Local Youth Group's Brings a Man to Tears of Joy

HOPE opens its doors to many organizations, businesses, and churches to enable them to volunteer and do community service together as a group.  Recently, a local church brought their youth group down for a week of service.  The teens worked in our food pantry, sorted donations, and packed lunches for our Kids of HOPE program. 

On their last day with HOPE, they spent some time helping clients in our food pantry, and were touched by the individuals they met there.  One such individual, Ron, has been unemployed and actively seeking work for over a year.  His unemployment just ran out, and they are attempting to survive on his wife’s part time salary. They have two middle school aged children.  Ron has been coming to get food from the pantry, and because we are aware of his situation, we always slip him a little something extra to get by. 

The leader of the church youth group and his children approached the staff at HOPE, and asked if they could please use the $40.00 that they had to do something extra nice for one family.  Our minds immediately jumped to Ron, who had just left with his pantry goods.  We knew that he had been without milk and eggs for a month, and that there were some things that our pantry just couldn’t provide for him.  What a blessing to have these amazing students reach out to their fellow man in a tangible and loving way! 

Ron was very touched and started to cry when the students asked him for a list of things he needed, and set off for the local grocery store to purchase them.  While we waited with Ron, one of the student leaders purchased a $20 hope “gift card” which would allow Ron to also purchase things from our thrift store.  The students returned with 8 bags of groceries to go with the two boxes we gave him from the pantry.  I know that he and his family will be eating well tonight, and that the students that were involved learned a very valuable lesson about the worth of their fellow man today.

Thank you so much to everyone involved in bringing a little joy into Ron's day and life!!

Jailene Warren

Food Pantry Coordinator

IT Facilitator

HOPE Helps, Inc.

HOPE Featured in the Seminole Chronicle!

Have you seen the Seminole Chronicle news article on HOPE today? Laura Newberry wrote an excellent depiction of our Kids of HOPE program! Read the article below:

Summer program feeds kids 

By Laura Newberry | June 15, 2011

In Seminole County, more than 26,000 children are eligible for free or reduced lunch. However, when school lets out, many of these kids' daytime meals are replaced with grumbling stomachs.

Robin Nease, a working-class Longwood resident, feared that her children would fall into this increasingly common category.

Two years ago, Nease was let go from Bill Heard Chevrolet after significant layoffs within the company, and she lost her other job due to disability. She was left with a decision: find help, or watch her children go hungry.
Nease found refuge in Kids of HOPE, an enrichment program that provides lunches during school breaks for children in Seminole County and the surrounding areas.

"I'm very sad because I can't provide for my children like I used to when I had two jobs. I'm only part time and it's really hurting us," Nease said. "With this program I don't have to worry about food and can concentrate on major bills."

The Kids of HOPE program began in 2009, shortly after Nease abruptly found herself and her family in a state of impoverishment. Nease said that for the past three summers she has come to collect food for her children, ages 14 and 16, every Thursday.

The HOPE program just began for the season, and according to Jailene Warren, the HOPE food pantry coordinator, 437 children are already signed up to receive daily lunches until school resumes in August. Over 700 kids are expected to be served by the end of the summer.

The program's formula is simple: parents can come in alone, or with their children, and pick up five lunch bags for each of their kids. Generally, parents will come only once a week, on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.

Each lunch bag includes a small box of cereal, a non-perishable meal (such as individual ravioli entrees), fruit and two snacks.

Kids of HOPE runs during spring and Christmas breaks in addition to summer vacation.

"Parents come here to get their lunches when they normally wouldn't come to a food pantry because they're ashamed," Warren said. "They will come to get food for their kid. Then we can help them access other services."

According to Warren, childhood hunger is a far more common crisis in Seminole County than most people realize -- so much so that the area was featured in a CBS 60 Minutes segment that highlighted the problem.

The segment showed Seminole County public school busses stopping at motels to pick students up, and local children explaining to the reporter what it feels like to be hungry.

The show also provided startling statistics, like the fact that more than 1,000 Seminole County students have recently lost their homes.

"After the show ran, people were shocked that this was happening in Seminole County," said Joan Faulkner, the director of development and marketing for HOPE. "People think of it as a more well-off community and were surprised that there are children that are hungry here."

"The median is skewed. I think we all recognize that. Though Oviedo's median income is about $70,000, that number is driven by a very small contingency of wealthy people. I have 1,600 clients in my books and 70 percent live in Oviedo or Winter Springs," Warren said.

Since the program aired, Kids of HOPE has seen an increased outpouring of generosity from the community. Local churches, schools and restaurants keep the HOPE pantry stocked and allow for the giving out of what will be almost 12,000 lunches by the end of the summer.

Whole Foods Market, Publix, Chipotle and Panera are among a few of the business that regularly donate to the cause.

Although food distribution is the primary goal of Kids of HOPE, the program coordinators also try to aid the children's emotional well-being through little efforts such as making sure the lunch bags are decorated.
Children in schools, mothers looking for craft projects, and churches are among a few groups that have decorated bags for HOPE.

"They get more excited about the bag sometimes than the food. People put notes in them like, 'Have a great day,' or 'Enjoy your lunch,' " Warren said. "We're able to wrap our arms around the community and provide them with not just their basic needs, but the understanding that we do love them."

The festive bagged lunches are what get the parents in the door, but according to Warren, the program wants to go above and beyond lunch distribution.

