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Spring | Summer Issue 2013
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T A S T E H O P E 2 0 1 3 F R I D A Y , O C T . 1 8 t h
Shonta’s Storyof HOPE
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R ’ S M E S S A G E
(ROMANS 15:13 - NIV)
Grace and Peace,Robin Martin, M. Div.Executive Director
I recently spent the day at the Chick-fil-A Leadercast and I left inspired and
motivated to put some new tools into practice. Throughout the day, I got to
hear from some of the best leaders/authors/speakers in the country and spend
time with many great local leaders in our community.
While the day was filled with great lessons, John Maxwell shared something
that I believe strikes a chord with HOPE South Florida. Maxwell cautioned the
audience to never confuse simplicity with simplistic. He described the difference,
as simplistic answers are shallow while simplicity speaks to a deep truth, and
the process to move from simplistic to simplicity is through the complex.
When we look at the issue of homelessness and the many ways in which HOPE
South Florida partners with churches to serve, we find ourselves right in the
midst of complexity. But when we push through that complexity we can find some
simple fundamentals to all our services: Live, Teach, Taste HOPE South Florida.
It's simple, we provide housing for families through LiveHOPE, child and youth
development through TeachHOPE, and shared meals for the homeless through
TasteHOPE. All very simple, but nowhere near simplistic.
“Ma y the God of hope f i l l you with a l l the jo y a nd peace a s you tru st i n Him, so that you ma y overf l ow with hopeb y the power of the Ho l y Sp i r it. ”
“Ma y the God of hope f i l l you with a l l the jo y a nd peace a s you tru st i n Him, so that you ma y overf l ow with hopeb y the power of the Ho l y Sp i r it. ”
6th Annual Golf Tournament was a sold out success!The
24 teams teed up!This year’s host, Guy Boros began the eventwith a shotgun start. The course was full of
guests; PGA Pro Tour players, Mayor JackSeiler and other special guests. For a full list of
pros and tournament sponsors please visitwww.hopesouthflorida.org/forehope
We want you to know who we are,how we help and why we do it.
Come and learn how peoplelike you are Building HOPE
as you help us meet ourgoal of raising $100,000
in benefit of thehomeless children,families andindividuals we serve.
Warehouse Gala! Friday, October 18th
Join us as we share a meal and showcase our programs: Live, Teach, Shop, Taste HOPE!
Thank you to a l l of our church pa rtners,bu siness supporters, a vid gol fers and fa ithfu lcommittee and volunteers for making thisyea rs’ tournament tru l y specia l!
register or find sponsorship opportunities online
www.hopesouthflorida.org
“I hate the word homeless. Whenyou hear the word homeless, imagesand stereotypes come to mindthat just don’t describe who I am.I am not defined by homelessness.”
– Shonta Taylor
L I V E H O P E A T T H E R I O H O U S E : : S H O N T A ’ S S T O R Y O F H O P E
Shonta’s life changed when she
had her first child at the age of
18. She struggled to learn what
motherhood meant while still
trying to find out who she was
as an individual. Shonta started
attending vocational school and
soon became a Certified Dental
Assistant. But while her career
was starting to come into focus,
her relationship with her chil-
dren’s father turned unhealthy.
She finally realized the best
option for her and her children
was separation.
Shonta worked hard to meet
her family’s needs, but suddenly
lost her job, exhausted her so-
cial resources, and eventually
found herself homeless and in
need of support. It was then
that Shonta found HOPE South
Florida’s LiveHOPE programs
and her story of HOPE began.
In the 2 years that Shonta has
been in our program, she has
experienced a roller coaster of
emotions. Beginning with her
time in our Faith-In-Action
program, Shonta quickly pro-
gressed to The Shepherd’s Way
Family Shelter, and with the
help of the case management
team, Shonta began to look at
her life from a new angle and
started to face some of her real
issues. She engaged with the
other families on the property
and started creating new
relationships that would help
rebuild her trust. She attended
the weekly meetings where she
could openly discuss some of
her parenting concerns and
share her learning experiences
with others. In addition to the
personal progress Shonta was
making, she had also found
employment and was starting
to make long-term plans for her
family. She was soon ready to
take another step toward her
independence, moving from our
Shepherd’s Way Family Shelter
to the Rio House program.
