crowds of teachers, students, community activists, families with their little children wearing Big Sunday shirts hanging below their knees–through the nearly four acres of gardens, wheel barrows filled with mulch, weaving around rows of freshly planted veggies, and small teams working together, toiling the land. The bright LA sun watching from above.

Breathless, Tanya held out her hand, “Here is our community garden leader.” She was wearing a straw hat with a black ribbon carefully tied around its crown, dark Ray Ban style sunglasses, and a pearl necklace. She spoke quickly, joyfully, about her hopes for the garden, stopping only to welcome families as they walked by. She was just as you would want a community garden organizer to be: spirited, playfully organized, like a brightly color coded file cabinet. But when it came time to interview her on camera, she raised her voice, and laughed, “Oh No!”

Watch Sarah’s Visit to 24th Street School:

Later in the day, at Inner City Arts, I met an elderly woman who introduced me to her daughter, a 20 year volunteer. She lead me around tables with families painting, laughing, vibrant drumming music playing in the background. She spoke openly about her hopes for herself, and the city, she explained, “Inner City Arts is like an oasis in a very poor area of LA, but it does not exclude, it is open for all.” After listening for a while, I suddenly realized I hadn’t videotaped her at all, and said, “I am so sorry, can you repeat some of that for the camera?” She replied, “Oh no, I’d better not.”

Watch Sarah’s Visit to Inner-City Arts:

After I finished my day, interviewing 15 to 20 people in the two locations, I found this to be a common tension. In many ways it was the video camera, which disarmed my own inhibitions, giving access to their beautiful stories of hope. However, by its very nature, the device also shifts away the intimacy of conversations.

This is where my not so creative title comes in: “You Should Become a Community Listener.”

On that day, I learned that this one question: “What is your hope?” is a way to open a door. But I found it is the moments in between the footage, face to face, when that door leads to hallways, to kitchens and living rooms, and it is there where reticence seems to fade, and the real conversations begin; where they can also begin for you.

“Be Gracious To Me”

From Jess, a member of Christian Assembly Church, a Hope Chronicles partner:

For whatever reason, I’ve always assumed that Eagle Rock, California is a tight-knit community that sets the bar for how neighbors, different ethnic groups and generations of people should live together. So on Sunday afternoon, as my partner and I set out, I was surprised to hear the comments and responses to our question about “hope”.

After talking to two people we ran into on our way to a local neighborhood, and getting mostly negative feedback and a cold shoulder, we felt compelled to make our way to the tall blue house at the top of the street. A small lady answered the door, whom we later found out was Russian Orthodox and not interested in getting more prayer after her time at church that morning, but rather asked that we’d think about getting a group from Christian Assembly to intiate a block party on her street, in an effort to bring her and her neighbors closer together. She said that after a few years of being there, she still didn’t know who the family across the street was and that Eagle Rock can be a lonely place.

We may have been the first strangers within two feet of her doorstep that took time to see how her day was, no sale’s-pitch, no scam, just a reason to have hope.

“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” Psalm 25:16

//

See what other groups from Christian Assembly Church discovered last month in these videos:

> “That’s a Big Question”
> “I Pray Everyday for My Neighbors”
> “Get Off The Street and Get a Job”
> “Earthquakes and Volcanoes”

Meet Christian Assembly!

And now we spread across Los Angeles…

This week, The Hope Chronicles would like to introduce you to Christian Assembly, a beautiful local church in Eagle Rock, California. On April 18th, The Hope Chronicles partnered with the church to train 40+ Community Listeners to listen to their immediate neighbors in Eagle Rock, Pasadena, and Glendale, California. This week, we’ll be sharing the hopes that they collected during one afternoon. Here’s a taste of what you’ll be seeing:

Monday: “That’s a Big Question”
Tuesday: “I Pray Everyday for My Neighbors”
Wednesday: “Get Off The Street and Get a Job”
Thursday: “Earthquakes and Volcanoes”

Then next month, on May 22nd, these new Community Listeners will be leading 200+ young adults in our first Hope Walk event—an afternoon of canvassing neighborhoods all throughout the Los Angeles Metro and discovering what hope looks like for different people in different places. We’ll be posting all of those hopes—through video, audio, and journals—on our site next month. It’ll be a picture of Los Angeles you won’t want to miss!

Meet Merlin!

We are pleased to introduce you to one of our newest Community Listeners, Merlin, who has joined us on The Hope Chronicles adventure. This week, we’re featuring the hopes he collected in one of our Hope Journals during his trip to Florida this past March.

Merlin’s been an active member of the Los Angeles community since moving there in 2001. Currently, he is focusing on his campaign for the 28th Congressional seat in the House of Representatives.