"I don't want them to just come in and pick up five lunch bags for their kids and walk away - I want them to sign up for our food pantry and come and get food for the rest of the meals," Warren said. "I want them to come in and see our resource center and have an intake with the case manager. I want them to talk about why they're in a situation where they need food in the first place."

Once a case manager assesses a family's situation, they are able to help meet the needs of the family. Services can vary, from assisting people in finding a new job to paying for a family's electric bill.

"During the course of this summer program we want to get every one of the families that's involved in the program to apply for food stamps, even if they've been denied before. The reasons you get denied for food stamps is a myriad of reasons, and they'll try once and give up," Warren said.

Warren said that HOPE primarily deals with two kinds of people: the generational poor and the new poor.

The generational poor, or working poor, are people who have jobs (often minimum wage) but they aren't able to make enough money to provide for their families. The new poor, on the other hand, are those that have been hit worst by the recession.

"It's the first time they've ever been in poverty. It's a first-time crisis," Warren said.

"I see the families that come in here, and it's like middle class America is starting to converge into the lower class. These people don't have that roadmap like people that have been living in generational poverty," Wright said.

Krissy Todd, the CEO of HOPE, said Seminole County residents are especially susceptible to being unaware of the programs available to them in the area. Todd explained that there are no Title 1 schools in Winter Springs or Oviedo, which causes a lack of food programs for children.

Although this predicament stalls the progress of HOPE, volunteers and supporters of the program still strive to make an impact.

"As long as we have food on the shelves, we'll be giving out lunches down to the last item," Warren said. "I don't want to see one more child go hungry in Seminole county."


A big Thank You!! goes out to Laura Newberry for taking the time to write about our Kids of HOPE Program!

Want to participate and volunteer? Sign up for one of our Volunteer Training and Orientations! You can find all the information you need about volunteering for HOPE on our ways to get involved page on our website!

Want to donate? Check out our donation page on our website!

www.hopehelps.org

Battling for HOPE

Special thanks to Dakota Kendall, Kirsten, and his team at Winter Springs High School for Coordinating the battle of the bands, “Battling for HOPE” on May 14.   Dakota became motivated to take action to help other kids in his community who are in need after watching the 60 Minutes segment which focused on homeless right in our own backyard…Seminole County.  HOPE’s CEO, Krissy Todd had recently spoken to students at Winter Springs High School and it seemed natural to combine efforts with a local agency helping those in need.  

I began to work with Dakota, who had never done an event of this magnitude, and he was organized, professional and sincere.  He was a pleasure to work with!  We recruited Winter Springs own, Arnie Nussbaum as the emcee for the event, as well as judges Supa-Dave from 101.1 radio, Mary Pando from Oviedo Winter Springs Life Magazine and myself to judge the talented students from High Schools across Seminole County. 

Together they collected over 400 pounds of food for HOPE’s Food Pantry, which will go toward our “Kids of HOPE” program, providing food to children during breaks, who typically receive free or reduced lunch while in school.

I am honored to have the opportunity to have worked with Dakota, and look forward to working with the next group of student advocates who care about making a difference in their community!  Thank you to all the students who took part from Winter Springs, Hagerty High, Lake Mary and Lake Brantley!

Thank you!

Joan Faulkner

Director of Development / Marketing

HOPE

Be sure to check out HOPE's website for information on all future events and volunteer opportunities!

There is NO AGE LIMIT on Volunteering!

You can never be too young or too old to begin selfless giving - and on Wednesday, June 1st, a group of volunteers proved exactly that. Let me start at the beginning. Have you heard about Kids of HOPE?

There are over 26,000*  children in Seminole County that are eligible to receive free or reduced lunches at school, but what will they eat when they are on break or off for the summer?  The sad truth is, many of these children would go without. During the school year, economically disadvantaged children have access to healthy lunches through their eligibility for the federal Free/Reduced School Lunch Program. During school breaks, these children may be home alone while their parents are working and families lack the financial resources to stock the fridge with food, normally provided for via school programs, for their children. The negative economy has hit thousands of Seminole County families hard. At the same time that basic costs for food, utilities and gas have escalated, parents have lost their jobs, had their hours reduced, and are living on the edge of poverty.  Often after paying the rent, the utilities, and other basics, there is simply no money left for essentials such as food.

At HOPE’s Food Pantry, we provide free meat, produce, bread, and non-perishable food three days per week, including Saturday, to registered families in Seminole County.  While serving our families in the food pantry, we hear about their struggles first hand and have identified an increased need to feed the children of our community.   Many Seminole County schools also participate by providing food drives year-round and distributing information about HOPE to families in need.  In 2009, Kids of HOPE began by serving hundreds of economically disadvantaged children, who may have gone without lunch.  

The Kids of HOPE Enrichment program allows children in Seminole County an opportunity to receive food.  As children are registered for the program, HOPE Case Managers can help identify additional needs for the family, and provide resources and assistance as well.  We want to assure that the children in our community will have nutritious lunches for each day during the 9-week summer break, as well as all school breaks throughout the year. 

* information obtained from Florida Department of Education statistics 2010-2011 


On Wednesday, a group of 7 volunteers came to HOPE to pack lunches for the Kids of HOPE program. 7 women, 5 of whom are seniors - one age 86 and another age 90 managed to pack 600 bags in just TWO HOURS!! Talk about amazing! All of us here at HOPE are so grateful for each and every one of our amazing volunteers!!! 

Want to get involved with volunteering for HOPE? Check out our website for more information!