HOPE Helps, Inc. has 16 employees who keep the Thrift Store, Food Pantry and Administrative offices up and running! Each employee has their own interactions with HOPE clients. These experiences are often what fuel their motivation to relentlessly pursue HOPE's mission of helping individuals and families in crisis. The following is an example of one of those interactions.
I spend most of my time at HOPE working with on the computer systems that keep HOPE running (and unclogging the occasional toilet), so I don’t have much interaction with the people who are the real reason for HOPE’s existence: The individuals and families who turn to us for help in a time of crisis. However, over the last several months, I've been delivering food to one of these individuals as part of Hope’s HENS (Hope Emergency Network Support) program. A volunteer effort to provide food and home repair services to Hope’s clientele.
I first met Lisa when I started delivering a weekly food
package to her and her family in Chuluota.
My original intent was to just be a temporary ‘fill-in’ driver until we
could find a volunteer who lived in that area to take on the ‘chore’. Well, ‘temporary’ is a flexible term here at
HOPE.
It didn’t take too many visits before I wasn’t looking at the deliveries as a chore, but instead
an opportunity to be a friend and to bring
some joy into the lives of this sweet lady and her family. They live in the older part of Chuluota, and
are without transportation. Their house
is run-down, but the yard is neatly kept.
I really don’t know much about how they came to be in their present
situation, but that’s not what this is about.
The first thing that struck me about Lisa is that, even in her
situation, she is always thankful for what she has, and even tries to help out
her neighbors who are facing more difficult circumstances.
It didn’t take too many visits before I wasn’t looking at the deliveries as a chore, but instead
an opportunity to be a friend and to bring
some joy into the lives of this sweet lady and her family. They live in the older part of Chuluota, and
are without transportation. Their house
is run-down, but the yard is neatly kept.
I really don’t know much about how they came to be in their present
situation, but that’s not what this is about.
The first thing that struck me about Lisa is that, even in her
situation, she is always thankful for what she has, and even tries to help out
her neighbors who are facing more difficult circumstances.
A couple of weeks ago, Lisa’s refrigerator died, forcing her
to rely on a neighbor to store their perishable food and her insulin (yes, Lisa
is diabetic). When I found out about
this, I was moved to try to find a replacement. I didn’t say anything to Lisa, as I didn’t
want her to get her hopes up. As it
turned out, one of the HOPE staff members had an old refrigerator in their
garage, so we made arrangements to pick it up and deliver it to Lisa’s home.
When we got to her house, no one was at home, but a neighbor
called Lisa and told her, “Come home right now!”
About 10 minutes later, she came pedaling her bicycle up the street. As she saw us waiting by her front door, you
could see her face light up as she started pedaling faster. She was so excited! The day before was her birthday, and I had sent
her a note saying I would be bringing a ‘little birthday treat’. The refrigerator was probably the best
present she could have hoped for, and gave me the opportunity to be on the
‘front-lines’ in HOPE’s service to the community.
Just seeing the joy in Lisa’s face at this
unexpected gift really brought home to me what HOPE is all about: Being able to brighten someone’s day by the
help and love we can provide when they are in need.-Bill
