Howlin' For Hope, Sunday, November 10th, 3-6 at Howl at the Moon

We are very excited about our upcoming 6th annual Howlin for Hope, sponsored by Carter Energy. This event will be held at the dueling piano bar Howl at the Moon which is located in the Power and Light district. This event is a great way to get involved and help while having a great time. If you have never been to Howl at the Moon you are in for a treat. The dueling piano players create a fun, music filled atmosphere and lots of opportunities for patrons to get on stage and join them for laughs and the opportunity to win prizes. You can request songs, you can encourage your friends to embarrass themselves and you have the opportunity to help Hope House raise desperately needed funds.

The funds raised at this event will be used for capital needs at one of our campuses. We have over $200,000 worth of projects that need to be done. We have work to do in shelter and around the grounds. The wear and tear our buildings take is truly amazing. But when you consider that both shelters house over 1,100 people every year it isn’t surprising that they need major upkeep. We will work with other sources to raise the remaining funds needed for all of our capital needs.

I hope you can join us at Howlin for Hope on Sunday, November 10^th from 3-6 at Howl at the Moon. For details visit our website at hopehouse.net  or call Nancy at 813-257-9328 for sponsorship and ticket information.

Looking back: Accomplishments

The new therapy building on the Independence campus.

As we start a new year, I would like to take this opportunity to look at our 2011 fiscal year that ended September 30^th and share with you all that we accomplished.

One of our biggest accomplishments is the completion of the capital campaign and the construction on the Independence campus. The transformation has been truly amazing. The buildings are beautiful and have really helped us in providing services to our clients. It is truly a healing space for great work to be accomplished.

In fiscal year 2010-2011 (October 1, 2010 – September 30, 2011) we were able to provide the following services:

• 1,243 women and children were served in our two emergency shelters
• 39,470 bednights were provided
• 29 people were served in our transitional living program
• 8,595 people were served through our court advocacy program
• 455 people were assisted by our two contract attorneys
• 108 people were assisted through the hospital advocacy program
• 81 families received services through our safe visitation program

It is so uplifting to see the numbers of clients we were able to assist this past year through our programming. It is somewhat overwhelming at the same time knowing that we turned away 999 from our shelters and continue to have waiting lists for our outreach programs. 

We will continue to do all that we can to serve those who are in need and continue our mission of breaking the cycle of domestic violence.

Completion of Our Capital Campaign

In December 2009 the Kresge Foundation granted Hope House a $600,000 challenge grant for our Building Hope capital campaign for the construction and renovations to the Independence campus. To qualify for the gift, we had to complete the remaining fundraising for the campaign within one year.

We’re excited to announce that we have successfully satisfied the conditions of the Kresge challenge. This means that we have successfully raised $5,000,000 for our capital campaign and have completed the fundraising portion of the campaign!

The construction on the campus is well underway with the shelter and daycare renovations already completed. Work is underway in the Court and Legal Services Building as well as the Community Partnership Building. The new Therapy building (shown above) has the walls and roof in place so work will not be interrupted with any inclement weather.

Work is progressing along very well and we should be completed with all aspects of the campaign by spring of 2011. We will have a ribbon cutting and grand opening once the work is completed and weather is suitable for an outside gathering.

We are so appreciative of all of the support that we have received from the community that has allowed us to make these improvements so we can continue to provide quality services to our clients.

Construction Update

The Hope House Independence campus is full of activity with construction happening all around us. The renovation to the living area of shelter is complete and the clients have moved back in. The transformation is amazing.

The meeting space for intakes is now private and we have room for the children to play separate from mom but yet still visible through a glass wall. The little ones won’t have to be exposed to the questions and the responses but will still feel safe since mom is right there in their sight. There is expanded storage and a better flowing work space for the staff.

The daycare playground will be the next project started. We will expand the playground to have a separate space for the really young kids to be able to play and crawl around without worry about the bigger kids tripping over them. We will be installing a new playground structure and a trike trail for the little ones to ride their bikes in a safe enclosed space.