Stay tuned tomorrow to hear from Merlin about his experience with The Hope Chronicles. In the meantime, please read his own personal hope below. (Click image to enlarge)

“My hope is to one day be content. This is something that I feel is attainable, but not something I am capable of doing yet. Maybe there is this idea that to be content is to give up for something better. Perhaps this is why I push, pry, and always strive for a change? This will someday change I’m sure, as age sets in. To be content with my failures, accomplishments, income, residence, friends, family, and memories, this is my hope.” – Merlin, 27 – North Hollywood, California

The First Time I Smiled In A Week.

From Community Listener Sam Lundquist:

I never wanted to talk to Bob. In fact, I avoided even getting near him. But sharing an unexpected moment with him wrecked my life, opened me up, and helped me see my neighbors a little more clearly.

.::.

It was October 2009. I had just gotten my new video camera, and I was eager to test it out. What better place to capture some remarkable footage than Downtown LA—an unsavory mix of the über-rich and the poor. Where one block of elite high rises gives way to an alley of panhandlers, makeshift tents, and overflowing shopping carts. It’s a disparity that I don’t think I will ever understand, which is partly why I find it so fascinating.

I began filming. First some shots of cars. Some close-ups of crumpled paper getting teased by the wind. I followed a pigeon as it scuttled across the sidewalk. There’s a strange ecology to the city. Beyond the hustle and bustle of actual people, a lot of things just happen. It’s a very active place, and it’s surprisingly exhilarating to observe, inspect, and record those hidden goings-on.

At this point, “The Hope Chronicles” was a growing idea, but not yet a reality. No conversations had been recorded. No journals had been passed out. No website existed. But on a whim, October 2009 became the first day that the hopes of Los Angeles would be collected. Without even realizing it at the time, we had our first conversations on Hope Street. I talked with a few people—a security guard, someone drinking a smoothie, a “sign spinner”—and got some poignant, relatively interesting responses. Our conversations were short, but I still felt enlightened.

As I made my way down the street, I eventually came across a man begging for money in front of the Sheraton Hotel. This was nothing unusual, although this man was having a hard time getting any response—mainly because of the tube in his neck. As he would approach strangers and begin to speak, his breathing tube would get clogged with mucous-y gunk, which would make him cough and hack this gunk all over people. He could barely talk, he was dirty, and he was sick. No one was responding to him, and frankly I didn’t want to deal with him either. So I walked quickly past.

Update: Diane from Starbucks

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to Diane, a woman we met at a Starbucks in Pasadena, California. You can read more about our meeting with her on our blog. Tonight, I happened to run into her again at that same Starbucks, and I wanted to share a quick update.

Diane walked into Starbucks tonight, and I immediately said, “Hi Diane!” She looked a bit shocked and stunned that I emphatically shouted her name. But nonetheless she was excited to see us. She didn’t remember our names, but she remembered meeting us a few weeks prior. She came over to our table, and we pulled up a chair. She told us that she had spent all night cooking dinner—hamburgers, baked beans, and her famous mac and cheese. She was here tonight to deliver that dinner to a friend, but he didn’t show up.

Diane finally sat down, and I asked her if she had gotten a chance to check out her video online. She said that unfortunately her laptop has been out of commission, and she hasn’t had access to anything. So then we sat down together. I got out my headphones, and we watched her video.

Her first response? “Next time I’m on camera, I gotta wear my false teeth!”

But then she read through the comments that were left for her on the site. She personally thanks everyone for what they’ve said.

Before we got up to leave, Diane also told us that she’s having some problems with her foot. Some pain that she’s been dealing with. She told us before that it’s pretty difficult for her to walk—so keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

This particular Starbucks has become a consistent meeting spot, so I’m fairly certain that we’ll be hearing a lot more from Diane.

Sam Lundquist
Founder and Community Listener

Up and Down Rodeo…

About two weeks ago, I thought it would be quite an adventure to take The Hope Chronicles to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Our movement has seen hundreds of people on airplanes, dozens of folks in Downtown LA, people down on Skid Row, and even villages in Africa.

But what about the Hollywood movers and shakers in Beverly Hills?

So, off I went. My plan was to go into literally every boutique on the boulevard, one-by-one, asking each employee about their hope. Unfortunately, what I found was that most of the shops had filming restrictions that wouldn’t allow me to use my camera (makes sense seeing as though a gaggle of tourists were milling about outside). However, I found a number of folks thrilled and excited (some taken graciously aback) by the prospect of talking about hope, and willing to chat on-camera.

I talked with about a dozen people—all of which you will see this week in interviews—but among the first was Billie, an employee at a fancy-schmancy jewelry store on Rodeo. I walked into the store, and I immediately told everyone that their store was the absolute friendliest on the entire street. People were smiling, laughing, and talking. Most of the others that I had visited were pretty subdued with either no music or blaring music—nothing in between.

