End-of-financial year report & appeal letter
Wednesday 5th May 2010 12:00 AM
Dear FRIENDS OF HOPE,
What exciting times we’re in! We’re almost half way through the year and so much has begun. Since our last appeal letter Hope Foundation have been busy building the lives of women with some projects we launched, with your help, in 2009. Here’s how they’re going:
Hope House (established April 2009 in South Brisbane)
Hope House has provided some short-term and long-term housing options for women connected in consistent relationship with Hope Foundation. These women have been assisted to go on to find their own accommodation and employment as they have made great choices for their future. Currently Hope House is accommodating a mother that has recently regained custody of her 3 children. This family has had a special journey with Hope Foundation and it’s your support that is enabling them to rebuild their lives together at Hope House.
Hope on the Streets (established July 2009)
Hope on the Streets is an outreach van that has been ‘Hope-ified’ into a mobile lounge. Visiting set locations throughout Brisbane city on a regular basis the outreach van is a ‘first step’ to reaching women that don’t yet know they are ‘loved, valued and created with a purpose’. The van has been donated by the Lord Mayor’s Community Trust and our faithful volunteers and some Hope women who are doing well on the journey of recovery are available to offer women on the streets a coffee, cake and a message of hope for their future. We are excited about the potential of this program and look forward to expanding our locations and teams to reach more women across the city.
Support Programs and Weekly Connect Meetings
As always the cornerstone of recovery for these women is found in relationship. Hope continues to run support programs and our weekly connect meetings with the women in our care. These meetings may involve providing assistance meeting basic needs, to prayer and counseling, doctor’s appointments and court appointments. Our weekly connect meetings are group meetings and we often will spend time studying the word, praying, eating and sharing as each woman is taking steps to wholeness.
Full Time Social Worker (since January 2010)
Following the growth of 2009 and the demand associated with the number of women we are working with, Hope Foundation have employed a full time social worker to meet the needs of these women in a professional capacity. Helping us shape and expand the support programs, outreach events and weekly connect meetings, this role has been essential in helping us each find our areas of strength and to work within them well.
We’re always appreciative of your consistent support of these programs and are particularly keen to see Hope House and Hope on the Streets expand and grow as our capacity for outreach increases. This year our End of Financial year appeal is focusing on a key area of ministry that has been born in our heart from the beginnings of Hope Foundation. Let us share the vision with you…
The Love Well
An innercity cafe/drop in centre with a difference. Women struggling with addiction and wanting life change from the sex industry are given opportunity to find new hope through the arts, photography, music and a place of refuge. By practically meeting their needs, (clothing, accommodation, food) and loving them where they're at, we see them embark on a journey of recovery with our assistance and network of social workers, doctors, counselors and community services. ‘The Love Well’ is a place designed specifically to address the issues of value and worth associated with a lifestyle of drug addiction and they cycle of abuse that it feeds. Women are 'loved well' and go from being a cost to society to contributing members of it.
'The Love Well' is at the cold-face of their desperate situation, holding high the message of HOPE, for change and a second chance. By simply providing a place of acceptance and unconditional love, the first steps are taken to reaching these ladies and putting back together their shattered lives. The impact of expression through the arts, and the availability of 'pampering' to love on these women in a whole and healthy way is instrumental in unlocking their hearts. ‘The Love Well’ will make this vital connection available consistently for these women, instead of just at annual events. ‘The Love Well' also provides a more intimate environment for relational connection with these women, giving greater impact in building trust with them and without the time constraints that events apply.
Possibly the most motivating factor in developing 'The Love Well’ concept is the lack of places available across our communities that will provide a place of acceptance for these women, we have the experience of working with these women on a weekly basis; now it’s time to plant ourselves in a functioning program that can be accessed daily so that the message of HOPE can reach further than ever before.
And continuing in the future goal of establishing a residential rehabilitation program, ‘The Love Well’ provides opportunity for Hope Foundation and our volunteer teams to gain further momentum, support, and to learn well as we reach the women of Brisbane with greater levels of consistency and intentionality. We are also very excited about the capacity we will have to employ the long-standing HOPE chicks and thus give them even greater self-esteem, financial freedom and personal growth as they then stretch a hand back to the women that they themselves used to be.
Will you partner with us for this Appeal and into the next season of 2010? Without consistent government funding these programs hinge entirely on your participation. We need your support… Every donation over $2 is tax deductible and your receipt will be mailed to you in time for tax returns to be lodged. We trust you’ll prayerfully consider what you can do, every dollar counts. Click here....
Be Blessed,
Bronwen Healy
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