Shonta learned early in the
program that the first step in
helping her reach self-sustain-
ability was to get a job, which
she quickly did. But now she
was at a point where she
“My time at The Shepherds Way and the RioHouse has made me a better person. Throughthe case management team at HOPE SouthFlorida and Rio Vista Community Church teamI have been able to boost my self-esteem, facemy depression, and process my divorce. I’velearned to trust people more and more, lettingthem into my life to help me change and develop as a person.
When I first entered into the LiveHOPE pro-grams, I found myself being so depressed thatI was ready to give up, and even consideredturning my children over to the state. Throughmy time here, my faith has grown, and I havefound not only the space, but the community toprocess through my pain. My future as a per-son, and as a mother is bright. Before this pro-gram, HOPE meant surviving, now as I look tograduate, HOPE means happiness, stabilityand the excitement of a better life! I’m not thesame person I used to be.” -Shonta Taylor
wanted to return to her dental
career. She began working on
her resume and brushing up
on her skills. She received assis-
tance from many areas (friends,
community resources, HSF case
management team, HSF church
partners, etc)…all trying to
help her find a way to return
to her passion. All the while,
Shonta continued to work long
and irregular hours as a cus-
tomer service representative at
a local retail store and of course
being a full-time mom. Her
determination paid off 4
months later, when she re-
ceived 3 different job offers
from places she had contacted
weeks earlier! She is now very
happily employed as a full-
time Dental Assistant and
proud to have set that positive
example for her children. She
continues setting goals for her
future and we are sure that
she will meet them all!
T E A C H H O P E G O D ’ S L I T T L E L A M B S
The restoration of HOPE must begin
with our children and each child that
passes through our TeachHOPE
programs are a gift from the Lord.
The experience of homelessness
and poverty can have a devastating
effect on a child’s selfworth and
educational success. HOPE South
Florida’s Teach HOPE programs
provide professional childcare and
educational activities to children of
homeless and low income families.
Your gift of $25 dollars per month
ensures a week of subsidized child-
care of a child living in our housing.
Please use the attached remittance
envelope or donate online at
Teach
HOPEsouthflorida.org
Our children have
HOPE because
someone like you
gave HOPE!
If you’ve ever been to the ShopHOPE Thrift Store chances are good
that you’ve met the energetic and long time manager, Pat Scalise.
Celebrating ten years in August, Pat has seen fashion trends change,
the age demographic expand, and some very fun finds come
through the thrift shop doors. Some things will never change
including her passion and excitement for the store, helping her
customers feel worthwhile and loved, and explaining why
ShopHOPE exists and how it supports the ministry and work of
HOPE South Florida.The model of HOPE South Florida encourages Building Commu-
nity, a daily goal for Pat and her team. The vision of ShopHOPE is to
create a comfortable, organized and complete shopping experience
with a greater purpose, where the proceeds always benefit our pro-
grams that daily serve children, families and individuals experiencing
homelessness. In fact, the new name was chosen so customers would automati-
cally get a sense of the shop’s purpose. For two months customers
were encouraged to submit names for consideration and long time
customer, Virginia, submitted the winning name. Virginia attests to
the redemptive work done through ShopHOPE. In 2002 she gradu-
ated from a recovery program and attributes part of her success to-
wards independence to having the opportunity to furnish her then
new, and empty, apartment. Plus, every career outfit she’s chosen
from the racks has further propelled her own story of HOPE.
Donations are accepted Tuesday
through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Hi I am Pat, Stop by and ShopHOPE today!Store hours are Tues. throughSaturday, 10a.m. to 5p.m.