So, I started chatting with the sales floor team, and I invited them to tell me about their hopes. Billie obliged, and our conversation began.

What first struck me about Billie was just how frank she was about her daily morning prayer—something so simple and beautiful, yet so private that most people would never think to bring that up in conversation. Yet, she did, and that prayer was something that has continued to stick with me to this day.

Billie also used several quotes as she described herself and her hope. Here’s the full quote that she left me with at the end of our conversation:

People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.

- Ramona L. Anderson

As I listened, her quotes helped me realize all of the great and unexpected people and places through which hope can be articulated. I mean, Jay-Z isn’t the first person I would expect to inspire me, but as Billie and I talked I could hear that through his words, hope had arisen in her.

That baffles me. Excites me. And makes me wonder where hope will pop up next.

Sam Lundquist
Founder & Community Listener

Genuine and Authentic… And Censored

Our Community Listener Hillary (read her personal hope here) shares about her personal experience as she collected hopes on a road trip from California to Kansas:

I started out ecstatic. I was going on a road trip with a video camera, awesome Hope Chronicles stickers, and Community Listener cards in hand. I was on a mission!

Soon, however, I found myself feeling disappointed and rejected. For every four or so people I asked to share a hope, maybe one would agree. What was it? Was I not cute enough? Not friendly enough? Not clear enough in my description of what The Hope Chronicles was?

It was the people who agreed to share that shed light on a possible reason for the number of declines I received, which were too numerous to use the excuse of camera shyness. There seemed to be some reason or another that motivated them agree to a brief taping, but whatever that reason was, by the time I was ready to hit record, they were saying something along the lines of, “Hmmm, I don’t know what to share. Nothing seems that important. Well, I can’t say that or I’ll appear shallow.”

That seemed to be it!

People either a) don’t even know what they hope for, or b) seemed to have some understanding that their hopes for things like personal health and wealth are shallow and self-centered…and they don’t want to admit that on camera. Believe me, I heard my fair share of hopes that never made it on film. While what you see in the videos is, in fact, genuine and authentic, in many cases, you end up with a censored version of what the individuals are actually willing to share with the world, not the first things that came to mind.

It is not that it is a bad thing to hope for health and wealth, but there also seems to be an instinctual understanding that hope in that alone is insufficient.

So… I ask you as readers of this blog and visitors to this site, if I asked you today about what you hope for, what is it?

Do you hope for something that will fulfill? Do you hope for something that will last? Do you hope for something that will not disappoint? Do you hope for something that you are willing to share with others because you hope it for them, as well?

Hillary Mortenson
Community Listener — Wichita, KS

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Watch Andrea and Hillary’s Community Listening road trip
Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five

The Comfort Zone

Our Community Listener Andrea shares about her personal experience as she collected hopes on a road trip from California to Kansas:

To be honest, it was not easy to step out of my comfort zone. It is strange to think about and admit, but yes, it is out of my comfort zone to turn the to person next to me on a plane or ask the person behind a store counter a personal question. We normally just go about our own lives with little or no concern for those around us. On my part, I think it is half selfishness and half fear of rejection.

But a guy on the plane actually encouraged me, “What is the worst that can happen? They tell you no?”.

As Hillary and I traveled halfway across the country, being a “Community Listener” forced me to stop and notice those around me. Yes, some people did say no, but there were those who were open and willing to share their hopes. I loved getting to hear about peoples lives and hopes. People would share on video or in the journal and sometimes it would also spark further conversation. For example, on a two hour flight I talked to the person next to me for the whole flight. I normally would have barely said hello, but instead we shared our life stories and were an encouragement to one another.

All because I was willing to step out of my comfort zone and ask about his hopes.

Andrea Curl
Community Listener — Los Angeles, CA

Watch Andrea and Hillary’s Community Listening road trip
Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five

Donny Osmond Smile

I’ve started frequenting a new local Starbucks. Not that this particular Starbucks is actually new, but it’s new to me. When I work so much on my computer, I find that I need to mix up the scenery. The same coffee house or the same cafe, well, they tend to get a little dry. New sights and new sounds help to freshen up my mood and my attitude.

It’s also a great place to meet new neighbors.

This past Tuesday I drove over to Starbucks to meet my friend Owen, who I’m developing another outreach project with. I arrived a bit early, so I took a couple minutes on my laptop to respond to some emails, check the news, and update this site. Nothing too unusual. About ten minutes later, Owen finally arrived (though I told him specifically not to be late!), and we got to catching up.

We had just started talking, when we were quickly, but cordially interrupted by a fellow Starbucks patron.

“Can I just stop y’all for a second? I just want to say that you have a beautiful smile,” I heard.

I looked up, and I met Diane.

“No, really, it’s just beautiful,” she said to me. And our conversation began.