Work will continue on the new Therapy building with the anticipated completion date at the beginning of 2011.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our capital campaign that has allowed this work to happen. It is a gift that we are extremely grateful for and will treasure always. We are committed to providing quality services to those in need and the work in this campaign will assist us in doing that in an environment that lends itself to the healing process.

Ground Breaking for Building Hope Capital Campaign

I am very excited to be writing about the ground breaking for our construction project on our Independence campus. We have worked so hard on the Building Hope Capital Campaign and have made tremendous progress in the past year. This progress is due to our dedicated committee, and the dedication and commitment of Chief Development Officer, Nancy DuVall. Nancy has worked tirelessly to see the campaign to its completion.

The ground breaking ceremony is a time for us to celebrate all of the accomplishments and the excitement of the new construction and the many changes that will follow. I am very excited about the improvements that will take place on the campus that will allow the clients a place of serenity and safety as they stay with us and begin to rebuild their lives. They deserve a place of beauty and comfort; a place that will energize them and give them the peace of mind to work through the issues they must face to live free of abuse.

The contractor estimates construction of the new therapy building will take 9 months, so if (when) we stay on schedule, we will be in our new therapy building in early 2011. The renovations to the existing buildings are not expected to take as long as constructing a whole new building, so we will be enjoying and utilizing the newly renovated spaces in Shelter and the Early Childhood Center in 2010.

The Community Partnership Building will open as soon as the therapists are able to move into their new building. How exciting to be able to offer the clients this new space which will better meet their needs and a place for community businesses to come and partner with us to offer services to our clients.

We still have work to do to finish the campaign; we still need to raise $430,000 to complete the $5,000,000 campaign. We have tax credits available for anyone who is interested in making a gift to the campaign. If you are interested in learning more about the campaign or would like to join us on April 9th at 10AM for the ground breaking ceremony, contact Nancy at nduvall@hopehouse.net.

Building Hope Capital Campaign

We are so excited about the progress of our capital campaign, Building Hope, a $5,000,000 campaign for our Independence campus.

This campus consists of eight acres of beautiful property that was gifted to us in 1993 from the Community of Christ Church. When we received the property it had two existing buildings which we renovated to create the Court and Legal Services Building and the Therapy Building. We then built two new buildings, the Shelter and the Early Childhood Center.

Key Elements of Building Hope

The Building Hope Capital Campaign consists of these key elements:

1) Renovations to the four existing buildings.
 2) An addition to the Shelter for increased storage of food and clothing.

3) A new 10,000 square foot Therapy Building.

4) Creation of a Community Partnership Building by renovating the current Therapy Building.

• This will give us space to accommodate all of the wonderful community volunteers who are willing to offer services to our clients, but due to lack of space, have not been able to provide those services on-site. 
• The Community Partnership Building will have a Medical Room equipped with an exam table and a dental chair, a salon with a hair dressing station, a room for massage therapy, and a room for computer work. There will also be space for other professionals wanting to offer their services to our clients.

Challenge Grants

We are so fortunate to have two challenge grants for this campaign. The J.E. & L.E. Mabee Foundation from Tulsa, Oklahoma issued a $525,000 challenge to us in January 2009 to raise $4,197,979 by January 14, 2010. The Kresge Foundation from Troy, Michigan issued a $600,000 challenge to us in December 2009 to complete the $5,000,000 fundraising campaign.

These challenge grants are designed to help organizations successfully complete their capital campaigns by assisting in securing further contributions. The money is received from the foundations once the challenge is successfully completed.

January 14th is next week and we are so excited to have reached our goal for the Mabee challenge and have $435,000 to go to complete the Kresge Challenge and the entire campaign.

Tax Credits Available

If you are interested in helping us with the Building Hope campaign, please let me know by emailing me at blog@hopehouse.net or calling 816-257-9331. We have Missouri tax credits available, which is a great way to stretch your gift and enjoy a tax benefit as well.

I look forward to keeping you up to date on all of the progress we make on completing the campaign and for progress updates once construction has started.