Happy Holidays!

Everyone at House of Hope wishes you all a joyous and peaceful Holiday Season.

Adopt a Family

Throughout the year, House of Hope receives many calls and letters from families looking for help, but most especially during the holiday season.  This year, we are receiving requests in record numbers.  Our Adopt a Family program connects families to people in our community that want to help.

Please read more about how you can help a family during this holiday season.

HOH Newsletter

Our most recent newsletter will be appearing in your mailbox any day.  Until then, you can check it out here.

Healing Through Art

More than 100 people, several HOH residents among them, contributed to an exhibit at the Arts League of Lowell Gallery on Market Street.

“Strong at the Broken Places”

A Most Sincere Thank You

The Lowell Sun recently published a letter written by Deb Chausse, Executive Director of HOH, expressing our gratitude to the Greater Lowell Community Foundation for the generous foundation grant awarded to House of Hope just last week, and to the larger community for supporting our mission for nearly 25 years.

Our thanks to a generous, supportive community

A New Addition

As a result of generous support from the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, Boyle Transportation, and Andrew and Keri Boyle, House of Hope recently purchased this awesome truck.  House of Hope will use this vehicle for many tasks, including plowing all of our properties, food bank runs, and moving residents from shelter to permanent housing.

A Sad Reality

Despite massive efforts by both policymakers and providers, the number of homeless families in Massachusetts continues to rise.

The number of homeless families living in motels funded by the state now tops more than 1,000

Harvest of Hope 2009

With the Fall season just around the corner, preparations for our one and only annual fundraiser, The Harvest of Hope, are already underway. Please join us on Thursday, October 1, 2009, 6-10pm, at The John Nesmith House, 229 Andover Street, in Lowell, as we celebrate more than 23 years of loving service to homeless families. The event is being catered by our friends at Two Chefs Are Better Than One with entertainment by Broadband: Women’s A Cappella Ensemble and LZ Nunn & Friends. Space for this event is limited.

Click here to purchase tickets

Note: If your business or organization would like to purchase an ad for the Program Book for this event please Click here for more information

A Message from the Executive Director

Note: This message was taken from the House of Hope Spring/Summer 2009 newsletter.

Dear Friends,

I cannot believe that Winter and Spring have gone by and we are already getting ready for the summer by helping moms register their children for camp, daycare or other activities. This has been a whirlwind year for us as we have rolled out new programming and activities to promote quicker exits from House of Hope. Since January, House of Hope has served 41 families, of which 23 have left us for either permanent housing, supportive transitional housing, family centered treatment, or to a shelter closer to their home community. We have been aided in our efforts by a new approach from the Commonwealth’s Department of Transitional Assistance who has modified our contract to provide housing placement and stabilization. The House of Hope Board of Directors and employees identified this need during our last strategic planning process. One of the four goals of this recent plan calls for HOH to search for resources to provide services to former shelter residents. Now, we are able to employ a seasoned case manager to carry out this function. We are pleased to have been prophetic enough to identify this need and we were ready to roll out this critical service.

While our families are in shelter they continue to be invited, cajoled and persuaded to pursue meaningful pursuits like employment and education. Our children continue to receive quality services from Horizons for Homeless Children PALs and other community-based volunteers that promote the whole child’s physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth. Soon, these activities will be moved outside as we enjoy our beautiful playground and water splash area.

At this time of year, I also encourage HOH employees to begin to plan for their own well-being by scheduling their own vacations and summer holidays. Given the small number of employees and 24/7 scheduling requirements, it is imperative that this planning be done in advance.

HOH continues to embrace creative programming and compassionate problem solving for each of our families and we receive satisfaction and HOPE from our success. We also deeply appreciate that each success is the result of scores of actions on behalf of each family. So, if you share your time, treasure or talent with House of Hope please know that you are contributing to our success and we are appreciative. The HOH community wishes you and all of our supporters a restful and HOPEFUL Summer.

- Deb Chausse