Diane (be sure to watch her Hope Interview if you haven’t), Owen, and I probably talked for at least a half hour, maybe 45 minutes. About everything really. She told us at story about the first person she’d ever loved—a man who stayed by her bed after a horrible accident she’d had. A man who loved her so much he wrote her a beautiful song. A man she loves to this day.

She told us about how she’s moved all over this country, only to discover that Southern California is the only place that feels like home.

She shared her hidden talent—mad drum skills that apparently she’s passed down to her son.

Diane seemed to know everyone at Starbucks. From the manager to the baristas, and nearly every patron who walked through the door, she greeted them with a smile and they followed suit. Smiles all around. She told us she’s there pretty much every night.

She’s become a regular in her own little coffeehouse community.

As time passed, Owen and I had to actually get to work, so our long conversation with Diane had to end. We stumbled through a quick goodbye, and she invited us back to Starbucks anytime.

“Anytime you want, boys. I’m in here every night. Just over here playin’ my Yahtzee game.”

If I could ever model an ideal example of a community listener—someone who’s tapped in to her neighbors—it would be Diane. She knew everything that was going on in all of her friends’ lives. And she had only the best to say about each and every person.

Incredible.

So, Diane walked back to her seat. Of course not before she told me that I have a Donny Osmond smile. Hopefully, I’ll get to see her next week.

by Sam Lundquist
Founder and Community Listener

Hope Bridges Gaps.

JB Coles, one of our Community Listeners, tells us about his experience passing around a Hope Journal on two flights:

“What do you hope for?”

“Isn’t that a sort of personal question to ask?” was the response I received from most of my friends.

It is, and I’m pretty sure that’s the point. Whether it’s your next paycheck, performance on an upcoming exam, or your spiritual salvation, hope is the rudder of our lives whether we acknowledge it or not. It gives life motivation, picks us up from failures, and urges us to continue. Hope is personal in that it gives each of us a meaning to keep going, but personal doesn’t need to mean private. How tragic is it that something so inspirational finds itself internalized so often? Imagine how transforming it could be if intimate communication was reignited on the basis of hope. How beautiful would it be if, instead of staying selfishly silent, our hopes and the encouragement they give us were shared with others to transform them as well? That’s what I hoped for when I heard about The Hope Chronicles.

Through my participation with The Hope Chronicles, I was excited to see how transforming shared hopes could be. Even from my first conversation, it was obvious that hope bridges gaps between people. I sat on a flight awkwardly holding the Hope Journal in my hands next to a woman, Nancy, who I would never normally have spoken with. She was busy, engaged in a good book, and I could empathize. I am as guilty as the next person for ignoring the people living life around me. My typical routine would have involved exactly the same thing except with ear plugs to aid my isolation. Now I assumed a new role, ready to break the silence and invade her peace.  I was also preparing for rejection. I introduced myself, held out the journal and briefly explained the goal of the project. Before I could finish, Nancy’s eyes grew wide with excitement and took on a beautiful gleam. She closed the book and we started talking about hope and the conversation progressed from there until landing. It took a different turn than I’m used to. No weather, no sports, no movies. We already had the assurance that we shared one thing in common, hope. This was eye opening for me. Instead of relying on shallow conversation to avoid rejection and embarrassment, our conversation was founded on a shared acknowledgement of each other’s necessity of hope. This same footing gave us a different perspective on each other and made us vulnerable in a new way. Nancy’s case wasn’t special either; the same thing happened many times I approached people about the project. Somehow, hope brought us out of our shells and into meaningful communication.

While my eyes were opened to the effect that shared hopes had through my own conversations, I could also hear the effects in conversations all around the plane. As the journal made its way to the back of the plane, I heard many people explaining the project to their neighbors and smiled. It was amazing to hear people present the project to each other and begin to discuss what their hopes were. With each new presenter, the project took on a new, personal slant.  Some people thought it was a wonderful idea and shared with each other excitedly about how such a project could make an incredible impact on people’s lives. Some shared their skepticism through sarcastic jokes. Some people shrugged it off and fell asleep. Regardless of the reaction, people were stirred to talking and discussing the idea of hope. It was a beautiful harmony of voices, discussing the things most dear to their hearts in the safety of one-on-one conversation.

Through my experience with The Hope Chronicles I have witnessed hope’s incredible ability to connect people. While by no means a magical word that instantly breaks down barriers, hope is a deeply personal thing that we can all relate to. As I read through the journal my heart was moved by the vulnerability that it represented.  The hopes and experiences that people were willing to share was incredible. While hope may be a personal matter, the amazing effect that it can have when shared is undeniable. I witnessed conversations start between perfect strangers, enjoyed sharing personal conversation with others, and saw emotions expressed that I could never have expected, all in response to the simple question: “What do you hope for?”

JB Coles
Community Listener