United Methodist HOPE Ministries

4643 Winbourne Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70805 225.355.0702

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Our Mission

Prevent homelessness.
Promote self-sufficiency
and dignity.

You can view
more event photos
on our archives page!

Top left: A client's child anxiously
awaits her new toys!

Bottom left: Students from Country
Day School help sort toys a few
days before the distribution.

Top right: A client makes her
selection from a variety of toys.

Bottom right: Despite the dreary
weather, parents and grandparents
alike were thrilled to leave with
overflowing shopping bags.

Christmas Place
Toy Distribution

On December 15, we provided new toys
to 328 children
from 122 families in the community!
We were lucky to have the assistance of many
great volunteers, including Country Day School
students and Payless Shoe Source employees.

Christmas Food Distribution

Left: Volunteers help clients fill up boxes
and buggies full of all they need to
prepare a Christmas meal for their family.
We provided meals for 145 families!

HOPE Volunteer Receives
Power of Nine Award

Right: HOPE Volunteer Dick Stonich, second from left,
receives the Power of Nine award from WAFB Channel 9
at a luncheon on January 28.

Pictured from left to right are WAFB anchor Donna Britt,
Stonich, HOPE Director of Operations
and Social Enterprise Janet Simmons
and HOPE Executive Director Renee Craft.

On Tuesday, March 9, six students graduated
from Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World ©.
This workshop series helps students learn about
the underlying causes of poverty, increase their
financial literacy and develop their own personal
action plan for increasing their self-sufficiency.
You could be in our next Getting Ahead workshop!

Getting Ahead in a
Just-Gettin'-By World ©

Graduation #10

Getting Ahead graduate DeAnn
presents her Action Plan to the class.

Below: Getting Ahead co-facilitators Denise Porter,
left, and Dick Stonich, second from left, with the
graduates of Getting Ahead #10.

Right: Getting Ahead graduate Latosha
performs an interpretative dance to express
her feelings about the things she learned.

HOPE announces collaborative project with
The Arc Baton Rouge!
Forty plus attend "Ground Dumping Ceremony"
for Raised Bed Produce Garden

On Friday, May 14, more than 40
people attended a Ground Dumping
Ceremony to put the first buckets of
dirt into a new, accessible raised
bed on HOPE's property. Adults with
developmental and/or intellectual
disabilities who are clients of
The Arc Baton Rouge will raise
vegetables on site and 10% of the
produce will be donated to HOPE's
Client Choice Food Pantry. The
remaining produce will be sold to
pay the workers, many of whom are
becoming employed for the first
time through this innovative social
enterprise program.

Left: Anita Shanklin, seated, and her personal care
attendant, standing, get ready to dump buckets of dirt into the
new raised bed. Shanklin is a client of both HOPE Ministries
and The Arc Baton Rouge and will work in the new garden.

Above: HOPE Executive Director Renee Craft, third from right,
and HOPE Board Member Emel Alexander, second from right,
join the crowd and get ready to fill the bed with dirt.

On Tuesday, June 29, six students graduated
from Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World ©.
This workshop series helps students learn about
the underlying causes of poverty, increase their
financial literacy and develop their own personal
action plan for increasing their self-sufficiency.
You could be in our next Getting Ahead workshop!

Graduation #11

HOPE Hosts Rotary Off-Site Fellowship

On Wednesday, June 9, HOPE
Executive Director Renee Craft
and HOPE board member
Norman Chenevert hosted an
off-site fellowship luncheon for
their fellow members of
The Rotary Club of Baton Rouge.

Rotarians learned about HOPE
and our work, toured our
campus including the food
pantry, and enjoyed spending
time together.

HOPE Board President Don
Morgan also greeted other
visiting Rotarians: Carolyn
Carnahan, Hank Chiles,
Kathy Gill, Frank McArthur
and Martin Walke.

If your group would like to
visit the HOPE campus and
learn about our work, e-mail
jhammett@hopebr.org.

On two Thursdays in June, children from the
Mission Day Camp at First United Methodist
Church of Baton Rouge performed a valuable
service for HOPE by stocking the shelves in the
Client Choice Food Pantry after our weekly delivery
from the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.

FUMC-BR Mission Day Campers Make a Difference

Thanks a
bunch!

Below: Getting Ahead graduate Donna Johnson presents her
Action Plan to the class while Getting Ahead co-facilitator
Dick Stonich holds her creative 3-D "mental model", a visual
depiction of her action plan out of poverty.

Right: Graduate Peter Bessard was so impressed by Getting
Ahead's life-changing potential that he faithfully rode his
bike to class twice a week. Bessard presents his Action Plan
to the class while Getting Ahead co-facilitator Denise Porter
looks on.