S H O P H O P E : : L O C A T E D A T 1 2 4 2 N E 2 6 t h S T R E E T , W I L T O N M A N O R S , F L 3 3 3 0 5
shop
donateQ Pat, what’s the one sale
that sticks out to you?We received a Statue of Liberty! A NY couple carried over the statue between the two of them; it was huge, 8 feet tall! We sold it on the spot to a retired educator who keeps it in her yard for entertaining.
P i c t u r e d ( f r o m l e f t t o r i g h t ) : V i r g i n i a a n d P a t
Pat, do you have a favorite
story about the shop?
All of my customers are
so special! The voucher
customers are incredible –
they are so changed by
what they receive and
feel like a million dollars,
they are confident for
their inverviews
and model their
outfits for us!
A network of organizations, including Second Chance Society, Broward
House, Salvation Army and the Chrysalis Center use a voucher system
so families and individuals in need can shop for necessities.
Donations that come to ShopHOPE will be sold in the store
or, depending on the present need, used in
Live, Teach and TasteHOPE programs.
&A
Q&A
FYI
Most college students come to Fort Lauderdale to
spend their spring break soaking up sun and sand
but this year, the RUF (Reformed University Fel-
lowship) group from University of South Florida
had a different idea for their vacation.
Accompanied by their fearless leader,
Jeff Lee, this group of 12 students
arrived with their sleeping bags and
enough energy to pull an all-nighter!
The plan was to serve at TasteHOPE
Shared Meals and then empty out
God’s Little Lambs childcare center to
give it a thorough scrub, make minor
repairs and repaint the bathroom. The group en-
thusiastically jumped in to serve meals to home-
less guests and distribute clothing where needed.
After the guests left and the clock ticked toward
9:00 pm the group turned to caffeine and dance
tunes to keep their eyes open and bodies working.
Six hours later, at 3:00 a.m., the group packed up
and headed back to their sleeping bags, leaving
God’s Little Lambs spotless and ready to welcome
its 90 + students the next morning.
Without missing a beat, the next day the group
tackled the job of priming and prepping The
Shepherd’s Way property, helping with lawn main-
tenance and preparing an off-site home for crisis
shelter. The group was excited to learn how HOPE
South Florida has united the faith and business
communities to help homeless children, families
and individuals and left with renewed compassion
for those experiencing homelessness. We thank
them for their hard work and servant hearts!
We had a great
week worki ng with
you a l l a nd I ca n ’t
tha nk you en ough
for a l l that you d id
for u s . One of the
th i ngs that ’ s rea l l y
encou ragi ng i s that
the students in RUF
ha ve committed to
servi ng weekl y on
Thu rsda y n ights with
a home les s mi n i str y
here i n Tampa .
USF Spring Break Service
“
”– J e f f , R U F : : U S F
T A S T E H O P E : : S T U D E N T S S P E N D V A C A T I O N P A I N T I N G , R E P A I R I N G , C L E A N I N G = S E R V I N G
P.O. Box 14156, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33302
HOPESouthFlorida.org
For a list of our partner churches and church
affiliates please contact: HOPE South Florida
Office: 954.566.2311 Fax: 954.566.2302
To learn more, please contact our office at 954.566.2311
Live Taste Teach Shop
H O P E : : B U I L D H O P E : : B U I L D H O U S I N G : : B U I L D C O M M U N I T Y
HOPE South Florida is a Christian-based
501(c)(3) non-profit organization, operating
since 1995, with the mission to provide
hope for the homeless and hurting
through services and partnerships with
the Christian community. Serving as the
lead organization in a network of partner
churches and organizations, we are working
together to provide a holistic Christian
response to homelessness in our community.
Over the years we have provided emergency
shelter, housing assistance, and support
services to thousands of homeless families
throughout Broward County.
help@HOPEsouthflorida.org
Our 2012Annual Reportis hot off the press!
View,downloadand sharewith yourfriends at
HOPEsouthflorida.org