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