H.O.P.E is a powerful organization that can do many things for many people.
This H.O.P.E. is no different. Helping Other People Everyday is a non-profit organization that serves the North East Kingdom from Newport to Bradford.
The goal and mission of H.O.P.E. is to help support families who have a hard time filling the basic needs of everyday life, according to volunteer Barry Lott.
One program that H.O.P.E. runs every year is a back pack program for local school children. On Friday afternoon as a child is getting off the bus for the weekend the driver hands the underprivileged child a back pack with some simple tools to help them get through the weekend. The back packs are filled with food, clothing, and hygiene products and given to 50 students from four different schools who may not have that kind of support at home. Lott says the program goes a long way to getting kids through the weekend and back to school on Monday.
H.O.P.E. is operational all year round but is especially busy during the holiday season.
One of the programs that Lott is putting his time and effort into is a calendar that will be for sale at local businesses. Anyone who purchases the calendar for $10 is eligible for weekly drawings. The drawings consist of prizes donated from local business’s. All money that is raised from the calendar project will be donated to help support the local food bank and H.O.P.E. Lott currently has 20 local business’s support the calendar project and make a donation to fund the calendar. The drawings will be held everyday on 97.7 FM and all prizewinners are eligible for to win multiple times.
H.O.P.E. has been around for almost five years after Jody Wheeler started the program in the basement of her husband’s sports shop. Lott said her husband Rick who donated cleats to unprivileged kids so they could play sports inspired Jody to start the organization.
Santa Clause will be at H.O.P.E. each Friday and Saturday before Christmas collecting toys for underprivileged children. The store will also be running on extended hours until Christmas as they try to provide the support that local families need during the holiday season.