02/06/2024
Great things have come from the generosity Hopetown offers to our community.
Having celebrated our seventh anniversary this past week, we are now prepared to enter Phase 2 of our ministry. This will involve our opening our second site (HOPEtown Petersburg) in addition to completing our new HUB facility in Lewisburg and undertaking many more endeavors as well. As we take these bold new steps, we want to make sure you know who we are and what we do.
Please allow us to introduce (or reintroduce) ourselves.
HOPEtown is a 501(c)(3) Christian non-profit organization; we are not a church, though our aim is always to do whatever we do in the name of Jesus. Our overarching purpose is implied by our name: helping Lewisburg or Petersburg or any other town in which we find ourselves become a community in which people experience and minister the living hope of Jesus Christ. In that effort, our principal zone of activity is ministering with those in need. Note: our intent is not to minister TO people in need but instead to minister WITH people in need. You see, we understand that we are in need ourselves. We all are.
We maintain a food pantry, hygiene pantry, and clothing closet, with the vast majority of the items contained therein donated by the community. Anyone in need can stop by at any of our open times on any of our open days and receive assistance with non-perishable food, personal hygiene items (shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc.), or clothing. There is NEVER a charge for any of these items. We also have multiple special giveaway events throughout the year in which we give away additional clothing, food, and household items. Again, we provide these items at no charge.
Additional services include our (1) Jericho Road program (financial assistance with rent, utilities, medication, etc.); (2) our Project 9:58 ministry (homelessness assistance, part of which is our operating a pair of transitional houses); (3) our Table 4.12 ministry, in which we prepare and deliver hot meals and other essentials to shut-in seniors and disabled persons; (4) our Foreword adult literacy project; (5) our Hands of Hope ministry (home repair/maintenance and community cleanup projects); (6) our Bright Ideas summer program for children in grades 1-6; (7) our Christmas assistance program (titled Wrap It Up); and (8) the annual presentation of our CHANGE Scholarship, in which we have awarded resilient, service-minded Marshall County graduating high school seniors a total of more than $25,000 over the past seven years.
It is our aim to help as many people as possible, so we do not have any qualifying criteria for our services (income requirements, residency requirements, etc.). Anyone in need from anywhere may come to us, though our first priority is and must be assisting people who live in the communities in which we are located (primarily Marshall County). Assistance is always provided on a case-by-case basis, so we do not have any formal rules about how often people may visit us and receive assistance. We do use, of course, considerable discretion in providing our services, especially in the area of financial assistance. Our intent is not to be anyone's social services agency or assistance check but, rather, to minister hope by helping people get back on their feet and pointed in a forward direction.
All funding for our services comes from voluntary donations made by individuals, churches, foundations, businesses, and civic organizations. We do not receive funding of any kind from any form of government and intend to keep it that way as much as possible so that we can maintain the maximum amount of flexibility and accountability (we are independently audited each year). This past year we received donations from thirteen different states and 27 different zip codes in Tennessee alone. Amazing! God's people always supply our need.
Our core philosophy—one we learn from the ministry of Jesus—is expressed in simple words: Doing good is never bad, and doing right is never wrong. Predicting or controlling outcomes is beyond our capacity and is not our assignment from God. Our calling is to do what is good and what is right in every situation and to leave the rest up to the One before whom we all will stand. Most often, the good and right action is to provide that food or clothing or pay that rent or electric bill. And occasionally not providing or paying is what is good and right in a given situation. The Lord knows, and we simply try to follow His lead.
Our Lewisburg site is a facility we call the TUB (temporary urban base) and is located in the Family Life Center of our good friends at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 402 2nd Avenue North, in Lewisburg. The place to enter is through the glass double doors. We will be building a permanent facility of our own later this year, however, and we can't wait until it's complete! It will be on Rock Crusher Road in Lewisburg, at a convenient and strategic site near Walmart and the Marshall County Health Department.
The facility for our new Petersburg site is currently under construction—fire back in November claimed what would have been our facility—and should be completed in the next few weeks. We're hoping to be in and fully operational before Easter! 3269 Lewisburg Highway, in Petersburg.
For more information, explore our pages or simply stop by our Lewisburg site (and soon, our Petersburg site!) on any of our regular days and times. Online donations can be made securely on our website (www.hopetownlewisburg.org), and you can always reach us (day or night) by phone at 931.993.7791.
May the Lord bless you.
